Vesper Lynd was born on July 27th, 2007. I had decided I wanted a papillon, because besides being adorable, they were a natural toy breed (not bred too become smaller and smaller like some toy breeds), intelligent, liked the outdoors, and their lineage went back as far as to Marie Antoinette owning one. Papillon means "butterfly" in french, and this breed received the name because of it's large ears, that are supposedly reminiscent of butterfly wings. They are also known as the Continental Toy Spaniel, and there's also a variation on the breed, where it's the same breed but the ears don't stand erect, and this breed variation is called Phalene (which means moth).
I got Vesper from a breeder in Wisconsin, a gruff lady who worked at the airport. Vesper was part of a litter of only 2 dogs. Her sister was already paid for, so the woman handed me Vesper. She was only 4 or so weeks old. She was nervous and I cuddled her up by my chest and she nervously kept licking me. When I first met Vesper her little ears where flopped down, which is normal for a newborn papillon. When I finally got to go back a month later to pick her up one of her ears was still flopped down and the other was standing straight up...ADORABLE. After I'd had her for about a week I went to get her out of her kennel in the morning and her other ear was standing straight up, and they never went back down again.
The first day we got Vesper I was excited, but kind of a mess. I didn't know what to do with her...then bed time came...Bjorn and I put her in her kennel and layed on my bed for a bit before he went home. Well Vesper was scared to death alone in her little kennel and barked and barked. When I left the room to take a shower and then came back she was still in her kennel barking and then when I entered the room it scared her and she started growling at me. I couldn't sleep and had to work the next day, but Bjorn didn't have to work. So he took her to his house where she kept him up most of the night. Seriously, puppies are kind of like newborns... Once I got more used to the idea of a barking puppy in a kennel she came back to my house. When it was bed time we would leave her in her kennel in the basement (because her barking was so loud and shrill), then once she managed to reduce her barking to less than an hour at bedtime she was moved to the kitchen and I would play some soft music (specifically John Mayer haha). Well to make a long story short, once she graduated from kennel sleeping (and was potty trained) she was moved to my bed and hasn't left since.
This little dog brings me so much joy...although she barks out the window like there's no tomorrow and the only way to get her to stop is to spray her with a water bottle, I love her to death. She is my little buddy...she's a perfect little lady on walks...never barking or acting out (unlike her brother, Tater, but that's a story for another day). She listens attentively when I talk to her and cocks her head to the side. She knows when she sees me with the camera that it's photo time, and she listens carefully and poses, because I've been taking pictures of her since the day I got her. Did I mention how much my mom and dad love her? Yes, the same mom that said I was going to get kicked out of the house if I brought a puppy home now sneaks over to my house while I'm at work and kidnaps my dogs for the day.
This post was prompted by some photos I accidentally came across this morning of Vesper as a puppy. She is now 2 years and 8 months old. Her third birthday will be 5 days after my due date with Tatiana.
Our little girl as a mischievous puppy.
Our perfect little lady all grown up!
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