Callie the Senior is 1/2 way done with school!

Callie is on Christmas break now and is half way finished with her Senior year of High School. Man how the time has flown by, I met her when she was four and now she is just about 18! Cute kid to beautiful women, watch out world here she comes.

Callie hopes to get into the nursing program at the University of Alaska - Anchorage, she will get to job shadow our neighbor in the ER department at Providence to see how is being an ER nurse, exciting for her. Maybe she will start the 40 hours during this winter break.

Puppy and stairs

We went to Willow over the weekend, our cabin has many stairs, all of which are see though. OH BOY is this scary for a puppy. Merlot was able to do the outside stairs with a bit of encouragement, going down is easy because you cannot see that they are see though, the landing inside was a bit more problematic, but was done after several treats, the full set of stairs never was completed except when I carried her up and down. WOW is thirty pounds heavy trying to navigate STEEP stairs, and then REALLY heavy at 4:30 am!

Merlot loves the snow and the cold weather, so that's a plus but I will have to buy booties because her paws were getting cold and she wanted to continue to investigate the new smells in the woods.

Two front teeth top and bottom were falling out of her face this weekend, I was able to pull the lower tooth after the other one fell out, she must have swallowed it. The top two are really bad today, but she will not sit still enough get a good grab on them, wiggle wort to the max!

Puppy Class - failure

Last night was Merlots first day of puppy class, we have been working all week long on the "homework" so that we would be ok during class. Well after about 1/2 the class Merlot decided to maybe listen to me and my commands, how embarrassing. She wanted to meet and play with all the other puppies and not do her work. So I kept trying while the teacher went around the room asking for all the other puppies to show her what they learned. Denise is the instructor says that next week should be better for Merlot, the end of class way play time, finally Merlot was able to visit will all her new friends. The classroom was divided in two little dogs on the right and big dogs on the left, Merlot was with the big dogs until the instructor wanted to see how she would do with the little dogs, fine with me, the German Shepard (Max) of 65 lbs kept Merlot running. Merlot even rolled herself to get away from Max.

The little dogs really didn't care if Merlot was there or not, The Boston/Frechie mix had to be in her own corner because she asked like she was getting killed when she is on the ground with the little dogs, the screeching and screaming was incredible. Merlot was asked to get in the pen with the mix her name is Marley, Marley liked Merlot and Merlot like Marley but Marleys mom was very nervous. Merlot was the best relaxed puppy so she wins the prize for being able to be with the baby Marley.

Mo the Boxer was very cute, her owner doesn't think can do anything right... ist the owner that needs help here.
I cannot remember the Chocolate labs name Ginger or something, she very smart and does all commands without question.
The no name labrodooble was pushy and had to have time out. Over 4 months w/out a name, WOW
Hunter the other labrodooble is very nice but wanted to try to mount Merlot, good luck with that little dude.
Max the German Shepard is to old and to big for class, I hope He graduates to the next level for next week.
Marley the Boston/Frenchy will never go to a bog park and never want on the ground, her mom needs to relax.

I felt worn out by the end of the hour class. Can't wait for next week. Maybe next week Bob can run Merlot before I get home. Last night he was plowing snow so Merlot was in her Kennel when I got home, quick potty and then off to class we went, next week will be better.

going bye-bye

Well I had to go to the drs on Saturday, and so when I went to get my prescription I thought Merlot would want to go bye-bye. So off to Fred Meyer we went... She seemed to do ok on the very short drive, we had to wait in the drive up window for about 10 minutes. She did well there too, except when a couple of people walked by she barked, glad I was stopped because WOW was that bark loud. It turns out she peed her kennel and had to sit in it.

Next day bye-bye, we went to a store farther away and right out of the gate she peed so I came back to the house and changed her blanket for a towel. We went to the store, this time I went inside. She seemed to go better this time, laying down and playing with her toy when we were at stop lights, but standing when we were driving. We get home and I discover she had peed again.

Now she is with Bob for a drive downtown, so we will see how she does with the truck instead of my SUV, thank goodness for the kennel.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are thankful for family and friends. Thankful for our health, thankful for a lot of things.

bathroom...

This morning 5:30 the big potty bell rang in Merlots head except she woke me up to potty at 5:00 and by 5:30 I was in the shower and she was in the bathroom with me and well, going the bathroom in the bathroom, I guess tomorrow I will bring a book outside to wait for the 5:30 bell to ring again...

Happy Thanksgiving to all

a visit from a friend Patrice

Patrice came over for a visit and took some candid pictures, Merlot loved the camera.

almost doubled in size...

Miss Merlot loves the vet and the treats that they have. She stood still for the parvo shot, only winced a bit. She now is a hefty 20 lbs, no wonder I'm tied of lifting and taking her outside for potty time at 3:00 am.

The vet is a little bit concerned over a heart mummer that she heard, we will know more next month when we take her back for another booster shot. Puppies that grow fast sometimes have a mummer that goes away or it might have been Merlot panting at the wrong moment.

Bob was able to get a "sample" of big potty to take into the vets for a worm check, she shouldn't have any, the breeder is pretty much a fuss about deworming.

Bad morning with Merlot

Well I had a hell of a morning... I wanted to take a shower w/out
Merlot, yesterday she muscled into my shower while it was on... So
today I wanted to shower w/out her. Into the big Kennel in the dinning
room, she really hate that one... anyway the wails and howling began,
anyway I enjoyed my shower and came out to a smell that almost knocked
me over... POO, the kennel was coated and so were her feet, a quick
feet cleanup in the kitchen sink then to get the POO blankets, bed and
toys out of the kennel and to the wash... well Merlot is under feet
and now stepping back into the POO again... I need help at this point,
Bob works overtime and wont be home for 2 more hours. I can handle
this she is only 20 lbs or so - back into the Kitchen sink for feet
wash again... Growling like momma dog I removed the POO stuff from the
kennel and to the wash. now to clean what I can, at this point minutes
are ticking and I need to leave to get my car to the shop to get the
shuttle to work and only be a little late... sigh

I cleaned what I could but those wire kennel have some many cracks and
crevices I don't see how I will be able to get it all, man did she do
a number on all surfaces high and low... front, back, sides and roof,
who knew she could already reach the roof of the big kennel already!
I'm going to have to break the kennel down and put it in the back of
Bobs truck and go to the car wash and hose it down... its to big to
move w/out breaking it down to move to the garage. Do I really want to
break it down and move it before I'm ready to touch POO again... Yikes
parenting sucks when your in a hurry...

and so we wait...

This has been a very trying experience, first putting Denali our almost 11 year old Rottweiler down, finding a breeder that excepted us as a possible family, waiting for the pregnancy to take, and then the litter being born.

the puppies were born on August 31st, her name will be Merlot