In early March 2020 just prior to the Covid pandemic sweeping through the USA and the rest of the World, closing down just about everything, I purchased a yellow lab puppy for a reputable breeder in the Ukraine.
before he was born, our family decided his name would be Yeti.

Yeti was born in April 2020 and through photos we watched his litter grow into incredibly gorgeous puppies! The bi-weekly photo updates and periodic videos helped keep us grounded while my children tackled remote learning, I experienced food & supply shortages at the grocery stores, the concept of wearing masks in public places came to life and so on…

In June the breeder contacted me that she had chosen Purple Boy, the pick of the male puppies, as our pup! We were thrilled!! Dogs can’t be imported into the USA until they are 4 months and have had their Rabies vaccine at least 30 days prior to arrival – so our wait was not over… Due to Covid the airlines were largely shutdown, the borders were closed, and I worried “if and when” we would actually get him. Alas in mid-June limited flights were operating and I was again optimistic.

A corner of my daughter’s room had turned into a shrine of puppy stuff. A Yeti dog dish for Yeti the dog, A personalized crate blanket, toys, toys and more toys lined the Inside of an empty crate as we counted the days until mid-August for Yeti’s arrival.

As our anticipation was bubbling over the breeder gave us an arrival date of the evening of August 16! He would be flying into the Atlanta Airport accompanied by a Puppy Nanny – which was the shortest and safest route from the Ukraine at the time. I had previously been made aware that he would arrive on the east coast and that domestic shipping of live animals across the US was not available due to Covid. He was too big to carry on as a cabin pet…so when I was given Atlanta as his arrival city I didn’t think twice about him arriving 2000 miles from the Colorado. I booked myself a flight to Atlanta for the morning of August 16, and upon arrival rented a Tahoe for our roadtrip adenture back home to Colorado. I found a Petsmart and did some last minute puppy shopping, grabbed a Starbucks and headed to the International Terminal to wait for Yeti’s arrival.

The time between when Yeti’s flight landed and when his flight Nanny cleared customs with him and brought him out to me In the terminal seemed like an eternity, but finally he came…all the months of waiting, hoping and praying paid off. It was love at first sight.

Yeti and I had an event-less trip home where he was greeted by the rest of our family. He loves to ride in the car, has the mellowest and happiest personality and is absolutely gorgeous.

Our adventures with Yeti have just began