A Proper Introduction to Rudi Fennikiss

Hi guys, welcome back. Today's entry is something light and fun, and maybe a little ridiculous all together. Today I will be giving you a proper introduction to my handsome little pup named Rudi Fennikiss. Which, by the way, he is literally sitting on my lap right now as I struggle to write this. If you can tell by that last sentence, then you already know that Rudi is a mamma's boy. He has to be by my side every waking second of his life. What can I say, the boy loves his mamma (insert shoulder shrug). Okay, okay, I confess. I totally, one hundred percent take the blame for his perpetual need to be close by me. It's totally my fault, but we'll get into all of that here shortly. But first, let me take you back to the very beginning.

In 2015, I was struggling with a variety of things happening in my life, and to be quite frank, I couldn't even begin to tell you what those things were. All I really know is that what ever was ailing my soul back then seems so far and long forgotten. I was in therapy during that time and my therapist kept bringing up the idea of me maybe getting a support animal. She thought it would be beneficial for me based on all of the supporting research that's out there suggesting that animals can be therapeutic for people who have experienced trauma. So, I gave it some thought and decided that maybe the therapist is right, maybe I should look into this. Well, the very next night I asked my good friend Kristina, her mom Lisa, and her sister Leyna to let me know if they happen to know of any puppies that needed a good home.

The very next morning I get a text from my friends mom telling me about a lady that has minpin/dotson puppies for sale. She said that its a first come first serve type of situation. So whoever got there to look at the puppies first has a better chance of securing one. She gives me the information and I contact the lady and schedule a visit to check out the puppies that same day. I drive all the way from Virginia Beach to Lanexa, which is about an hour and a half drive with out the horrible 757 traffic. I arrive at the lady's house and she is waiting for me with all the sweet puppies outside on her screened in front porch.

The lady welcomes me and shows me the mom and dad of the little puppies. The mother is the miniature pinscher and the dad is the dachshund. I go over and have a look and all of them are laying there so cuddled upon one another. There were a few making little noises and yapping a bit. But one of them caught my eye. A little puppy boy all way cuddled up on the bottom of his bothers and sisters and he just looked at me and I knew he was the one for me. I asked the lady to pick him up and give him to me. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. I held my breath because my heart was about to explode from cuteness. So super tiny y'all. Not even a full pound I don't think. It was at that moment that I surrendered my heart to that pup and didn't even know it. He owned me and I wasn't even going home with him yet.

Me picking out Rudi, but he actually chose me. He looked up at me and knew I was the one.

The lady asks me if I am sure that he is the one. I say yes. She then marks him with a blue marker on his paw. I thought it was really strange that she did that. She said that way she will be able to identify which of the dogs belong to who. I asked her if the other dogs had been spoken for and she said all had been claimed except for two others. Had I known then how much of a complete joy Rudi would be, I would have gotten one of his brothers or sisters as well. When it was time leave I drove off thinking that I couldn't believe that I was going to be puppy mom. I had no idea what I was in for, but I was ready.

Now, I was originally supposed to pick pup up several weeks later after he had been weened from his mother, but the lady called me a lot sooner and told me that if I wanted my puppy I could come and pick him up now and that he was the only one left. I told her I would be right over. In hindsight, I should have known that it was way too early for him to be weened form his mom, but I was eager to get my boy home as I had already had everything ready for his arrival.

I ring Karina at work and tell her that pup is ready and we have to go get him. She speeds home from work and we make the journey back to Lanexa to pick up pup. When we arrive, the lady has Rudi ready to go. She says that he is eating puppy food and drinking on his own and he's good to go. She hands me the pup and I get in the car and Rudi instantly starts whining. He cries the entire car ride home. Did I tell y'all that we live an hour and a half away from the lady's house. Karina tried every attempt to calm his little puppy soul but nothing worked. Rudi didn't stop crying until we hit the corner to turn on to our street and by that time he was dead asleep. Wow. The entire car ride home I was thinking, what have I gotten myself into. Oh, but it gets worse before it gets better.

Rudi's first car ride home. All tuckered out form all of the crying he did on the way down.

We bring him in the house and the first thing we do is put him straight in the bath and give him a proper scrubbing. Surprisingly, he did not mind the water. After his bath we show him where his food and water bowl are. Rudi doesn't seem to care about drinking or eating at this point, he just wobbles around sniffing out his new unfamiliar territory. From the start, Rudi is quite playful. He takes turns pouncing on me and Karina until he gets tired and then he naps. Puppies nap a lot y'all. We'd be playing with him for all of five minutes and he would sit down next to one of us and before you can blink twice he's sleep.

The first week of him being home with us was quite challenging. I remember calling my friends mom several times a day for quite a while because I wasn't sure if I was doing things right with him. By the third day Rudi had still not eaten or drank anything. He didn't know how to eat or drink. We took him to the vet so that he could get his first check up and see about shots, but they had news for us. They told us that Rudi had been weened way to early and that the reason he wasn't eating or drinking was because he didn't know how. They told us he was only about 4-5 weeks old and that there was no way he was 6-7 weeks like the lady suggested. The vet ended up giving him several round of fluids though an IV that left a huge hump on his back until his body absorbed it. We were told that we would have to bottle feed him until he was a little older.

We worked with pup day in and day out. Bottle feeding, crate training, and getting him house broken. I'll never forget those days. Rudi would cry so much during the first two months. He missed his mom a lot. Dogs should never be weened before the right time. Me and Karina would take turns all night laying him on our skin, swaddling him, rocking him, and soothing him to sleep, all on top of waking him up every hour on the hour to sit him on the grass outside so he could get used to going potty outside. It was brutal. Something like having a newborn in the house. We were sleep deprived zombies that were in way over our heads. Surprisingly though, Rudi became house broken pretty fast. He didn't have many accidents and for that, I am grateful. He also crate trained beautifully along the way after the first two months. Rudi actually prefers to retreat to his kennel now when he doesn't want to be bothered with us humans.

Rudi was coming along quite nicely for the most part, however, there was this one thing. Rudi didn't want to eat puppy food. He wanted his bottle. We tried everything to get him transitioned to regular food. We tried it all. All the tricks were used but Rudi wasn't budging. It wasn't until I knocked on my neighbor's door out of pure desperation and asked if she knew how to make puppies eat (she had one of her own). She said sure, let me grab my coat and I'll come right over. The neighbor came over and took his food, which was soft canned food at the time, and shoved a little of it right in his mouth from his bowl. From that magical moment on, Rudi has been faithfully eating his food out of his bowl with no problems. Who would have ever thought to just shove the food in his mouth. We had a good laugh about it after the fact. That night, my neighbor looked at me and said, "you know this dog owns you don't you". My neighbors words are the truest words that have ever been spoken. Rudi completely owns me!

*Please standby for a flood of early puppy pictures.*

Karina holding Rudi during his early puppy days. At this time he would only feed out of a bottle.

Rudi's love for soft and snuggly things started right here in this picture.

Look how tiny he was. He was the same size as Santa.

He could only sleep on my chest or skin.

A very young Rudi snuggled up on his mom. Thats was, and still is his favorite place to be.

Rudi and Karina resting after playing around on the floor.

We are knee deep in spoiled rotten territory.

Look how big he's grown and it hasn't even been a two months.

Rudi's first year with us was full of excitement. We grew into a rhythm with Rudi. He was one of us now. Rudi was slowly become a mama's boy. Wherever I was, Rudi was sure to follow. It didn't matter if I was going to the bathroom, to the kitchen, or just across the same room. I feel in love with little pup. I couldn't believe that I was his mama. I still can't believe it. He is the purest form of unconditional love. I will never have any children of my own, but Rudi is my fur baby. You can't convince me otherwise. It's amazing to see the bond that has grown between Rudi and I. When I go get him from his kennel in the morning I literally inhale him. His tail wags so hard that one might think it will fall off at any moment. He jumps in my arms and puts his head in the crook of my neck giving my cheek tons of kisses. I love my boy.

Puppy days were quite fun. He was full of spunk and energy. He loved going on walks at the beach and around the neighborhood. People started to recognize Rudi throughout the neighborhood when we walked. People were quite smitten with pup. All the neighborhood locals would come up to us and exclaim how beautiful and shiny his coat was and how cute he is. We sometimes could barely get a good walk in because people would stop us and want to chit-chat about Rudi. It's like the entire universe revolved around this one little puppy boy.

Yep, you're seeing that right. Rudi bitting my bun. He was quite rambunctious as younger pup.

Rudi taking his daily walk on the beach as a young pup. Can I have him this small again, please?

As time moved right along, we decided to get Rudi neutered when he was six months old. Rudi was a full ball of energy 24-7 and despite all the playing and walking several times a day, he was a wild child unless he had a thunder vest or shirt on him. I will never forget the day that I took Rudi to get neutered. I woke up that morning from what seemed like a restless sleep. I got Rudi ready, packed him in the car, and headed out to the PETA headquarters in Norfolk. I get there and fill out tons of paper work and sign a consent form that gives PETA permission to do the surgery. I go and wait in one more line and before I could even stand in the line good a woman yells out, "Rudi Fennikiss". I walk up to the door and my heart was pounding so hard that I think people around me can hear it or see it about to literally pop out of my chest. I handed the lady my six month old pup who had never spent a day with out his mom since we brought him home. I was a nervous wreck leaving my pup there all day alone with those people. You'd think that I'd be somewhat at ease because PETA was performing the service, but it did nothing to ease buy anxious ridden heart. I wait all day staring at my cell phone going crazy waiting or them to call me to come get him. I finally get the call around 4 p.m. to come pick him up. They said he did well and that he might be a little groggy. I asked them if he would be in any pain and they said no. Well, we get home and the grogginess has kind of worn off and my pup is in pain. He starts whinning and whimpering from the pain. I lost it. I started crying because I dint know how to help him. Karina calls the 1-800 number on his aftercare instructions and talks to a vet nurse. The vet nurse assures us that what he's experiencing is normal. Pup eventually settles down and sleeps the rest of the day and into the night. The next morning he is good as new. Talk about being a freaked out new puppy mom. I hated seeing him in pain. In the end, we are happy that we made the choice to neuter him. Rudi calmed down tons and he stopped marking his spot in our house, on our furniture.

A perfect specimen of a dog. Doing what he does best, basking in the sun.

Rudi with his thunder vest on trying to figure out why he cant go upstairs.

Since then, Rudi's personality has grown and he has matured into an even sweeter little puppy dog. We have celebrated two birthdays with him, two Christmases, and two New Years and have done plenty of traveling with him. I can't believe how fast time is flying. I don't even remember life before Rudi came along. This little dog has brought such and abundance of joy in my life. I look at him sometime when he's sleeping on me and just think, wow, I can't believe I am his mom. I am so lucky to have Rudi Fenn in my life. I never knew my heart was capable of loving something so much. This has to be what parents feel like with their human children. The mere thought of something happening to Rudi sends me straight to tears. I am always worried about him and always thinking of him. He is connected to my soul on a spiritual level. I swear, this little dog has so much of me in him. His attitude, his little quirks, it's all me. Karina will often say, I don't know who is worse, you, or Rudi? She always talks about how Rudi and I are made for each other. You'd have to spend a day in my house to now what I am talking about. Weird to even think that a dog can take on their owners traits. Me and Rudi are one.

Rudi spending time at the beach in Puerto Rico.

Rudi exploring bridges in far away lands with his momma.

More beach time. It is one of our favorite pastimes.

Rudi's birthday is on Halloween. He sports a Batman cape and harness.

Happy 1st birthday Rudi Fennikiss. A yummy mixture of yogurt and peanut butter topped of with one candle. — Happy 1st birthday Rudi Fennikiss.
A yummy mixture of yogurt and peanut butter topped of with one candle.

Rudi has the most posh life for a dog. He gets to enjoy the ride on the beach while mom pedals.

Happy New Year. Rudi was ready to watch the ball drop with his party hat on.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, now that you have had proper introduction to my pup, you will be seeing him in many more of my post in the future. Rudi has a great life ahead of him alongside of me. I plan on giving him the best little puppy life full of adventures. If you are a person reading this and are thinking about getting a puppy, or any animal for that matter, do it. Animals are amazing companions and they offer so much love. We are not even worthy as humans. Your life will be enriched a thousand fold. I will leave you with just a few more photos of pup, because, why not? I truly hoped you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you guys. Until next time, my peeps. Take care and God bless.