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.

Busy busy

Hi Folks,

Not much to update you on except that we have both been quite busy. Marci has had a bunch of school stuff going on, and I've been kept busy with work, rehearsals etc, etc.

Winter is now getting huge. We love her, it seems that the small puppy phase is slowly slipping away and we are approaching the adolescent years. She sleeps most of the time, and if I had doubled my size in 8 weeks I would be sleeping a lot as well.

I am being kept entertained by watching this circus we have now, called the government.

What a joke, and yes that includes republicans as well.

American idol? Hmm lets see, either Danny or Adam. I cant stand Adam, because everytime I see the guy perform I feel like I'm at a dinner theater. Anoop, sorry buddy, you just looked too much like any regular dude.

Ok, gotta go.

S.

New Car

Somehow Sean and I managed to get ourselves back into debt. We now have monthly car payments on a brand new 2009 Subaru Forester. Little did we know when we began this Easter weekend that we would be driving home a new car. Yesterday we started out with a little trip to the Subaru dealership to "just take a look." We were sold after a test drive and talking with our new sales-guy friend Derek. We did a little more comparison shopping today but still came back to the Forester. Lest you think we are impulse buyers, I want to assure you that we have been talking about a new car for a while. However, this weekend it all just came together. We got the price we wanted on the total package. So, happy driving!

Space for big doggie (and Sean's amps, guitars, etc). It's supposed to be my car.

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

Floating shelves

Quick word of advice to those of you who want to hang those nice "floating" shelves you see on HGTV. You know, the ones that look like they are magically not attached to anything on the wall....

Don't do it.

They don't float, they sag and then sink. And then when you try to re-attach them they rip huge holes in your drywall.

You will end up trying to convince yourself they look nice because you put 4.3 hours worth of your time trying to hang them. Then one day you will realize that you really hate them, because they look pitiful, and now you are going to have to spackle, sand, paint, repaint and paint again.

Sean.

Here He Goes Again

Sean has this need to keep perfecting the study. First, we purchased the desk that created quite a stir in our house over the deliver of said desk. Then Sean hung the shelves and re-hung the shelves. After that, he decided he didn't like the shelves and we needed to find a piece of art to hang on the wall. Yesterday we found the something that we both agreed on and now Sean has removed the shelves, spackled, and is in the process of repainting. Oh boy! Finished product pictures will be shown in the near future. Let's hope this is the true finished product.

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.

Click Here

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!