A couple of months ago my wife and I decided to get a puppy. I always wanted to have a dog, but when I was a kid, my parents never let me have one.

Her name is Nina, and she is eight weeks old. We named her after the singer Nina Simone. Nina is a short and cute name. It’s also sort of a common name in Finland, and well, she is Finnish after all.

We had to travel to Eastern Finland to get her, in a city called Joensuu, about 400 km (248~ miles) away from Oulu. We were a little bit (very) worried about the trip because we had to bring her on a bus, and it was a long trip (6:30 hours).

Before bringing her back to Oulu, we spent the weekend with her on an Airbnb in Joensuu so she could familiarize with us and feel safe around us. After all, she was just seven weeks old at the time, and we just separated her from her mother and littermates. We started to get worried about the trip because she wouldn’t stay on our lap for very long and staying inside the transportation crate was an absolute no for her. She would cry and try to get away from it. I thought she would want to start wandering around the bus or start whining and crying.

But she proved me wrong and came sleeping very calmly and quietly on the floor during the whole trip. To our surprise, she even let us hold her for the last one hour of the trip. It ended up being a great bonding experience with her.

Anyway, I never thought it was such an intense experience having a dog. Our routines changed dramatically, in ways we didn’t anticipate. It has been so different from what we thought our lives would be when we get Nina. But at the same time having a dog or a pet at home bring so much joy and happiness. We’ve never been happier.