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| A girl needs a puppy |
It wasn't in the plan, at least the plan I had, to adopt a puppy at the beginning of March. I had been following an organization called Last Chance Animal Rescue on Facebook for about six months and kept seeing these adorable litters of puppies, many were labs mixes. So many cute little loving faces and even though I wouldn't admit it to the rest of the household I was ready to adopt a new family member. That said, I wasn't planning to adopt one until AFTER our Spring Break trip in early April. I should have thought of that before I took not only McB but Brad, the older daughter and her girlfriend to see a sweet looking batch of puppies that were billed as 'Lab/Australian Shepperd mix' on Saturday March 7. At one point all four of them were holding puppies from the litter and they were all sweet and cuddly. I thought we'd love Hades, I loved the name and he was very cute in the pictures but when we saw him in person, cute as he was the little guy laying next to him was cuter. That puppy's name was Zeus. He is now called Dubya and he is our puppy. As you can see from the two photos he knows how to snuggle. In the pictures from Last Chance Animal Rescue he is all of 10 weeks old. They were fairly sure he was born around December 19 or 20 so with McB's birthday being on the 19th we just gave him that birthday too.
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| Age 11 weeks 7 pounds |
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| Age 14 weeks 12 pounds |
We brought him home and thus began my readjustment to having a puppy. I had to get him outside before accidents, picking up poop every day and saying NO a lot! I have also enjoyed buying numerous beds (little pistol chewed up two of them before I bought out an old one of Myles that he'd never used and told him the last dog that laid there died and he'd best watch it, so far no chewing on that bed), at least two extender leashes and we are now on the third collar. The collars are due to him growing...a lot...in the past 4 1/2 months. I had forgotten about puppy teeth and how they are small, sharp and fall out, until there was one just dangling and I had to gently tug it out. I don't even do that with my own kid!
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| Age 12 weeks, size comparison |
Just like having children, things and products change a lot. When I adopted Myles over 19 years ago they didn't have near as many bed options, kennels or even food and toys. Dubya has two large kennels with two doors, one on the end and one on the side and they fold up. He has two different kinds of beds and just this weekend our friends brought over an unused one from their dog that's probably too small for Dubya but he likes it because it's cool on these hot days.
Dubya met Mazie before he even made it home to his own new house. We had to stop and borrow a kennel since I had two on order but they weren't due in for a few days. I will say that Mazie is good with Dubya, she tolerates his puppy energy and that's good because I still remember her as a puppy being all over Myles. She will occasionally give us the look, like the one in this picture. I'm sure she is thinking, "what is HE doing here and when will he get off my bed and stop chewing on my bones?"
Another new item to add to our house, a new dog door. After debating quite a bit where to put it, our friends, Maurice and Mercy, came over to meet the dog and they are the ones that helped us decide. Maurice is a fabulously talented contractor who has made our home beautiful. He made the dog door decision easy, it was pretty much the only place we could cut into wall to install.
Puppies sleep a lot, it's due to them being puppies and that they seem to be growing non stop for the first six months of their lives. Here is a classic shot of him at almost four months.
He is still small enough to hold, but in this picture, taken in early May, he was only 25 pounds. His ears were growing and his baby teeth were falling out and sometimes it seemed he'd grow overnight. This leather chair used to be McB's but Dubya decided it was his chair and he snuggles up in it all the time. It's as if he is playing and running and then decides he needs a time out so he hops up and just sits. Or he watches TV in it. McB sat in it a few weeks ago and he came running over and barked at her until she got out and let him have it. I would like to say there is no 'only puppy' syndrome going on but I'd be wrong. Otherwise I'm giving Brad and myself an A for puppy parenting again at our age.
I thought Dubya just liked the chair because it is his size but now I'm starting to think he just likes leather furniture. He also made our coffee table his nap mat. He can sit on it and sleep or turn around on it and watch TV with us. I have to admit the dog's got personality. Here are two pictures of him, about six weeks apart, look at how much and how fast he has grown!
This pictures of Dubya is him at age 5 months, in May. He was weighing about 40 pounds by then. I did the genetic testing called Wisdom Panel to see what he really is. I decided to do this because of his markings (all the white) and the fact that he showed no remorse at all when he'd have an accident in the house. A lab would self punish for sure! It was fairly easy to do, just swab the inside of his mouth and send it off to a lab. Turns out he's got no lab at all! Dubya is a good mix of English Cocker Spaniel, Siberian Husky, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, and a touch of Bull Terrier. He should get up to 65-80 pounds and clearly he's got Shepherd ears! He's smart and he listens and he learns so he brings us a lot of happiness and laughter. He's unsure about swimming but has a small wading pool he goes in since it's hot. He loves playing catch and brings the ball back and drops it. That has been an unexpected surprise for me.
He loves his little girl and she is becoming really good with him. We've enrolled in a beginning obedience class and even though Brad and I are there it's all her and Dubya. Both are learning to listen to each other.
Here Dubya with McB in June. He's about 45 pounds now and almost 7 months old.
Stay tuned because I know he will show up in more blog postings.
It wasn't in the plan, at least the plan I had, to adopt a puppy at the beginning of March. I had been following an organization called Last Chance Animal Rescue on Facebook for about six months and kept seeing these adorable litters of puppies, many were labs mixes. So many cute little loving faces and even though I wouldn't admit it to the rest of the household I was ready to adopt a new family member. That said, I wasn't planning to adopt one until AFTER our Spring Break trip in early April. I should have thought of that before I took not only McB but Brad, the older daughter and her girlfriend to see a sweet looking batch of puppies that were billed as 'Lab/Australian Shepperd mix' on Saturday March 7. At one point all four of them were holding puppies from the litter and they were all sweet and cuddly. I thought we'd love Hades, I loved the name and he was very cute in the pictures but when we saw him in person, cute as he was the little guy laying next to him was cuter. That puppy's name was Zeus. He is now called Dubya and he is our puppy. As you can see from the two photos he knows how to snuggle. In the pictures from Last Chance Animal Rescue he is all of 10 weeks old. They were fairly sure he was born around December 19 or 20 so with McB's birthday being on the 19th we just gave him that birthday too. 
Dubya met Mazie before he even made it home to his own new house. We had to stop and borrow a kennel since I had two on order but they weren't due in for a few days. I will say that Mazie is good with Dubya, she tolerates his puppy energy and that's good because I still remember her as a puppy being all over Myles. She will occasionally give us the look, like the one in this picture. I'm sure she is thinking, "what is HE doing here and when will he get off my bed and stop chewing on my bones?"
Puppies sleep a lot, it's due to them being puppies and that they seem to be growing non stop for the first six months of their lives. Here is a classic shot of him at almost four months.
He is still small enough to hold, but in this picture, taken in early May, he was only 25 pounds. His ears were growing and his baby teeth were falling out and sometimes it seemed he'd grow overnight. This leather chair used to be McB's but Dubya decided it was his chair and he snuggles up in it all the time. It's as if he is playing and running and then decides he needs a time out so he hops up and just sits. Or he watches TV in it. McB sat in it a few weeks ago and he came running over and barked at her until she got out and let him have it. I would like to say there is no 'only puppy' syndrome going on but I'd be wrong. Otherwise I'm giving Brad and myself an A for puppy parenting again at our age.
I thought Dubya just liked the chair because it is his size but now I'm starting to think he just likes leather furniture. He also made our coffee table his nap mat. He can sit on it and sleep or turn around on it and watch TV with us. I have to admit the dog's got personality. Here are two pictures of him, about six weeks apart, look at how much and how fast he has grown! 
He loves his little girl and she is becoming really good with him. We've enrolled in a beginning obedience class and even though Brad and I are there it's all her and Dubya. Both are learning to listen to each other. 
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