Ella the Maltese

The Ewoks are Coming: Meet City Dog

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This weekend was adventure filled. Just hours before we (finally)(after seven months of living here) had our housewarming party, two puppies arrived on a plane. (It sounds like the setting of a made-for-TV movie, no?) My poor mother: While they were as well behaved as could be and didn’t make a peep, the little boy, Marley, got a case of car sickness on the way to the airport in Nashville, and spewed all over the place. This continued across the country. When he arrived in San Francisco, it was no different: After a brief hug and pat to both of the pups, we got on the Coastal Highway to veer around Outside Lands traffic, at which point Marley decided to projectile vomit all over my car’s upholstery. Welcome to parenthood! (SVV is the best husband ever; he met us downstairs with cleaning supplies and scrubbed out my Altima for me!)

maltese, dog, puppy

And, thus, after a traumatizing day, the puppies got their first bath shortly after arriving in their new home state. But all fluffy and clean, we’ve decided they channel ewoks, don’t you think? SVV’s mom said she could whip together an appropriate Halloween costume for the both of them.

That’s Ella. She’s our girl. Eight weeks and four days old, she weighs in at two pounds and a few ounces and is by far the feistiest of the trio. Shelty, the third pup, stayed at home in Tennessee, where she went to live with a family who has one of our Malteses from our very first litter 15 years ago. Marley, on the other hand, was a surprise for my niece and nephew, Kiva and Jack (upon their parents’ consent, of course).

maltese, dog, puppy

It was so hard separating these two yesterday as they’re quite the peas in a pod.

maltese, dog, puppy

Though I don’t think anyone took it harder than my mom, who is still mourning Marley’s departure. At least we know where to find him when we want to see him—at SVV’s brother’s house out near Folsom! Family get-togethers will, no doubt, be twice the fun with these two furry additions.

maltese, dog, puppy

The kids weren’t out-of-control excited like we expected but we think that’s because a) they were shell-shocked by the revelation and b) they were afraid their dad was going to say no. (They’ve been asking for a puppy for years now, and he just finally came around.) Kiva even turned to him and asked, “are we allowed to keep him, Dad?”

Maltese Puppy
Maltese Puppy
Maltese Puppy

I just can’t believe that, after having Malteses in our family since 1979 (three years and change before I was born), I finally have one of my own! Or rather, our own, I should say. And it should be noted that SVV is almost as excited about our new addition as I am. I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by saying so, but the potty training is already going swimmingly (knock on wood). As long as a dry puppy pad is out and she knows where it is, Ella migrates to it 10 times out of 10 to do her business. That’s fully in part to my mom starting them off early with pads in the pen. THANKS, MOM. Once she’s a bit older, we’ll start moving the pad one foot closer to the door every day and eventually train her to go out (we have a side yard only accessible to our apartment building that no one uses and is perfect for a Maltese). But for now, baby steps.

Truth be told, now that’s it the work week again and I’m slammed with deadlines, I’m having a helluva hard time working. Could you do that with this face looking up at you and chewing on your slipper, begging you to come play?

This opens up a whole new method of living for SVV and me: Pet-friendly travel! We’ve been researching flying with her, since at eight weeks she’s clearly already a seasoned pro, and are appalled at how expensive it is to take a (what will be) full-grown, six-pound dog as a carry-on on a plane. (Any way for the airlines to make an extra buck or so, I suppose. But it’s still ludicrous.) Southwest is the cheapest we’ve found thus far at $75 per way; American and Virgin America charge $100; and United is a whopping $125.

How about you pet owners out there? Have you found an affordable way to take your furry friends on the plane with you?

COMMENTS
  • August 16, 2010
    Bethany

    They are ADORABLE. Congratulations on your new addition!

  • August 16, 2010

    So cute! Congrats!

  • August 16, 2010

    Congrats on Ella! She is adorable!

  • August 16, 2010

    I cannot handle how cute they are! I actually made noises at my computer. I’ve never air-traveled with our old dogs (they were much bigger) – and I refused to fly them in the cargo hold…so they usually stayed home. But we found a sitter we loved and they never seemed upset. We have to redo that all with our new dog and he seems to have a bit of separation anxiety…so we’ll see. I can’t wait to hear your take on pet-friendly travel.

  • August 16, 2010

    CONGRATULATIONS! Baby Ella is adorable! Take tons and tons of photos. We have only three shots from when Buster was a baby. It always makes me sad.

    And that’s awesome the potty training is going so well. I’m impressed!

  • August 16, 2010

    Congrats! I’m totally with Locusts and Wild Honey — take lots and lots of pictures. They grow up too fast. I highly recommend checking out DogJaunt, a blog devoted to traveling with your dog. She has all sorts of great info and I’ve been scouring her site for apartments and hotels for our European pet adventure.

  • August 16, 2010

    Dunn could eat them for dinner in one bite!

  • August 16, 2010

    Those are two really adorable furballs! I love the photo of the two of them snuggled up.

    My dogs are too big to go to the trouble of flying them, so they spend a bit of time in the car and make occasional trips to the vet. I’ll be interested in hearing about your experiences though.

  • August 16, 2010

    Oh. My. Goodness. They are so ridiculously ADORABLE! You have to post more videos of Ella!!

  • August 16, 2010

    So so so so so so so so cute!!!!!!! CONGRATS to you and SVV and your new adorable addition. 🙂

  • August 16, 2010

    They’re so cute!

  • August 17, 2010

    Yay!! The puppies are finally here!!!
    They are such adorable little balls of fluff, I want to come and snuggle them both!
    The photo of your Mum saying goodbye to Marley is so sweet, I’m sure she’ll have even more reasons to come and visit CA now!
    More photos soon please! :0)

  • August 17, 2010

    I just arrived to Switzerland from Canada, and my two cats came with me. I could not find a cheap option, but this was also an international flight and I was looking for the most direct route possible to minimize their travel time. It cost me $575 for both of them, via Edelweiss Air.

    If you find anymore affordable travel options, please share! I’d love to see what other options are out there 🙂

    Your girl is sweet, and I commend you for even getting an ounce of work done! I’d be a lost cost for a good, oh, two months 🙂

  • August 17, 2010
    Marisol

    So cute! And, hey…my Maltese is named Marley too! After Bob. 🙂

  • August 17, 2010

    I loved that video! Ella is adorable! I wish I could find a cheap way of flying with dogs. Definitely keep us posted. How much is she going to be able to come with you?

  • August 17, 2010

    Precious!!!

    Those airline prices are insane. EACH WAY?!!? Craziness.

  • August 17, 2010

    Congratulations!! Frank can’t wait to meet her!

  • August 18, 2010

    Glad she made it okay! You’ve been talking about it for a long time now.

    And it’s nice the siblings can see each other once in a while.

  • August 18, 2010

    Videos are fabulous. I Love Maltese. My Maltese Name is Bebo.

  • August 18, 2010
    Aunt Lou

    Those puppies are tooooooo cute!!!! I love the video!

  • August 22, 2010

    Hi Kristin, Your puppies are adorable. Are they Malteses? I’m actually doing the same thing you are and researching pet traveling- I’m getting a Yorkie next month 🙂 Have you looked into a pet passport? Also, you might know already but all Starwood hotels and W hotels are pet-friendly 🙂

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