snowstorm 2009

brrrr

 

our first snow

 

 

docs pretty tail

doc

oh my

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?!?!?!”

 

she is playing dead.....

What a great day!  Lennon was a very good, but tired, girl this morning.  She rested up a bit to be ready before we took off to play with the other 3 locals from this litter.  Cara, Duncan, and Munroe were already at the animal hospital when we got there.  They were loose and allowed to romp for a bit before playing musical humans to school sit, down, and stand.  A couple of shots at "come" and the game was over.  She did an AWESOME job.  I love my little prodigy.  She really is one special puppy!  Tonight, she is one especially tired puppy.

Houdini Jr. strikes....and strikes again

Monday morning started out as typical as any since Lennon came home.  We romped and played, had breakfast (albeit not the same breakfast!), let the chickens out, then gathered her up to put her in her ex-pen for the day.  Well, Dad came down about lunchtime to feed her and let her out to potty and play.  She met him at the back door, having escaped the ex-pen in a fashion that would make her grandmother proud.  He stayed and played with her for about 3 hours, then put her back in the ex-pen about an hour before I was going to get home.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and there sat a little black puppy patiently waiting on me to come inside!  Lennon spent practically the whole day loose in the house, unsupervised.  There was barely any evidence that a 10 week old puppy spent the day loose in the house.  All of her toys had migrated from the living room to under the kitchen table, and there was a tiny wet spot on the rug in the kitchen.  She rearranged my VERY EXPENSIVE work boots, but didn’t leave a single mark on them.  How is that for luck and a good puppy?!?!?!  No more ex-pen for her!  She is now being crated when alone.

Monday evening was a blast.  We had some errands to run and ended up at Kathy’s house so she could play with her big brother Munroe.  They raced and ripped, bit and growled, and rolled and tumbled for about an hour and a half.  Mary and I took them down to the creek to play in the water, which was quite a treat.  She had a great time.  The ride home was a quiet one, she slept the entire way.  I had to carry her in and out of the house for the rest of the evening.  If allowed she would have just slept and peed in her sleep I think.  Even this morning she spent her time curled up on a blanket, too tired for her breakfast. 

She bounced right back...

The weekend has been a good one for Lennon, after the ickyness passed.  She did very well with going outside for potty breaks.  She even learned about the steps off the front deck.  After torrential downpours (much needed) for two days, our back yard is a bit of a mud wrestling pit.  I really need to do something about that.  We were going to put down grass seed, but the hardware store was out.  Their seed is on sale, $20 less than Lowes at the moment. 

Little Miss Priss had a big time entertaining company.  Saturday night Frankie and Andrea came over to see her.  Sunday she got to play with Michael and Danielle.  What a happy puppy.  She now goes twisting and wiggling up to David every time he comes in.  She is learning to retrieve for other people, although she gets a bit sticky and will grab the toy and come to me instead.  She managed to jump up on the couch twice this morning.  Looks like its time to re-evaluate where we put the out of bounds items (such as the laptop).   Anyhow-possibly off to play with her brother Munroe tonight as we have some business in Bedford to tend to. 

Staying in the crate in the bedroom is no issue now and we will be phasing out the puppy room this week.  Now-hopefully she will be a little better about coming to dad since she is realizing that strangers are just kibble dispensers in disguise! 

 

Tough day for my loving puppy...

Today was a stretch for my little black princess.  She woke up feeling bad, and got considerably worse throughout the morning.  Everyone knows when a lab refuses food there is something brewing.  But after sleeping and resting most of the day (and worrying me senseless) she seemed to perk up towards the end of the day.  She was able to eat a almost all of her lunch, but I had to feed it to her kibble by kibble. By dinner time she was perky and had a great appetite.  She ate her kibble and yogurt ravenously for the last two meals of the day.  She has really become a big fan of David in the last day or so.  All of that shyness and hesitation in the beginning seems to be well behind us now.  Puppy class got postponed for another week, which should give us a week to get over this little speed bump and resume training.  She is most definitely a retriever, it is by far her favorite thing to do. 

So...she really is the most wonderful little "person"

I'm sitting here typing this and getting the look of "what ya doing mom?"  I just want to pick her up and hug her and wonder just how she has gotten so big so quickly!  I think we're going to have to up the food a little, she is growing faster than I can remember anyone growing.  She has a couple favorite toys, one is a purple bear the other is a blue bunny that is half as big as she is.  The bear is a great retrieving toy, while the bunny just gets dragged from one end of the house to the other.  She has already decided that the rubbery squeaker toys aren't nearly as nice as the cloth ones, but she hasn't figured out how to de-squeak them, YET!  Nights in the crate are no trouble, and days in the puppy room aren't either.  She never ceases to amaze me, and reminds me so much of Willow-Dini's sister.  This puppy was meant for me, but she is starting to think David is ok too!

What to do with all this early morning energy?!?!

Its been a good morning.  Lennon enjoyed her first night in the bedroom instead of the puppy room, crated of course...I'm not that stupid!  She is doing so well.  True to what Kathy said, everybody deserves to be hero-worshipped by something.  She is stuck to me like glue.  She was better last night and at least willing to play with David some.  Auntie Mary came over and acted like a hotdog dispenser for a while and Lennon decided she might be ok after all.

She is lying in the floor chewing on a rawhide, FINALLY! She has insisted on chewing on me all morning. We're still trying to learn that arms and toes are not chew toys, and faces and hands for that matter.

Hopefully YouTube will hurry up and process the video I just posted.  We had a great time with retrieving the green alien this morning.

Also-we haven't had an accident in the house since yesterday morning and that was my fault....I let her out of the puppy room and she was trying so hard to make it outside.  We got almost through the kitchen and she couldn't wait anymore.  I should have carried her out, its a long trip from the puppy room to the door when you have a tiny but very full bladder!

A photo of the snatch and turn:

Finally-youtube success!

Another day in paradise

Life on the hill is excellent today.  Lennon did a little better for my dad.  Dad was thrilled with the new ladies.  The Barred Plymouth Rock ladies that is, day 1 and we have 3 fresh eggs.  After they settle down from the move they should be back to full production.  Well-Mary just got here, and we have a chicken with a damaged beak to fix...before and after pics to come!