Happy 6th Birthday to Miss Scarlett! Our sweet girl...and the only other housemate that I can rely on to help balance our testosterone heavy household.
Happy Birthday!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Puppyhood - The First Month
Here we are...a month or so into our life with Bentley. We have settled into a pretty good routine. Still very cautious when it comes to Scarlett and together time, but that is getting better too.
Bentley took his first trip to the beach...He was pretty cute in the sand. Clearly the soft, diggable, ground was the cats meow. In true Boxer fashion he was more of a landlubber than a water dog. This suited me just fine as clean up at the house consisted of wiping a bit of loose sand off his paws and belly instead of a full blown bath (that you would require if he was a Lab or other water lovin' pooch).
Bentley is doing great with his crate training and his potty training. We've got our "I need to potty" signal down pretty good. He sits on my feet...
Bentley is growing like a weed. Its amazing how much he's grown already. I'm going out on a limb here, but if I had to guess, I think he's going to be 80-85 pounds. It's funny, how small Scarlett used to look next to Bandit at her 50 pounds to his 90. Now, she seems so big compared to Bentley...it's hard to imagine he's probably going to be close to twice her size!
That's it from my puppy corner today.
Bentley took his first trip to the beach...He was pretty cute in the sand. Clearly the soft, diggable, ground was the cats meow. In true Boxer fashion he was more of a landlubber than a water dog. This suited me just fine as clean up at the house consisted of wiping a bit of loose sand off his paws and belly instead of a full blown bath (that you would require if he was a Lab or other water lovin' pooch).
Bentley is doing great with his crate training and his potty training. We've got our "I need to potty" signal down pretty good. He sits on my feet...
Bentley is growing like a weed. Its amazing how much he's grown already. I'm going out on a limb here, but if I had to guess, I think he's going to be 80-85 pounds. It's funny, how small Scarlett used to look next to Bandit at her 50 pounds to his 90. Now, she seems so big compared to Bentley...it's hard to imagine he's probably going to be close to twice her size!
That's it from my puppy corner today.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Nothin' Like A Boy and His Dog
Bentley is settling in. His new "sister" is still adjusting and delivering some low growls when he bounces around her, but in time they should do great. Today, Scarlett even waggled her nub at him while sniffing his face that's still buried in the cone collar. Poor thing.
Boy does Bentley love his boys! Tonight we read books in Emerson's bed as usual. Bentley was locked in the room with us to minimize any unsupervised destruction. He kept hopping and whining to get up on the bed. Finally, I caved in and brought him up anticipating a full on puppy attack. Surprisingly, he curled up in a ball at our feet and fell asleep.
I finished stories and prayers and Dalton and I snuck out of the room so not to disturb the sleeping mound. I tucked Dalton in and returned to Emerson's room to find Bentley still sound asleep. I took him out, knowing there was NO chance Emerson would willingly get up in the night to let him out to potty, and closed the door. I walked into the kitchen and Bentley wasn't behind me. I heard a scratching sound and Bentley was at Emerson's door trying to let himself in. I opened the door to see what he would do and he ran over the the bed and starting hopping and whining. I placed him up on the bed and he curled up and laid down.
OK...despite my best judgment, I decided we'd give this a try. I left him there and when I returned a half hour later, Emerson and Bentley were curled up together both sound asleep. So sweet! Bentley has his boys...because as everyone knows...every puppy needs a boy.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Puppy Life - The First Week
After trying on many names for our new puppy, we finally found the perfect name...
Welcome, Bentley...
It just fits him. Plus, with his vet bills already, we can almost afford one...(a Bentley that is). ; )
Things are going great. Bentley is healing fine. I did take him back up to the vet school on Saturday because it looked like he had popped a stitch, which he did, but it had healed enough and was on the smaller cut that is closer to his tear duct. The Chief of Opthomology even concurred that all looked good and there was no cause for concern over the popped stitch. We go back this Thursday to get the stitches out and they will reevaluate it then.
Scarlett is adjusting to the new ankle biter in our home. I know she never intentionally meant to hurt Bentley. She is amazingly patient with him but certainly delivers a low warning growl when his razor sharp puppy teeth have made contact or his jumping and barking trying to get her attention has grown old. I wouldn't leave them alone yet, but we certainly have made lots of progress. Clearly an adjustment for all household members.
Potty training is coming along. Actually, as most puppy owners (and potty training parents) know, its more about training the parents about good timing and watching for the tell-tale signs. Sniffing the ground and turning in a circle is usually a pretty obvious one. He's doing pretty good considering he's only 9 weeks old now. The race is on...who can I get potty trained first? Bentley or Dalton?
Bentley has commandeered Dalton's chair. It really is the perfect dog perch. Sadly for him, he'll only fit in it another couple of weeks and then he'll be way too big. He's squished in there, but is also elevated so he can see what all is going on and not risk being stepped on. Sat on maybe...but not stepped on.
Aaaaaa...there's nothing like puppy breath and watching the innocence of a new baby. Yesterday, Bentley barked and growled at Emerson's camouflage shoes for a good 15 minutes. It was pretty funny.
So, all in all, after our rocky start, puppyhood is going well here. It's worth every nighttime wake up and every sponged up puddle. Simple sweetness. Wouldn't trade if for the world.
Day 2 - Not Quite the Mother's Day I Had Planned
It's Mother's Day. A day for sleeping in and breakfast in bed for mommies around the world. I was no different. After being up 3 times in the night with our new arrival, our two legged children started their day right on cue....at 6AM. Today was the one day of the year when my elbow poke could not go ignored. J got up, took the puppy, and went to go feed everyone. I was thrilled to roll over and stretch out, comforted in the thought of sleeping until 9AM.
Not even 5 minutes later Emerson came running back in..."Mommy! Mommy! Scarlett ate the puppy!" All I could think was, she probably licked him and why can't they survive without me for 3 hours...I'd take one...
Then, I heard the panic in J's voice and immediately knew this was serious. "It's his eye". Long story short, Scarlett "boxed" the puppy, which resulted in a freakish accident. Her nail caught his eyelid, and not to go into too many details for the faint of heart, ripped the lower lid. We'd had our pup for less than 24 hours...
So, it's 6:20AM and I'm throwing on clothes and heading off to NC State Vet School. They are the best...
Got to the vet school just prior to shift change at 7:45. A vet on call took a quick look at him while I was filling in paper work for "Pirate". The name just seemed to fit after his battle...although "Rhett" would have worked too since Scarlett is the reason he was battle weary...I figured he needed a name other than "puppy". She came back out and said she concurred with another vet and they both agreed he should be seen by Opthomology. They paged Dr. G. and I sat waiting for 45 minutes for him to come in.
Dr. G came in and conducted a full eye exam to be sure there was no damage other than just tissue. All was good. Not even the hint of a scratch. He did need stitches through two layers which would require minor surgery. He left to work up the estimate. I called J.
So, within the next hour, while I held onto "Pirate" and he slept in my arms, and I assured him his new home would be the best in the world, anesthesia was called in and Dr. G. prepped for surgery. Remember...this is a Sunday...and all emergency fees apply.
They came in and shaved his little paw, I gave him a kiss, and they said he'd be ready to come home later that night. I was so sad to leave him.
I drove home and celebrated Mother's Day with the boys, got a shower, and then loaded everyone back up to return to Raleigh. We played at a Raleigh park for a bit and then drove over to the vet hospital to pick up "Pirate".
I talked with the vet about our home care that mostly consisted of antibiotics and his "E" collar (the cone shaped collar to protect his injury) which he said puppies do the best at because they don't know any better. He also said he should heal up great especially because of his age.
So, we took our dear puppy home to start his perfect new home life...over...
Not even 5 minutes later Emerson came running back in..."Mommy! Mommy! Scarlett ate the puppy!" All I could think was, she probably licked him and why can't they survive without me for 3 hours...I'd take one...
Then, I heard the panic in J's voice and immediately knew this was serious. "It's his eye". Long story short, Scarlett "boxed" the puppy, which resulted in a freakish accident. Her nail caught his eyelid, and not to go into too many details for the faint of heart, ripped the lower lid. We'd had our pup for less than 24 hours...
So, it's 6:20AM and I'm throwing on clothes and heading off to NC State Vet School. They are the best...
Got to the vet school just prior to shift change at 7:45. A vet on call took a quick look at him while I was filling in paper work for "Pirate". The name just seemed to fit after his battle...although "Rhett" would have worked too since Scarlett is the reason he was battle weary...I figured he needed a name other than "puppy". She came back out and said she concurred with another vet and they both agreed he should be seen by Opthomology. They paged Dr. G. and I sat waiting for 45 minutes for him to come in.
Dr. G came in and conducted a full eye exam to be sure there was no damage other than just tissue. All was good. Not even the hint of a scratch. He did need stitches through two layers which would require minor surgery. He left to work up the estimate. I called J.
So, within the next hour, while I held onto "Pirate" and he slept in my arms, and I assured him his new home would be the best in the world, anesthesia was called in and Dr. G. prepped for surgery. Remember...this is a Sunday...and all emergency fees apply.
They came in and shaved his little paw, I gave him a kiss, and they said he'd be ready to come home later that night. I was so sad to leave him.
I drove home and celebrated Mother's Day with the boys, got a shower, and then loaded everyone back up to return to Raleigh. We played at a Raleigh park for a bit and then drove over to the vet hospital to pick up "Pirate".
I talked with the vet about our home care that mostly consisted of antibiotics and his "E" collar (the cone shaped collar to protect his injury) which he said puppies do the best at because they don't know any better. He also said he should heal up great especially because of his age.
So, we took our dear puppy home to start his perfect new home life...over...
Day 1 - New Puppy
Welcome home!
After a 2 1/2 hour drive, armed with extra towels, blankets, paper towels, and air spray, we made it safely home (and just as importantly incident free - no bodily fluids in my car). I must have looked like a college kid coming home to do laundry. Okay, an older graduate student maybe...
So, a big, warm, wet kiss welcome to (ready?):
"Rhett, "O", Yoda, General Grievous, Mr. Grape, Leafy, Chewy, Mr. Pickles, Captain Rex, James Arthur, Doctor, Goose, Moose, and Pirate"...(to name a few). We're still working this one out.
Welcome to our world.
After a 2 1/2 hour drive, armed with extra towels, blankets, paper towels, and air spray, we made it safely home (and just as importantly incident free - no bodily fluids in my car). I must have looked like a college kid coming home to do laundry. Okay, an older graduate student maybe...
So, a big, warm, wet kiss welcome to (ready?):
"Rhett, "O", Yoda, General Grievous, Mr. Grape, Leafy, Chewy, Mr. Pickles, Captain Rex, James Arthur, Doctor, Goose, Moose, and Pirate"...(to name a few). We're still working this one out.
Welcome to our world.
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