Letter

Lazy Days

It's hot! It's humid outside. I have this one last week of school ahead of me. We are going into summer mode . . . starting with a Sunday afternoon nap.

Bye Bye, Puppy. Hello, Doggie.

Happy birthday, Winter! One year ago today she was born in the snow. This is what ten months of expensive dog food will do to your puppy.

Winter at 8 weeks.

Winter at 12 months.

Dog Brushing Follow Up

Sean never posted a photo of dog brushing. Well, here's Winter and her new grooming table. She hates it. We love it.

Letter

Dog Brushing

Winter is nearly a year old. We have gone from a small puppy jumping gleefully up and down to a massive polar bear roaming around our house. Grooming her has become a twice weekly event. We need to do this, or her big beautiful coat stars to get matted, so tonight Marci and I assembled a new grooming table that helps a lot.

She has also taken to burying her bones in various places in the yard. Strange since we give her more than enough food. Last night Marci watched as our dog skillfully and carefully tried to bury her rawhide in the couch. Very cute I'm told.

We hope to transition her from the crate soon - just not sure I trust the massive beast alone in our house all day by herself. The fear of coming home to pieces of our furniture is still all to real.

She loves the snow - she romps around outside in the cold loving every minute of it, I guess with that big coat she doesn't feel the cold too much. Winter is still in love with the neighbor dog - "lucky" When she was a pup he used to knock her right off her feet, now at a full gallop towards him from Lucky runs for cover.

If I get home early enough and let her out, her favorite part of the day is to sit on the front lawn and wait for the school bus to drop off the kids. A few of them walk by and give her a nice pat on the head and a hug. She just sits there, and then trots off to the backyard, ready to give Lucky a good stare down.

We love her, she's full of character. Marci tells me all the time that she thinks she's the cutest dog ever. I cant help but agree.

Sean.

My Favorites

I took these photos a few weeks ago. Sean and Winter were just sitting together on the front porch, hanging out. I do believe the saying that a dog is man's best friend. Sean loves her (so do I). She's a handful, but she is so much fun too.

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Assortment

We have been so busy these past weeks. Sean has been recording another CD and has spent some evenings in the studio and work has kept him moving as well. We keep finding projects to do around the house and end up decorating, organizing, and fixing way too often instead of just relaxing. And I started school this past week. Whew! What a whirlwind! In addition to the normally crazy start to a school year, it seems I have "that" class. You know, the one that makes you re-evaluate your career choice. I've heard the rumors since they were in Kindergarten and now it's my turn to teach them. It looks like I have my work cut out for me.

So, this long weekend was a welcome respite from the fast pace of life that we got ourselves into. Saturday was spent celebrating with our friends, Brian and Melissa, at their beautiful wedding. What fun! Yesterday, after sleeping in (a rare event) because Winter was at the kennel while we were away at the wedding, Sean and I fit in our old tradition of brunch together. He still fit in some household maintenance (touch up painting, hanging shelves and mirrors) at home and I spent some time at school getting things in order. Last evening, we were able to relax with his family. Today we were again able to sleep late because Winter was exhausted from her fun at the kennel (thank goodness!). Later, the three of us drove out to Mount Gretna and hiked the rails to trails. Winter loved it! She got to sniff to her heart's content, and many people stopped to say hello to her while receiving a few sloppy kisses for their friendliness. She was exhausted when we came home, so the three of us too a long afternoon nap. Ahhh! What a wonderful weekend! I feel refreshed . . . although not ready to go back to work.

Enjoy these few photos of our fluffy friend from today.

Ready to go on our excursion

Too tired from our hike to even stand up to drink

Ahh, refreshed!

Big Dog

Winter is 8 months old today and around 60 pounds. She has truly become a little beast. Lately she has reverted to some of her not-so-acceptable behavior . . . digging holes in the flower beds, eating my petunias, stealing socks, carrying around the lawn sprinkler, chewing the watering can, chewing open a motor oil can and spilling oil everywhere. But in spite of it all, we love her. We keep saying that she's getting by on her looks. Here are a few new pictures. They prove that she sure is cute and that's why she's getting by. Enjoy!

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Winter's New Do

Sean and I returned home from Mexico late Tuesday night (more on our trip to come) and were looking forward to picking up Winter from the vet where we had kenneled her for the week we were away. After last week's trauma, we were excited to have our puppy back. So Wednesday morning Sean headed off to work and I headed off to pick up the pooch. When they brought her out to me, this is what she looked like . . . (kind of like a black and white lion, big mane, skinny body).


Let me explain. When we dropped off Winter, we received the red carpet treatment. They were falling over themselves to accommodate our needs. After our horrific experience of having Winter's incision open up and thus having emergency surgery, the vet's office gave her a free stay in the canine courtyard. They also were having a vet check on her every day that we were gone. Great, we knew she would be in a good place and have time to heal. Before we left, Sean asked if they would be able to clip her down while we were gone. He specifically said that we'd like a little fluff on her, so clip her to about an inch or so. If they couldn't do it, that was fun with us. We'd schedule a grooming appointment after her stitches were removed. Sean called the vet while we were in Mexico to just check up on her. Sean again asked if they could schedule a hair cut and gave specific instructions indicating how we wanted her groomed and if it didn't work this time due to her incision, we were fine with that. I had a message on my cell when were laid over in Houston, saying that the groomer didn't feel comfortable clipping Winter at this time due to her stitches and Winter's "hyperactivity." Yes, she is a bit hyper, so we were fine with that decision. You can imagine my surprise to see my dog clipped down to her skin on her body and with a full head of hair. It was explained to me that since the groomer wasn't comfortable doing the clipping, a nurse did it so it's not as good as it would normally be. The nurse also did not do Winter's head since Winter starting biting at her (apparently something we need to work on). So our fluffy puppy is no longer. We have what looks to be a malnourished, rescue dog. Her fur is clipped completely to the pink skin in some parts, and in other parts there are clumps of thick longer hair. Why they just didn't follow our instructions to let it be if she couldn't be groomed, I'll never know. So Sean and I tried to at least make her head look like the rest of her body and this is the result of that undertaking . . .


She looks a bit pathetic. It's just hair and she'll grow out to be all fluffy again. But I'm pretty sure she's enjoying the "cooler" new do.

Winter's Week

Our puppy has been quite the entertaining little beast for the past 4 months. However, this week took an interesting turn. Each day held its own little surprise.

Tuesday morning: Winter has routine spay procedure since she is 6 months old. Procedure goes smoothly and vet calls to say that Winter is awake and standing in the crate staring at her. No lying down long for this little doggie.

Tuesday evening: Winter comes home and sleeps a lot. (She also comes home with medication for skin infection.) She has a few episodes of, well, vomiting. Winter vomits every hour and a half from 2:00 am until about 8:30 am the next morning.

Wednesday morning: Return to vet. Winter gets a shot to settle her stomach and goes home with more medication and a bland diet to eat over the next day or so.

Wednesday evening: Winter perks up a bit. We need to keep her from running and jumping.

Thursday morning: Winter has her appetite back and we work hard to keep her from running and jumping.

Thursday evening: Winter jumps from back step onto driveway. I discover a drop of blood on our kitchen floor. Return to vet once again. Winter has 2 staples put in to keep her incision together and must now wear the lovely "cone" to prevent licking and biting at the wound. Oh boy!

Friday: Winter wears cone all day and runs into everything. We hate the cone!

Saturday: Pleasant start to the day. Winter behaves, so we remove the cone that evening.

Now here's where the graphic part begins . . .Winter didn't bother with her incision at all and it seemed to be knitting together. We let her lay in the front yard. I had checked on her and she was simply laying there watching cars go by. About 5 minutes after I looked out, I heard her barking excessively (unusual for her) and Sean went to see what she was doing. All of a sudden, I heard him say "Oh, God!" and I race down the stairs. Brace yourself . . . I ran out the back door only to see my puppy running in circles and yelping an unbelievable yelp of pain that I will forever remember. As I looked closely, I saw Sean trying to grab her at the same time I also saw that her intestines were hanging out of her abdomen. Her incision had completely come apart. We will never know what happened. She had just been laying on the grass, now here she was completely coming undone. Sean and I spring into action. I grabbed towels, keys and my phone from inside of the house as Sean somehow managed to pick up Winter. He in some way managed to slide into the cargo space of our car as I ran out of the house. Sean had her in such a tight grip against him. I jumped in the driver's seat and just took off, calling the vet as I went to get the pet ER number. We arrived in a matter of minutes. I'm not sure how I got there. I ran inside to get help. The vet techs came out wheeling one of those restaurant bus boy carts covered in a towel. I guess that is a pet gurney. As they put Winter on the cart, she reached up and put a paw on either side of the young man's face. That was the last we saw of her until after she woke up from her surgery. As we waited, I cried a lot. I truly lost it when Sean told me that as he sat in the back and her insides were on the outside, Winter looked at him and started to lick his face. This is the dog we love. After what felt like an eternity, the wonderful doctor got her all put together and stitched up. She was fine and we were elated. She did have to stay overnight. When Sean picked her up today, the nurse said it was a good thing because Winter was standing up in her crate and barking every time the nurse walked by. She wanted out. Our little pup also decided she did not like her IV and tore it out herself. She's a tough one.

Winter is home now. She is doing well. Her incision is stitched tightly together and she's back to her usual shenanigans. I do believe Winter is going to be just fine. Thank goodness!

Sean displaying our large and unexpected medical bill

Birthday Puppy

Winter is 6 months old today! She's been a great puppy . . . most of the time. I have to admit, there were many times that we second guessed our decision to get a puppy. She's a handful, but we love her anyway. How could we not love that cute face! As I type this, she is at the vet's office ready to be spayed. Poor thing. They told me that we'll need to keep her calm and not allow her to jump for the next 3 to 5 days. Yeah right! Do they know Winter? There's nothing "calm" about this dog. So happy birthday, Winter!

Winter at 6 weeks, the day we picked her out.

Winter at 6 months. Look how she's grown. She's 48 pounds.

Click here for some new photos of the beast . . . Winter
Click here to see what she was like at 6 weeks . . . Baby Winter

40 Pounds

That's how much the "puppy" weighs. 5 months old and 40 pounds. She still has about 50 more to go. Yikes! She looks more and more like a big old Sheepdog every day. But she acts all Puppy! Here's the latest proof of size.

Massive beast

Our dog continues to expand into a massive animal. I took Marci to Rita's tonight for some ice cream. We saw a cute little German shepherd that was 4 months old, the same age as our puppy. Winter absolutely dwarfed this dog in size. She was at least twice his size. I got a cold shiver down my spine. A German shepherd is not a small dog.

She is cute though. Here is the latest pic. I'm not supposed to let her up on my lap, but I cant resist it. Included is a picture taken from only 2 and a half months ago. Yikes.

I guess all that organic, expensive dog food is really working.

Beastie

Our puppy is growing. We brought Winter home when she was 8 weeks old and about 12 pounds. Tonight we had her 16 week vet appointment, and after a struggle to get her to simply stand on the scale, Winter weighed in at a whopping 28 pounds. The doggie is becoming a beast.

8 Weeks

16 Weeks

Getting bigger

Winter baby is getting bigger. By the minute. It seems that we put her in the crate at night, and she wakes up, bigger. Soon she will no longer be winter "baby" but winter "middle school."

After that I'm sure she is going to want the keys to my car.

I'm being told by everyone to "enjoy the puppy years." Those people have obviously never had to get up at 2 am in 12 deg f to let her out.

She is still a love bug. All you have to do is sit on the kitchen floor and she'll come over and flop into your lap. The barking in the crate at night has (mercifully) come to an end. She simply walks in after a bit of persuading and goes to sleep. I guess a puppy's life can keep a pup busy most of the time, what with all the smells in the yard that need investigation, all the sitting for treats that need to be done.....

I have come to the realization that my beautiful grass is going to be destroyed this summer.

Oh well, look at these pictures and tell me she's not worth it.

Sean.

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Puppy Kindergarten

Puppy Kindergarten just may save our lives! We thought we were getting a cute, fuzzy little angel of a dog, but no, we got a dominant and slightly aggressive little you-know-what. Our hero, Kaye Ames, has graciously invited us to an extra class a week to work on Winter's dominance. We shouldn't be too surprised considering she is an Old English Sheepdog, a breed known for their bossy-ness and take charge attitude. For the most part, Winter is a love and just wants to be near us and play with us. But when we take charge or expect her to do something she doesn't want to do she makes the switch from Jekyll to Hyde. Good thing she's cute! Here are some photos of her now at 12 weeks. Cuteness!

Photos

At 8 Weeks

At 12 Weeks

Puppy meltdown

Last night was no fun. It was a pure battle of wills. Canine 1. Human 0.

Winter's schedule was all messed up due to me being in and out of the house all day. Sometimes my work keeps me in the area, and I use home as well, "home base." The result?

A puppy who had no sleep, and no set mandatory time in the crate. The effects of that were a very grumpy dog that barked, and barked, and barked, and barked from 4 pm until 12 midnight.

Puppies are like babies. They need their rest. We have since discovered this. I guess since dogs also develop 7 times faster than people in human terms Winter is almost 2 years old. As I recall from common psychology this means she is currently going through the terrible two's.

It is a good thing we have a strictly enforced "no weapons" policy in this house. At about 2 am when she finally settled down I would have been ready to use one. I know that sounds awful, but you live with a dog that barks non stop for 8 hours, and tell me how you feel!!

So today we had 45 minutes of Puppy Kindergarten. Our teacher, Kaye Ames is a gift from God. As we walked into the the puppy school today, more than a few people standing in the entrance with their dogs were "oohing" and "aahing" over out beautiful puppy - (she is cute)

Some nice old lady remarked out loud "oh look as this lovely sheepdog." I just walked by, dragging Winter by the leash as I replied, "this dog is the spawn of Satan."

Anyway, Kaye pointed out everything we are doing wrong, and she told us that she once had a dog that barked so much she wanted to give it back. This left me felling encouraged as she has been training dogs for 45 years. She has this mythical way of just putting pets at ease, its really cool to watch.

So little Winter has redeemed herself. We love her again. She just really needs some structure in her life, even more than what we were giving. She is quietly hanging out with me after a nice long nap. She is much better today. Treats really work to make her behave, its like bribery. You relax, and you get a treat.

Kaye also enforces the use of earplugs for a barking dog. I just haven't figured out how I am going to put them in Winter's ears.

Sean.

A Breakthrough

Winter slept through the night last night! Wahoo! We put her in the crate at 10 pm and she made it to 6 am. I woke up at 5 am paranoid that she died because she hadn't woken us up in the middle of the night. Apparently, I wasn't too paranoid because I continued to lay in bed until 6 am when I thought I had better check on her.

Do I think this will continue? No! I'm pretty sure it was just a tease, but oh that blessed sleep was wonderful!

Sleeeeepy

We are a little sleepy these days. Winter gets us up every morning at 3 am for a pee. I have a quick change of clothes that I have at the edge of the bed. They get thrown on in a sleepy daze and then the little pup goes out to take care of business - with me at the end of the leash.
She is a good girl, and we love her very much. She knows how to sit, play catch, and she even knows to come when we call.
So, were tired. But its worth it!
Sean.