UPDATE on Pscyho...err I mean Lada

Happy 4th of July

Sorry it's been awhile between updates, especially on the newest one of the pack.   Little Lada may be small in size, but has a gigantic personality to go with her gigantic jump.

Lada loves ...EVERYTHING.   Well, actually not everything...new dogs (especially hyper big dogs) can freak her out.  She loves people. She loves her siblings. She loves her neighbors (human and canine). She loves car rides, parks, playcare, her toys, her Daddy and most importantly her Mommy.

Hi there!

The dog that Hubby wanted is super attached to me.  Now all heelers tend to bond to one or two humans.   That was the first thing we were told.   Peryn loves us both, but favors me more.   Lada...no debate. It's all about Mommy.

Her biggest faults is her jumping.  We've tried and tried and we can't stop it.  She loves to jump and greet you. And she doesn't just jump up, she jumps and jumps and jumps and jumps and watch out...she's in your face.    Girl can jump a minimum of 5 feet from a dead stop.   She's jumped over the door at day care NUMEROUS times. They've gotten smart and keep her behind the high fence when waiting for me to pick them up. They've learned their lesson.

She is a FANTASTIC traveler.   She's been my co-pilot on 3 separate trips down to Tenn to visit her Grandparents.   She is the best travel companion I've ever had.  

She does have a strong prey drive and has taken off after some, but she immediately comes back.   She cannot stand being far from me.

She's 95% house broken.   She can be stubborn and if you don't respond to letting her out when she tries to tell you, she WILL go in the house.  

Things she loves:  She LOVES her Scooby slipper.  Story of the Scooby Slipper. I had my favorite slippers back in 1999.  In early 2000, after moving to Florida and adopting Galen--he loved my slippers too.   He used to carry it around in his mouth and I let him. Which unfortunately led to him pulling off the head from one of the slippers.  He then constantly played with the Scooby head for months!!

Eventually, I found the same pair of slippers on Ebay and bought them. Wore them for over ...10 years I'd say.   When we adopted Peryn, the bottoms had holes in them and there was no more cushion. I gave them to Peryn.  He destroyed the one slipper.   Never really played with them after.  Lada on the other hand LOVES the slipper.  It's her go to toy.

She loves to play fetch. She loves the herding ball we bought. She and Peryn go crazy with it in the back yard.   She loves Athena.  Her BFF is Peryn, but Athena is her other playmate.   She and Duchess have a weird thing, but it's theirs.

Lada & Scooby

If you don't keep an eye on her, she will take your shoes.  Peryn did the same thing, but she is so non-nonchalant about it.  Currently as I write, she and Peryn are going at it and it includes the zoomies.  

She's a nester. She gets frustrated if she can't get her bed in the right way. Her frustration makes us laugh. ANYTIME she gets frustrated she makes these noises and it's funny.      She's a funny thing.

And...she's not any bigger.  She's still around 22lbs.  I'm going to do a DNA test on her soon (like I do with all them) to verify she's completely an ACD.  She is--it's obvious. Everything about her (minus her size) is ACD.  

She definitely does not like sharing me.  If I dare call to any other pup, she either jumps on them trying to start something or she jumps on me in order to block them.

Again, except for the incessant jumping, she's a wonderful dog.  OH! Wait..the licking. Yeah...that's not a favorite of ours either. When she's jumping, she's licking you... and she does.not. stop!
Little package--lots of love.

Other things she loves : lying on the backs of the couch & chairs. She loves to swim (better at it than Peryn. She ACTUALLY swims).

She's still the only one in a crate when we're gone. She can't be trusted and it has NOTHING to do with going in the house and everything to do with getting into everything.   She's still a curious puppy and she loves to chew.

Crate! It's what's for dinner!

Another thing that she is really good at that none of the other dogs have ever been able to do is play by herself.   There are days when I'm working from home or on the PC and she's quietly playing in the room with one of her toys.   It's quite adorable and such a contrast to the absolute CRAZY she lets out when greeting people.

She's scared of her Grandpa, but adores her Grandma.  She even loves her Uncle Jack--who is way too old to play with a pup.  
My little girl is going to be 11 months this upcoming week.   That means 1 month away from a year!  They're growing too fast.  

best buddies

On the road again! 3 fighting for the front seat.

She's on the new dog bed

I wanna play too!

Week one complete

In so many ways she is just like Peryn was last year/just a few months ago. She gets into everything. She is jumping from the chair to the bed. Stealing shoes. Climbing on my nightstand to get to stuff on there.leaping off furniture..

There are also many ways she's different.  She is sweeter much more affectionate than Peryn ever was.

Today's puppy story:
She climbed on Athena's chair grabbed a box of tissues (new)proceeded to tear it apart. Placed the tissues back on the nightstand. Turned around to grab a bowl of water and turned back to find the tissues in her possession and her tearing them apart.....silly girl.

11 Weeks in.......

Today, April 23

I wish I could remember every thing he's done since we last blogged.   It's just been really crazy.  
I can tell you that we've started taking him to a dog park with the girls.  This place has been empty every time we've gone since day 1.

Knowing that, we've taken the 3 to the park.  It's been a joy to watch him run free and play with his sisters.  We took them earlier today.   Additionally he was up early and playing with Duchess for about 3 hours on and off this morning.   Thanks to all that, he's a pooped pup.   It's a nice little break from him.

Daddy has been taking them on walks lately. He takes the girls first and comes back to take Peryn.   It's great as it burns a lot of his energy. When he comes back, we just do a few rounds of fetch and soon he's calmer.    His walks have been getting longer and longer.

He's jumping on the higher bed now.  Athena can't even do that.  Duchess is no longer alone up there. It doesn't matter any ways as the bed is going bye bye tomorrow.   Duchess will not like that one bit.
The office is also the guest room and unfortunately the bed is too big for both my desk and a queen sized bed.   We'll need to look for something smaller.

Duchess and Peryn at the park

The girls are doing fine.   They tolerate their brother most days.   He is a handful and tends to bug them at moments when they're not having it. They put him in his place though.

He's holding it a lot longer.   Our friend who lets him out during the middle of the day was on vacation this past week.  We both had to be at work and that's about 9 hours in the crate.   Each time it was bone dry.   This dog can hold it almost all night and most ogrf the day, but can spend 30 mins outside and come back in to pee in the middle of the floor! I don't get it.

He's got the commands I taught him down now.  He finally FINALLY does paw.   Working with him on Stay & Come.     .......

He's grown so much.  It's like you close your eyes and boom! he's taller/longer.   He's now over 25 lbs.   He was under 9lbs when we brought him home 11 weeks ago.

Buddies

As of today he's also micro-chipped.  I want to make sure i get my baby back.......
Which leads me to this train of thought..
It is absolutely amazing how many people are taken with him.   Rich tells me every time he walks him someone stops him to ask about Peryn. It happened twice today when I went in to have him chipped.  

As a avid dog lover, I was aware of an Australian Cattle Dog/Blue Heeler. When we went to pick him up, it was not a surprise about seeing the breed.   However I'd say almost 98% of the people we've come in contact with or who have seen his picture always ask what he is.  
I posed this question to the online group I belong to and it was mixed. Those down in Texas, where there are ranches galore, know the breed well. Actually most areas where there are farms or ranches with cattle or flocks to be herded, know of the breed.  The rest say they have the same reactions.

Duchess

I was used to the questions about Duchess, but now we get to deal with them about Peryn. In fact, at the drive through today someone was insanely curious about Duchess and then when they saw Peryn, they asked about him as well.   Poor Athena. Looking like the German Shepherd that you are doesn't make people ask about her.

Life is busy with 3 dogs again, but it's been pretty good.  Our only complaints is the chewing on EVERYTHING and the ninja poops.  Otherwise they are a great bunch that I adore.

Oh and MY complaint is Duchess and Peryn feel the need to wrestle on top of me. If they don't start there, they end there. My thighs are bruised up. My lower legs, which are extremely sensitive to begin with , are scratched up.  I have teeth marks from where they go to "bite" at each other and miss, getting me in the mean time.

Double Trouble

It was cute at first, no longer.  I dread and hate it. Even when I get out of the way, Peryn finds me and then uses me as a launch pad to dive at his sister.
It's irritating.

Well, I'll let you enjoy the pics of the pups....












On a sad note, four years ago I lost my little clown.  We said goodbye to my little buddy Goldberg. The first of my kiddos to leave me and the worst as it was so unexpected.   Here's a moment for my little BUG.