Bringing home {the} Bacon

Yesterday was a landmark day for the Hagmas.

We now have our Bacon.  He is so awesome.

The whole process was quite exciting, and probably did not follow recommended protocols, if I'm being honest. All of the books recommend that you bring your new dog right home, and have a quiet day together to get acclimated and reduce the inevitable stress on the puppy.  We did not go straight home, and we did not have a quiet day.  Oh, well, Bacon seems OK so far.

(Mind you, this all occurred on New Year's Day, which is traditionally a day of lounging around in pajamas...)

8:00 - Up and at 'em!
9:00 - Car loaded with Bacon's crate, toys, paper towels, special spray for cleaning up messes, leash, collar,  bags, everything... Hit the road!
11:30 - Arrive at the Hinsdale Oasis to meet the breeder. Get a call that she's running late.  Kill time while excitement builds.
12:45 - Breeder arrives. Exchange of puppy and accompanying paperwork takes a surprisingly short 5 minutes.
12:55 - Back on the road.
1:30 - Arrive at Al and Lexi's place to watch Michigan FAIL at the Gator Bowl.  Adios, Rich Rod (hopes?). Bacon meets many new friends and manages to avoid having any accidents! Yeah Bacon!
4:00 - Head to downtown Chicago to visit Ben and Mary Beth and their family (they were visiting from Los Angeles. Great to see them!). Bacon hears his first ambulance (that we know of), and does not like it.
5:30 - Back on the road.  No accidents yet! Whew! We make, I think, five stops on the way home.  Bacon is really starting to get the hang of the whole, "If I go potty really quickly, my new parents pick me up and take me back inside right away!" Yeah, Bacon hates the cold. Like, hates.  As soon as we open the door to take him out, he whimpers.  It's pretty pathetic.  We're going to get a teeny, tiny sweater for him today to help with this issue.  We really don't want him to associate going outside with such hatred.
9:00 - Arrive home. Play a little. Puppy acts a little crazy, but is really just feeling playful.
10:30 - We attempt the crate, think he's fine, then he freaks out and cries like some poor, tortured soul.  We read the chapter in our book about crate training, and realize that we've gone way too quickly.  Oops.
11:00 - Bacon is sooo sleepy.  He snuggles up with the blanket in his crate, and doesn't even realize that we shut the door.  Sleeeeeep....

Overall, he did great. He woke up twice during the night to go potty, then got us up for the day around 7.  Getting him to settle down in the crate is the biggest challenge, but really only takes some TLC and about 5 minutes.  We are figuring out our routine today, which seems to be involving lots of naps. He already slept for about an hour, and is now snuggled up on my lap snoozing.  He's so adorable.  Hearts!!

I'll post more pictures soon.  For now, he's so wiggly that it's hard to capture a good photo while he's awake, and I don't want to wake him with a flash and the camera click when he's asleep.  He's kind of like a baby, you know.