world's worst blogger

A lot has happened since my half-assed, iphone pic only, blog. Sorry about the length but I've got to get caught up here!

1 - GRADUATION! 

Charlie graduated from Puppy School. Graduation day was filled with games, races and competitions. After each game, the winning puppy was given a small bone and the puppy with the most bones was the winner of the Graduation Ceremonies. Charlie won. Not to brag because it probably was her parents' competitive nature that catapulted her into the winners circle. 

shaking hands to accept her diploma

diploma!

"give me that kong"

2 - ENGAGEMENT!

Tyler and Courtney are engaged!! It has been a couple months since Tyler told me that he was planning on popping the question. After that, the planning and scheming came into play. I wish I could say that all went exactly according to plan, but it didn't.. but who cares? They're getting hitched!! 

A couple days after the big question - family gathered at bonfire for 30 mimosas a congratulatory toast. It was so wonderful! I can't wait for the wedding!!

celebrating!

3- VALENTINES DAY.

You may or may not know that Phil and I really don't celebrate valentine's day, per se. What we do do is eat a heaping pot of mac & cheese with cut up hot dogs and dip into a nice bottle of wine (or two!). It's fun and it's us. And really something that I look forward to every year!

I mean.. just look at that amazing-ness. 

 4 - CHARLIE

This little puppy is testing us! She's starting to push the boundaries and test our limits. Even when we want to scream - she licks our face and looks like this. Can't get enough!

5 - CABIN WKND

We made our annual winter trek to the cabin and brought along a few buddies! I didn't get stuck (first time in 2 years) and we had an amazing time - per the usual. 

deer in the clearing

saddle up buddies

ride it.

ice fishing buddy

I had a crappie on my line and wasn't so sure about it. Phil and Corey were yelling at me; "Do you have a fish?". Then I pulled this beaut out of the lake. Boom!

cribbage & coffee

the best

That's all, folks!

Until next time - which hopefully won't be months and months away.

vet visit woes

On Thursday Phil, Charlie and I went to the vet for another puppy checkup. We had a couple concerns and a couple questions but it turns our little Charlie wasn't feeling so well. She has a yeast infection in both of her ears. The vet told us that this is very common in puppies with floppy ears and can occur after baths - which we just did (see: puppy bath time). 

She also has Demodex - this is a small mite that attacks puppies hair follicles. This means that our puppy is losing some of her hair (insert overemotional crying emoticon here). In order to diagnose Demodex, the vet had to take some skin scrapings to see it under the microscope. She described it like when you fall on concrete and skin your knee. 

I hate that. Charlie did too.

We have a pretty intense calendar outlining all of the medications that she's on, when she takes them and dosages.

Good thing Phil can ready my handwriting!

So far she's been great with letting us shoot medication in her mouth and ears (sounds pleasant, huh?). We're just ready for our puppy to feel 100% again!

Puppy School; Week One - Three

Every Monday for 7 weeks, we bring our pup to puppy school. I swear, it's more for Phil and I than it is for Charlie but she loves it and it tuckers her right out (bonus!).

WEEK ONE

The first 10 minutes are for playing on the obstacle course. Week 1, Charlie wanted nothing to do with a few of the obstacles but after we loured her with treats, she was game to try anything. After the 10 minutes she was jumping over, climbing and go through the tubes. It was so much fun to watch her learn in such a short period of time.

During class were doing a sit 'drill' and Charlie was getting a little nippy. When the instructor asked how it was going we brought it up and she asked if she could teach Charlie something in front of the class - Um, yes please! She held a treat in her hand and only rewarded it to her once she sat and waited nicely. It's to teach them that they'll only receive the treat once they back off. Once again, Charlie picked up on this right away! Phil and I now can have anything in our hands and she will smell and then sit and wait nicely until we give it to her. So crazy!

sitting pretty for the camera (and a treat!)

WEEK TWO

Week two's class was as much fun as the first! It took Charlie 2.5 minutes to remember where she was and how much fun she was going to have! She ran through the obstacles like she was queen of puppy school! She loves all dogs and all humans!

In this class we worked on laying down from the sit that we practiced last week. We have already been working on this but the way the instructor had us lure the puppy to the lay position was genius - I guess that's why they let her teach the class! Charlie was a champ!

Then we talked about little hands and feeding pups. It's no secret that Phil and I hope to be parents someday so this is especially important to us. We have worked a lot with Charlie to make sure that she doesn't get too protective of her food and her space. When she eats we will futz with her bowl, her ears, everything... to be honest, she doesn't care what we're doing as long as she is eating! The one tip that we will take away from this is that the first time a 'little hand' feeds her to make it be something really good; a hot dog, piece of cheese, etc.

practicing laying down. 

WEEK THREE

Week three was similar to the first two. We started with the obstacle course and greeting friends. Charlie was so daring she would run through the tubes without seeing Phil or I on the other end. I seriously can't believe how much braver and how much she's learned. Her best friends in class are Sunny (a beautiful yellow lab) and Eddie (a little yorkie).

This week we worked on the 'stay' command from the lay position. We have worked on this one a little bit at home but she did great at school. She laid so long that when we gave the command 'break', she kept laying. We'll have to work on that.

The other exercise was 'ready'. This is to train the dog to tune out other distractions around them and focus on their humans for the command that will follow. As always, it's treat based! Colleen used Charlie as the example and she picked up on it right away in class - at home is a different story. We are continuing to work on this one at home before we go back to class.

In short - we're so proud of her so far. It's been a blast to watch her learn so quickly and interact with other pups. 

Until next time..