There are certain things you can plan for when getting a puppy. The early mornings. The training. The walks. The occasional accident on the floor.

And then there are the things nobody really tells you about.

Like suddenly knowing half the neighbourhood because your dog wants to meet everyone. Or finding yourself standing in a café while he eats the wallpaper, barks at a walking cane and steals a piece of quiche from the table.

For Mina and Carlos, life with Columbo is still very much in that stage.

He's six months old, half Podenco, half Border Collie and, in their words, bold, friendly and intense. Very intense. But to understand how Columbo arrived, we have to go back a little.

Waiting for the right one

Both Mina and Carlos grew up surrounded by animals. After four years living together in Barcelona, they decided they were finally ready for a dog of their own.

Finding one turned out to be harder than expected.

For more than four months, they searched and applied to adopt different puppies, without success. Eventually, they began to think perhaps it simply wasn't going to happen.

Then, on April 14th, they saw an Instagram post.

A litter of puppies had been found abandoned in a field in Cádiz. Among them was a tiny, barely one-month-old Columbo.

"As soon as we saw the photos, we felt an instant connection," they remember. "It was as if we already knew him."

This time, their application was accepted almost immediately.

"It felt like it was meant to be."

A home full of ideas – and now, a puppy.

Creativity was already a big part of Mina and Carlos's everyday life long before Columbo arrived.

Mina is a visual artist who has spent the past three years focusing on ceramics. Her work transforms her ideas into physical objects — vases, lamps, and sculptural pieces that combine references to Rococo and Victorian design with a contemporary sensibility.

Nature is one of her biggest sources of inspiration.

Carlos works in a very different medium. A digital artist originally from Honduras and now based in Barcelona, much of his work is created through 3D animation.

But underneath the technology, his approach is surprisingly human.

For Carlos, it's about telling small stories – moments and ideas shaped more by raw emotion than logic. And then into the lives of these two makers came something neither of them could design, render, or completely control.

Columbo.

No manual included

"It's literally like having a baby," they say.

The biggest lesson so far has been patience. A puppy needs time, consistency and effort. But perhaps most importantly, Mina and Carlos have realised that becoming dog parents isn't only about teaching Columbo how to fit into their lives.

They have had to adapt to him, too.

"You both have to adapt from scratch without a manual, because every puppy is different."

Some lessons have been more glamorous than others. Teaching Columbo to pee and poop outside ranks fairly high on the list of challenges. Sunday lie-ins have also become a distant memory.

"We don't even know what it's like to wake up at 10 a.m. on a Sunday anymore," they laugh.

Then there was the café.

Meeting a friend for what should have been a fairly normal afternoon, Columbo managed to eat a sizeable piece of wallpaper, bark at a wooden walking cane and become so restless that their friend resorted to dancing with him to calm him down.

He then stole a leftover piece of quiche from the table. Apparently, the problem was simple. He hadn't played with another dog yet that day.

The ultimate icebreaker

But some of the biggest changes have been completely unexpected. Columbo loves people – a lot.

Walking around Barcelona with him has changed the way Mina and Carlos interact with the city itself. People stop them every day to say hello. A quick comment about Columbo turns into a five-minute conversation. Sometimes it becomes an hour.

They describe him as "the ultimate icebreaker."

For two people whose work revolves around observing, making and telling stories, perhaps it makes sense that one of the things they've noticed most is how Columbo has changed the way they look at everyday life.

"He has changed not only our schedules, but also our way of seeing life — observing and appreciating the little things more."

A lot of energy

Of course, appreciating the little things is easier when you can keep up with them.

Mina and Carlos deliberately wanted an energetic dog. They're active themselves, love sport and being in nature, and wanted a dog who could eventually share that lifestyle with them.

With a Podenco–Border Collie mix, they certainly got what they asked for. For Columbo, a good day is straightforward: walking, playing, a ball, drinking from fountains and — most importantly — running with other dogs. A lot.

His energy has also taught them something they perhaps didn't anticipate taking quite so seriously: training.

Daily consistency and building good habits have become part of life together. So has another habit they presumably didn't plan on. Spoiling him with food while they cook. Some dog-parent rules are apparently easier to break than others.

Just the beginning

Six months isn't very long. Columbo is still learning about the world, and Mina and Carlos are still learning about him. Perhaps that's what makes this particular moment in their lives worth capturing.

He won't always be the puppy who eats café wallpaper or requires someone to dance with him when he hasn't had enough playtime. The early mornings will change. His routines will change. Eventually, even that seemingly unlimited puppy energy might settle down.

And Mina and Carlos are conscious of how quickly it's happening.

"We're learning to appreciate every step of his growth because they grow up so fast."

What comes next, they hope, is a much bigger world. They want Columbo with them when they travel, explore nature, discover new places and meet new people.

"We want to take him with us everywhere. We want him to be part of the adventure."

Four months of searching eventually led them to a one-month-old puppy abandoned in a field hundreds of kilometres away. Six months later, the relationship already feels very different.

"The fact that we adopted him and that we're now part of his life is one of the most beautiful things we've ever experienced."

Or, as Mina and Carlos put it more simply: He's not just our dog. He's our son.