petes leg

Fall colors and a hike up to Johnson's Farm

the princess on her throne...

Well, its not looking good for the dog that was supposed to learn to stay off of the furniture.  Haha...her $7 dog bed is nice, but she prefers "her" leather ottoman.  She is feeling better today, and it seems like we may have the stomach upset under control.  I guess we'll see how she is in the morning.  I haven't given her any loparamide since lunchtime today.  I'm hoping for an undisturbed night of sleep!

Plans are made to be changed...

No sooner had I typed yesterday’s update, David came running inside and said “looks like we’re going to Ferrum after all.”  Going to Ferrum is exciting news, Buster has been out of work for several months now.  It looks like Lennon and I won’t be pre-registering for the NC Specialty anyhow.  I’m keeping it on the back burner though.  They are accepting entries the morning of the show, so if Buster can’t take the work for the next couple of weeks I could still enter.  It will be exciting to be back in the wonderful world of horse pulling though.  This is the one time when I laugh and consider David’s dad calling me a “hooker” as a compliment.  (For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the two people on the evener “hooking” the team to the sled.)

Looks like Lennon and I are off to play with her sibs at the animal hospital tonight.  I’m going to try my hardest to remember my camera!

the show bug has bitten

Well-for all you faithful followers out there, it looks as though I might have twisted Mary's arm to go to the UKC Labrador Specialty in NC in a couple weeks.  They're having some nonlicensed classes, one of which is the novice puppy class.  I think the little miss is going to get a little show experience at the ripe old age of 3 months.  Also, Kathy was telling me about another Labrador Specialty up in New Jersey in January.  We're going to shoot for that one as her first official outing!

A restful Sunday...well, sort of

Yesterday was an exciting day for Miss Lennon.  She got to go to the animal hospital to see Kathy, June, and Gwen.  Dr. Asbury was very pleased with her development and said she seemed to be a picture of perfect health.  She weighed in at 22 lbs 5 oz.  Larger than her brother Duncan by about a pound.  Then we went for breakfast at Denny's and Alli won her 2 toys from the claw machine.  Talk about a happy puppy!  She loves her new Halloween themed toys. 

This morning, we decided it was time for some more pictures.  Lennon, "blue baby" (little stuffed bear), and Grandma Dini all decided a romp was in order in the front yard.

Poor Itchy Puppy (PIP)

Well, today is a rough day for “mom” at work.  My dear little PIP is at home popping Benadryl like a sleep deprived soccer mom.  The pyoderma is driving her nuts!  She is just terribly itchy all the time right now.  I started putting Benzyl Peroxide on her tummy yesterday and finally started her on Benadryl this morning.  She was up several times last night scratching, but didn’t need to go out until this morning.  Thinking back, in the time that I’ve had her she has only had to go out once during the night.  She is getting better about going to bed a bit earlier and getting up a bit later.  We are trying very hard not to develop a set wake-up time.  I do not want a puppy that starts tearing the house apart to wake me up for breakfast at 5:30 on the weekends.  Her training is going well.  Sit and Down are quick, like being shot out of a cannon.  My clicker hand can’t keep up!  We’re working on stand.  Hopefully we’ll get that one down in the next week so we can start practicing stacking.  I know it will be a lot easier for her if she learns it early and hopefully we can avoid defaulting to “sit” in the breed ring.  She is a pleasure to have around, 110 % of the time!  My dad was devastated when I told him that it would be a black puppy that came home with me.  He finally realized yesterday that color is only color and makes NO DIFFERENCE in how wonderful a dog is.  He told her she was perfect yesterday….I had to make the point “oh, you mean you like a black dog?!?!?!”