Four Sandals Down: Namtan's First Weeks as a Golden Puppy

Namtan came home in the back seat of our car in April, wrapped in a towel, with her chin on my arm. She was ten weeks old, cream-coloured and so soft that I did not want to put her down. We named her Namtan, brown sugar, because that is exactly what she looked like in the sunlight on the terrace.

The first night was the hardest. She cried at two, at three, and at four. I slept on the living room floor next to her crate with my hand through the bars, and by the fifth night she slept through. Nobody tells you that a puppy's first week is mostly toilet training, towel washing and learning to read very small signals. Sniffing the floor in circles means go outside now. Not in ten minutes. Now.

By week two, she discovered sandals. Not any sandals, my sandals, the ones left near the front door. Four pairs have gone so far, two of them new. I now keep a basket for shoes on a high shelf, and I give her a frozen carrot or a chew toy when she goes for the door. Our vet in Hua Hin said chewing is normal at this age because her teeth are changing, and gave us a simple vaccine and deworming schedule to follow. I keep it on the fridge with a magnet.

Heat is a topic of its own. A golden puppy with a thick cream coat is not made for Hua Hin in April, so we walk at the quiet end of the beach at dawn, only ten or fifteen minutes, and she sleeps afterwards on the tile. Short sessions, lots of water, no hot sand. When she plays at the shoreline her whole body wiggles. One morning she got so excited that she did three zoomies in a row and fell asleep, face down, in her water bowl. I took the photo, of course.

Socialising matters too. We met other puppies on the quiet end of the beach, and the fishermen who mend nets there now know her by name. She is still unsure about scooters, so we practise from a distance, with treats, a little closer every day.

I thought I was prepared. I was not, and I would not take any of it back. The sandals, however, are staying on the high shelf.