Meet Koda, Our Sweet Samoyed!

Last Friday, the Moore family got a little bit bigger with our newest addition to our family! Meet Koda, our sweet 8-week-old samoyed puppy. Zach and I have been wanting to get a samoyed for a LOOOONG time. We’ve put HOURS of time over the last year into researching the perfect breed that would be great with kids (since we hope to start that journey in the next couple of years). There were a few options we were initially looking at, but ultimately, we fell head-over-heels in love with samoyeds. They have the sweetest personalities, they’re really patient with children, they’re smart…and they’re completely adorable if you couldn’t tell 🙂 Honestly, the only negative side is the shedding, which is something we can handle.

The Journey

The thing about a samoyed is that they cost a lot….a lot a lot. This breed is very popular for shows, so most of the breeders we found charge a lot more than we were comfortable spending on a dog. I asked around to many breeders and not only do samoyed puppies cost a lot, but there are also crazy long waiting lists for a puppy. We looked at rescuing a young sammy, but we never heard back about it. It was okay, because we really weren’t in any rush to get a dog. We were just trying to be proactive since the wait lists were so long (some of them were at least a year). We figured we’d get on one now so we could have our samoyed by next year.

Once Last Chance

Two weeks ago, I had emailed a handful of samoyed breeders to see what the cost would be, health guarantees, etc. and everyone responded back with prices that were well past the budget we set for ourselves. I figured the timing was just bad and we could try again later. Just as I was about to give up, I heard back from a breeder that was under out budget and had puppies available in just two weeks. We were ecstatic. We jumped on a phone call with the breeder to ask all of our questions and sent them a deposit that evening. It happened so fast, but we just knew that this was meant to be!

Time for a Road Trip!

The one problem was that this breeder was located in New York. Yup…you read that right: New York — near Buffalo. A 10-hour drive for us each way. Now, you might think we we’re crazy, but honestly…that’s nothing for us. We drove from Raleigh to Racine in just one day a few years ago. We had originally planned to make it a whole weekend thing and go to the Appalachian vs. Penn State game, but the breeder told us to arrive early if we wanted to be able to pick out our puppy. So we opted to just drive straight there and back so we’d be able to pick the one we wanted.

We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was totally worth it. Koda is such a sweetheart and I just love that Zach was able to pick the sammy he wanted. So many breeders we found were pretty hardcore when it came to that kind of stuff. Most of them just assign you a puppy and that’s it. You don’t get to see what they’re like before you take them home. When we got there, the pups were all pretty tired from a morning of running around. Koda was so chill and relaxed — he just seemed to fit right in with our personalities! Not only that, but we thought he’d really compliment Riley’s personality as well.

Coming Home

So off we went! Koda’s first experience with us was a 10-hour car ride back to North Carolina and he actually did amazingly well. He cried for the first few minutes as he tried to get a glimpse out of the back window. It was heartbreaking seeing him so sad, but he quickly fell asleep in Zach’s arms. Zach was in heaven — I don’t think I’ve him get so giddy about anything before (it was so cute).

We brought a crate in case Koda felt more comfortable in it, but he actually preferred for us to hold him. As the day went on, he found that he loved spending time on the floor because he had the cold air blowing on him the entire time. He was pretty sleepy, and he always let us know when he had to stop to go to the bathroom. We didn’t have ANY accidents during our trip back — I couldn’t believe it.

Fitting In

Riley’s been doing much better than I thought she would at the idea of a new puppy joining the pack. She was not super thrilled at first, but now they play together pretty well. I think there’s still going to be some adjusting for a few weeks, but I’ve been impressed with how she’s handled it. Koda has done very well adjusting to his new life here! The first night was rough because he wasn’t crate trained yet. However, nights 2 and 3 were MUCH better. Last night, he barely woke up at all! Zach already told him how to sit, and he hasn’t been too bad with accidents in the house — though we will still need to work on that with him.

Overall, everything is simply perfect. The timing for us was just right and we are SO thrilled with our sweet Koda boy. He is so smart, and I just cannot wait to see how much he grows over the next few months! If you want to follow along with Koda’s adventures, just click here to follow him on Instagram!

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