Amelia the Golden Retriever

I'm just going to start this post off with stating that I have always adored golden retrievers. At some point over the course of the past couple weeks, I decided I wanted to get a puppy. Of course, I was really wanting a golden retriever, because of my love for them. But couldn't find a breeder within a reasonable distance to me. On Thursday, I began my full-hearted search to find us a dog.

The back of my mind was still hoping for a golden though. My husband told me, "You better pick a dog that you really want, because you can't trade them in." And that kind of hit home with me. I kept looking on Petfinder, trying to find a rescue dog that appealed to me. I was struggling, and feeling heartbroken.

Next, I checked our local Craigslist. There was a posting for Golden Retriever Puppies, that had been posted 30 minutes prior. One glance at the picture, I was hooked. I immediately texted the owner, for additional information.

We set up a date for us to come pick one out. We drove the 30 minutes to visit them on Saturday, and it was instant love for me. We got to visit the mother, who was calm, relaxed, and quite happy looking. We held up the pups, got tips from the breeder of what to look for in a puppy, but in the end, I had to go with my gut, which one really called to me.

She was the first one I picked up, and her little white paws are what sold me on her. They explained to me what the white paws would look like on her once she gets older, because her mother had the same. We chose her, with her adorable little pudgy face.

She was 8 days old when we went to see her. I kept talking to her, even though they kept telling me she couldn't hear or see me. I was amused though. I've never really seen golden retriever puppies, so honestly, I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for.

Tyler held her while I took my pictures and filled out the paperwork, she just slept and didn't even seem to care where she was (granted, she couldn't see what was going on, I'm sure). But it was cute.

I have asked for weekly status pictures of our little Amelia growing up, which they agreed to do. And, they suggested that we should also come by when she is about 6 weeks old, because that's when we would start to see her coloring, and she will be much more active (obviously).

She'll come with AKC paperwork, vaccinations, and even a little collar. I'm so excited for our puppy! We won't be able to bring her home until May 24th, which works out well for us, really. I'll be going back to California for a couple weeks, and won't be back until May 20th. Also, it will give us plenty of time to purchase alot of the puppy things we will need. The prices at our local pet stores are way extreme, and me being a bargain hunter, I will probably be ordering quite a bit of things online. I should have plenty of time for them to be shipped, I think.