this is the most recent photo of tofu from 2 days ago eat'n a strand of ramen =D
long overdue post. hehehe. tofupuppy will be 7 months old 2 days from today. he flew home @ 8 weeks old, @ around 8 pounds. now he weighs 42 pounds & has at least another 20 pounds to grow. i've only had tofu for about 5 months, but the entire family feel like it's been longer than that. no reason, really. tofupuppy is one food-obsess'd, attention-loving & OH-SO-ADORABLE puppy!!! he absolutely loves everyone!!! he'd seriously follow anyone home, but i guess that's part of the nature of his breed. he's a very sweet boy! he LOVES the snow!!! it's such a wonderful sight see'n him plop'n around in the snow (#1 reason why i had to get him before winter =D).
tofu's 1st snow was @ the charlton plaza on i-90 on our way home from our one-day trip to NYC for the Sanrio Pop-Up Truck Tour. he got quite a few fans taking pictures with him & of him, spoil'n the lil puppy with tons of love & attention. funniest thing was when this lady full of perfume walk'n towards us was scream'n "OMG! OMG! is he real!?! OMG!!! he IS!!!" she took a few pictures, then left. as i continued walk'n, i was wonder'n why her perfume was still so strong, it's because she turn'd around & ran back towards us to pet tofu one more time. LOL!
who wouldn't love this Hello Kitty-loving puppy?
tofu's first snow - @ the charlton plaza, newton
this winter was my family's first in a house & this year boston was met with 78.8 inches of snow as of feb. 28, according to boston.com. we live south of boston, so i expect we had more inches on top of that. for us humans, it was A LOT of shovel'n. for tofupuppy, it really was Winter Wonderland!!!
fun times with his "cousins" Laska, Togi & Olympus
he's been afraid of car rides ever since day one, eventhough he rode the subway many times and has been taken on every possible car ride, to the park, to the store, to the T, including two roadtrips to/from NYC. he looks like a completely different puppy in the car - ears on the side & glued to the seat. LOL! @ the beginning, he was afraid of going down the stairs too (my buddy's 100+ alaskan malamute knock'd lil 8-pound tofu down 7-8 steps into their basement on day 2...maybe that's the reason...), but now he'd walk up & down the basement stairs. although he would never go up to the 2nd floor (tofu & i sleep on the 1st floor, off of the dining room), I believe this is because he usually has to take baths upstairs. he hates get'n bath'd. always tries to escape. tofu's taken almost 10 baths already (Samoyeds usually get bath'd once every 2-3 months) because he gets very dirty! tofu always gets cover'd in doggie saliva & dirt when he goes play.
one time, he even plop'd stomach-on into his puddle of pee-pee while pee-pee'n (newly wax'd hardwood...) also hates being blow-dried. he gets very vicious with his fire-extinguisher-with-a-trunk-look'n blowdryer. i usually kennel him & give him treats so that he'd get distract'd.
tofupuppy gets 90% free roam during the day, ever since he became potty-train'd about 2 months ago. GOOD BOY!!! before that, despite taking him outside every hour, he still pee'd & poo'd indoors A LOT! many rolls of bounty & almost an entire 1.5 gallon of nature's miracle used later, he smart'n'd up & everyone's very proud! =D tofupuppy also knows quite a few words/commands/tricks: sit, down, eat, chicken, treat, kennel, bed bed, go home, outside, go potty, go poo poo, fetch, come, high-five/hand/paw. still work'n on rollover, drop it & shake shake, but he's done it a few times. my mom gives tofu commands in Chinese & he seems to know what she's say'n half the time. Hahaha. Hmmm...what else? well, tofu's chew'd up some stuff that he shouldn't, like...my DKNY glasses! i woke up to find my glasses in his mouth 6 times! i hear "crunch" & i pop up. luckily, he didn't chew up the glass & swallow it. he did swallow the plastic pieces of the earpiece & i saw them in his poo poo the next day...hehehe.
he also chew'd up my foam-bottom slippers & a few sham-wow towels. he teeth'd up 3 steps on the living room stairs & some wood on the living room to kitchen doorway (mommy was very angry with both incidents), and my bed frame edges. Oh tofu! he holds 3-seconds of interest with almost everything! gets bored pretty easily, so knocks out for a nap many, many, many times a day. lucky pup! i wish i could nap all day. KK...time for lots of pictures.
tofu's mommy Purity. pretty, eh?
tofu's daddy Clancy
birthday =D tofu was known as "grey boy" @ birth
thank u puritymommy! job well done!
grey boy @ 2 weeks old - looks like the runt of the litter in comparison with his siblings' pictures. hehe.
grey boy @ 3 weeks old
grey boy @ 4 weeks old
grey boy @ 5 weeks old
grey boy @ 6 weeks old
grey boy @ 7 weeks old - my cousin comment'd on this picture that grey boy truly look'd like "stinky tofu" here =D
preparations for tofu's arrival
a month before pick'n tofu up, i made a trip to petsmart with diana & i bought tofu's 1st 2 toys.
i paid for this dog tag, then walk'd VERY excitely over to the encraving machine, i had wait'd close to 2 decades to finally buy a dog tag (was very scared of dogs up until age 7 or 8 thanks to my stupid landlord's VERY aggressive black hairy dog that i remember as being GIGANTIC, but mommy reminds me that it was small ??? stupid thing made me cry whenever i was try'n to pass it in the apt. bldg. lobby). i don't remember what happen'd after that, but all i remember was that every Saturday trip to the Boston Public Library with my sibs Helen, Julie & Philip were memories of read'n books about dogs & burn'n my tongue from Dunkin Donuts' hot chocolate. for some time, i think i lost interest, but in middle school, i remember having finish'd every book @ the library about dogs (even re-read a few, especially "the dog who rescued cats"). i remember grow'n up, I've always loved snow dogs, specifically Siberian Huskies, until I learn'd about Samoyeds. I have 2 pencil drawings of Samoyeds that i drew off of some books, if i find them, i'll post them here too. nowadays, i always have mental debates whether puppy #2 will be a Siberian Husky or another Samoyed. today it will be the former, tomorrow it will be the latter. =D
then i made at least 3 more trips to petsmart & a few more around town (tjmaxx, marshalls, petco, etc.) & this is what i end'd up with: 3 bags of 30-pound blue buffalo chicken & rice adult food (breeder recommend'd not feed'n puppy food), food container, pedi-paws (still didn't try it yet), tons of toys, tons of treats, food/water bowls, grooming tools, etc. tofu gets his own drawer under my bed =D
one night, i decided to make tofu a name tag to personalize his boring kennel. the kennel manufacturer left a little panel to place a sticker of their company name & contact information, so i peel'd off the sticker, stuck it onto a piece of paper, cut out the size, traced it onto a sheet of paw-print'd scrapbook paper, bust'd out my scrapbook'n supplies & made a name tag. i didn't have any laminate, so i put the paper into some sticker packaging bag & taped it. VOILA! not bad, eh? even bought a bed eventhough the breeder said Sammies don't like to sleep on beds, she's right! i found tofu under it or next to it. hehehe.
grey boy @ 8 weeks old - day one - the day grey boy became tofu =D
judy & i flew to virginia the night before pick'n up tofu from the breeder in suffolk. it was less than a 24-hour trip, but every minute of it was pretty sweet (except @ the breeder's). we check'd in @ hertz to pick up our rental economy car & end'd up with a VERY NICE premium car - a shiny black Aristocrat VW Beetle =D i was psych'd cos i've always loved buggies & hope to get a convertible one in the future. from the airport, we drove a few minutes to the nearby red lobster for dinner. judy did her research =D.
then we drove to our hotel, slept a few hours & woke up early for the complimentary continental breakfast with waffles too =D
our lovely Aristocrat VW Beetle in the hotel lot
Sleepyhead Judy posing with her breakfast
Sleepyhead Me posing with my breakfast
picture time with the Aristocrat!
joyful driving to the breeders
arrival @ the breeder's house - tofu here i come!!!
drove 1 hour to the breeders, in the middle of nowhere, drove up to a ranch sit'n on a huge plot of land before 10 am. it was a complete disappointment!!! there were a few Samoyeds kennel'd some distance from the house, next to a couple of horses. these Sammies were bark'n, but their barks sound'd nothing like a bark or a howl - some sound that i can't even remember what it resembled - just a very disturbing cry. when we enter'd the house, i felt very cheat'd & angry - the "dog" room was filthy dirty! judy's skin start'd get'n itchy too. grey boy (tofu) & red boy (the pup i fell in love with in photos) were "caged" one on top of the other in tiny stack'd up kennels. the breeder sent us through to the kitchen & she brought tofu in. i will never forget the moment she hand'd him over to me. he was scared stiff as a rock, tiny & fluffy! CUTEST THING EVER!!! the breeder had placed the stiff'd-up pup on my chest with all four paws on me & he didn't move a muscle. i held him for a minute or two & the breeder hurried me to complete the paperwork, so i hand'd him over to judy. i sat down @ the dining room table, sign'd a few papers, hand'd over the rest of the payment & the breeder was ready to send me on my way. ??? in our email communications, she had told me that i would have to stay @ least one hour so that she can educate me about the breed, show me how to groom/brush, etc. i insist'd on stay'n to learn how to groom a Sammie, so she had me bath, blow-dry & groom one of her 4-mos old pups who was cover'd in mud. the pups & dogs have free roam in & out of the house & all of them were cover'd in mud, except for grey boy & red boy (they were bath'd & ready to go home). after that, the breeder suggest'd that she can show us how to tell the difference between a girl & a boy newborn. there was a litter of 8 6-day old pups in the living room. judy & i both held one in our hands - their eyes were still closed & they were only palm-size. SO DELICATE & JOYFUL!!!!
while we kneel'd by the newborns, tofu play'd with the other free-roam'n pups & dogs. red boy was goin home the next day so he was to stay kennel'd to stay clean. i had really, REALLY, really want'd tofu to be red boy because i loved how he look'd in the pictures, but the breeder decided that red boy was "too much of a puppy" for a first-time pet-owner like me (i'm so superficial...always about looks! Ha! Bad!). grey boy turn'd out wonderful though! at the moment i saw him in real life, i was forever in love with him. =D after spend'n 10 minutes or so with the newborns, judy, tofu & i were ready to leave. we confirm'd that tofu would fit into the sherpa bag for the plane ride (she literally stuff'd the again-stiff'd-up pup into the 8 inch high by 17 inch long bag) & said bye to the breeder & puritymommy. as we got into the car, puritymommy stood @ the gate bid'n us farewell & wish'n that her baby was going a good home. tofupuppy even leap'd from my lap in the car onto the floor (reason why he's scared of car rides???) - he didn't want to part with his mommy & brother. judy & i were sooooo touch'd by mommy & puppy!
puritymommy was losing her fur after giving birth, so her pink skin was show'n too
tofupuppy exchanging farewells with puritymommy
we stay'd in the car for another 15 minutes, try'n to decide where to go next since our flight wasn't until 4 PM. the breeder came back out to check on us, wonder'n if we didn't know how to drive the buggie (she used to drive one), ummm....lady! we drove here, didn't we?! i took tofu back outside to say bye to puritymommy & we play'd for a few minutes. he was in love with my paul frank keds & kept run'n after my feet (video below). hehehe.
unfortunately, due to the awkward circumstances @ the breeders, i miss'd out taking picture inside. the whole experience turn'd out to be nothing like what i had always envision'd it to be. i always envision'd that i would find myself surround'd by many cute little puppies, from which i would hand-pick the one that came run'n to me first or came run'n when i call'd its name. it was nothing like that. first off, i had want'd a girlpuppy, but since there were 2 people ahead of me request'n girls & puritymommy only had 2 girls, i had to settle for one of the 4 boys. then, through photos, i fell in love with red boy. i had remind'd myself not to pick! but i fail'd @ try'n. every week when the photos came up, I drool'd over red boy. then when i voiced my preference to the breeder, she said grey boy was assign'd to me. green boy & blue boy were show-quality, so i could only get red boy or grey boy, but again, according to the breeder, red boy was "too much of a puppy" for me. i'll post red boy's pictures too. tofupuppy won't mind (won't know...hehehe). i hope red boy went to a good home like grey boy =D
red boy @ 2 weeks old - look'n wayyyy chubbier than grey boy =D
red boy @ 3 weeks old - my favorite photo of red boy
red boy @ 4 weeks old - isn't he adorable?
red boy @ 5 weeks old
red boy @ 6 weeks old
red boy @ 7 weeks old
one last look @ red boy before we part'd
O.K. i'll continue this another time. this post is WAYYYYY too long, that it's taking forever to load the preview of. end'd up spend'n 5+ hours on this. i told wilson & he said i should call this tofu's biography & write a book. i said it's more like my biography. LOL. i'll continue in post #3, it'll be an uber long one too. i have literally thousands of photos to go through.
Happy Reading!!! =D
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