What does it take to own the perfect puppy?

For us, it takes (finally) living together in the same place for more than a few months at a time. It also takes a four-wheel drive and a lot of reading.

In pursuit of the perfect Golden Retriever, we’ve been researching breeders and stocking up on books. Today we followed a dirt road out into the middle of nowhere to meet with a breeder.

The puppies on the other end of the road were only ten days old, their eyes still closed. They looked like little mini-baguettes of french bread. Not much to interact with yet, but adorable and cute. The female puppy licked my husband’s hand and made tiny mewling noises.

We’re very excited. We sometimes joke, of course, that we’re going to turn into the high-strung yuppie couple from the film Best of Show: anxious, latte-drinking obsessives with a neurotic show dog. But we’re probably too laid-back for that kind of perfectionism.

Still, we did fortify ourselves for the puppy quest by ordering perfect lattes from The Laughing Goat, expertly made by a girl with a mermaid tattoo.