A few months ago, I mentioned that I was considering getting a new puppy. Well, I went and did it. About a month ago, I went on this grand adventure to get our newest Bernese Mountain dog puppy, Willow.

Finding a puppy was the first difficult part. There aren’t a ton of breeders around, and the ones I talked to there were a few issues I was running into. One, some of the pups were related to Finn. I’m not sure if Finn will still be breeding by then, but I didn’t want to have a dog related to him to ensure he couldn’t. The next problem was finding one that I thought was breeding worthy. I’d take a look at the parents and they didn’t really look the way the breed should. I didn’t want to get a puppy and continue passing the wrong appearance on. The last problem was price. Yes, I know they are expensive, but some people were asking over $4000 for one.

Luckily, I found a breeder that had females and met all of my requirements. The problem, though, was the distance. She was in Wisconsin. I ended up deciding it was worth it though, so the next decision was how I was going to get there and back with the new puppy. I thought about driving but it was about 13 hours each way. That meant I would have the puppy in the car for a long time and have to deal with a hotel. Instead, I decided on flying.

Things didn’t start out great. I got on a plane and then we had to all get off because of a medical issue. That threw the rest of my flights off and my plans. Still, things were adjusted, it just meant I had to sit around in airports and get home much later than expected.

I eventually made it to Milwaukee to get her, and that’s when another fun thing popped up. I just happened to talk to someone at the airlines and she told me that my next flight was going to be late which would then make me miss my final flight home. She told me there was an earlier flight, but that meant the puppy would have to get to me sooner and I would be leaving a few hours earlier than expected.

It was a rush but it all worked out and we made our flights. She did pretty well on the flight and they were nice enough to not force her to stay in her crate under the seat. On the final flight back to Fayetteville, the girl beside me volunteered to hold her the entire flight.

Since then, she has done so well with the other dogs and adjusting to my house. She learned how to use the puppy door, sleeps through the night, and is almost completely house broken.

It was a lot of effort to get Willow, but I’m so glad I did. I’ll make sure to update things as she gets bigger.