Nomsod's First Week: One Slipper, One Remote, Zero Sleep

Nomsod came to our house in Hang Dong on a rainy Saturday afternoon, riding in a cardboard box on my friend's lap. She was eight weeks old, brown and white, and so small that she fitted inside one of my slippers. She had a tiny underbite and enormous eyes, and within five minutes she had chosen her place: my feet.

The first night was long. I had read that puppies cry in a new home, but nobody prepared me for the volume. I put a soft towel and a warm water bottle in her crate, with a worn T-shirt that smelled of me, and sat beside it on the floor until two in the morning. She cried, she hiccupped, she cried again, and then she slept, with her chin on the edge of the crate. I slept on the sofa and woke up with a back like a plank.

By day three we had a routine: wake, pee outside, breakfast, play, nap, repeat. Puppies sleep a lot, and my vet explained that the sleeping is as important as the playing. The first vet visit was very gentle. She was weighed, checked, and we made a plan for vaccines and deworming. The vet reminded me to keep her away from other dogs and public ground until the vaccination course is finished, which was hard in a town where every neighbour wants to meet the new puppy. We carry her instead, and everyone is happy.

The destruction started on day four. One slipper, then the TV remote, then a corner of my favourite sarong. I did not shout, because I read that it only confuses them. I bought rubber chew toys, froze a wet washcloth for her teething gums, and put everything valuable on high shelves. It works about seventy percent of the time, which I am told is excellent.

The rainy season adds another challenge, because the garden turns to mud every afternoon. Nomsod hates getting her paws wet, so we have a towel by the door and a short list of dry spots on the terrace. By the end of the week she knew her name, the word 'sit' for about three seconds, and the sound of the biscuit tin. I knew nothing about puppies a week ago. Now I know exactly where to put the remote.