With a traveling lifestyle as I have, it has never been possible to have a dog. It’s not practical, a dog would confine me to a city and limit my freedom, who would take care of it when I’m not hop-scot-shing from one city to the next? There have been many excuses not to take the one pet I’ve always wanted, a Jack Russell.

However, after much contemplation and completely aware of the implications, I decided to get a short legged, short haired puppy Jack Russell puppy. I had seen her on the internet, on www.marktplaats.nl, when I was getting rid of an old sofa. When I saw her, I knew I had to have her. Tentatively I started communicating with the owner. Even on my way over to pick her up with my friend Vera, I had not yet made up my mind. I figured when I saw her in real life if my heart would not leap, I would not get her.

But when we got there and I saw her white little body with one black/brown eye, I knew I could not leave her there. Pippa has on the right side of her face, white eyelashes and eyebrows, while on the left side they are both black. She is tiny permitted as hand luggage with most airlines (including bag, total weight is not allowed to exceed 6 kilos (approx 13 pounds) to take her in the cabin with me). Her mother weighs four kilos, so we should be fine. She has a doggie passport, and all her shots. She’s very comfortable with movement as I have repeatedly put her in my bag, which hangs off my bike’ steering wheel as I cycle along the canals of Amsterdam. She lays her two front paws on the edge of the bag, and curiously looks around.

It’s not yet been a week, and I’m happy with my decision to follow my heart and get the puppy. 

Tags: Amsterdam, Travel with Dogs

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 12:40 PM and is filed under People, Places. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.