Our Portuguese Water Dog: Tuck
We knew we wanted a family dog but weren’t expecting one last fall, the same month we moved into our farmhouse build.
How did we end up with Mr.Tuckamore Tom? (Tuck for Short)
In 2015, while we were still living in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Lloyd met two sweet, curious, and gentle Portuguese Water Dogs. He was in Corner Brook, a town four hours away from where we lived, and spent his commute home on the phone with me, raving about the pair and his new found fandom of the breed.
Note: Tuck is a notorious counter surfer.
No unwatched morsel of food, whether big or small, is safe in this house. He’s a big fan of Theodora’s, we wonder if his affection has anything to do with her tendency to sneak him snacks.
After Lloyd’s encounter, he was convinced (and convincing me), that there was no other dog more suited for our family.
The Portuguese Water Dog (Portie) had so many common traits that seemed to meet our needs:
Hypoallergenic
Minimal shedding
Good with children
Not too big: medium sized
Able to enjoy the outdoors with us
Decided. “When we move home to Nova Scotia in the summer, we will welcome home a Portie puppy.”
Our move home hadn’t gone as planned. At the time, Lloyd was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer (RCMP), and we were initially posted back to our home province of Nova Scotia, and more specifically our little island we both grew up on: Cape Breton. We had planned on moving home, settling down, and starting our family by welcoming our first dog.
What’s the saying about making God laugh by telling him your plans?
Sleeping: a favourite pastime of Tuck’s.
We had expected a new chapter of life in the RCMP, in our beloved Cape Breton, but had found ourselves transitioning: Lloyd had been accepted into Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law.
A move to the big city, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was in store. We had never lived there but did have close friends who did to welcome us. Their apartment building was wonderful: great location, reasonably priced, and nestled in a quiet neighbourhood not too far from the university.
The only drawback? It didn’t accept pets.
With moving to a new city and the sting of putting our Cape Breton dream off for a few more years, selecting the same apartment building that our friends lived in was the right choice for that time. We emailed the breeder we previously had been on a waiting list with and told her our home wasn’t quite ready to welcome a pup.
“Hi, Mama. Any snacks?”
When we finally did move home to Cape Breton in 2019, despite knowing the waitlist for a portie puppy was usually about a year or more long, I decided to “put it out there”, and emailed our breeder letting her know we were finally back and ready.
Initially we were set to welcome a pup within a year’s time.
Be careful what you wish for or say out loud.
‘Helping’ clean the dishes.
Not even a full week after I had emailed , we got a phone call:
there was one lone puppy whose initial forever home had fallen through, our breeder wondered if we could meet at the airport to pick him up that Friday. It was Tuesday.
We said yes.
Christmas pup.
Nick names: Counter Surfer, Mud Lover.
Life with a puppy and our toddler, Theodora, is at times hectic, especially with Lloyd back and forth finishing law school; but, we consider Tuck (no matter how mischievous) our meant-to-be pup.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today. I hope to see you again soon, -Samantha