Nov 14 Pupdate & we're up-to-date

If you're starting here you have plenty of pictures ahead in the next post.   If you've gone in post order, I hope you've enjoyed the photos. 

We're here in November & it's hard to believe the year we've had.  Ziva is growing into a typical puppy brat (the teenage years?).  She's a loving, sweet girl but man is she a brat.   She's 98% house trained. She is pretty good at letting us know when she needs to go out. However 1) when she's in a mood, she goes inside and 2) she abuses her "I need attention" bark. 

She still adores her big brother and he accepts that she is not going to leave him alone.  She & Lada get along fabulously & can be found wrestling hard around the house.  It makes us so happy.  

Peryn has recently become more "affectionate" than previously. I think he's gotten jealous of all the attention every one else was getting. 

Volos has decided to stake his claim on Mommy & is even more of a cuddler. He often climbs into bed to lay on me & on the couch to cuddle. This Mommy is quite OK with that. 

Wednesday of this week we took a ride to my Aunt & Cousin's house. They adopted a new puppy & we were bringing them some stuff we used with Ziva.  We brought Ziva because they met her way back when we brought her home.  We wanted to show them how big she's gotten.  

Ziva loved her new baby cousin, Xena. Xena, 5 weeks, after some trepidation took to her big cousin.  Very very cute!!!

I am really hoping we can get them together again!   

All the pups will be meeting their cousin Marshall on Thanksgiving!  That will be interesting to say the least.

Veterans day the daycare closed unexpectedly so we took the kiddoes to the farm. There were some other pups there.   It was a very nice morning!

Currently they're all passed out around me here in the living room while I get caught up on this blog. 

Also if you were wondering, when we brought Ziva home we were hoping she would be more Rich's dog than mine.  Happy to report that has happened.  She ADORES daddy & shows definite preference to him over me.    
I am quite happy because I already have 2 dogs that are devoted to me & a pack that already follows me around.  

I believe we are all caught up on the pups.  I am also hoping not to go too long in between updates.   Fingers X'd. 

Pupdate: August 13 2021

 Welcome welcome.    It's been an exciting few weeks that is for sure.      So let's get right to it...

Ziva. I love this pup.   She is seriously the most chill puppy I have ever come across.  Now I don't know if that is necessarily cause she just is awesome or if she's been trying to get a lay of the land.   I've kept daily notes of the things she's done & progress so I can share with you.  

Before I get to that, the other dogs....  were NOT a fan. Ziva was used to having her mom & siblings to play with, so when she came here she didn't hesitate to approach the pack.   They've either ignored her, ran away from her (Volos), growled or snapped at her and plain old didn't want to have anything to do with her.   It was heartbreaking cause she just wants to play.

When Peryn & Lada are playing fetch outside, she runs along side them.  Rich has taken to walking her with Peryn as he works on her leash training.   Slowly we've seen a thaw of sorts.   If she wants to take something from them, they don't snarl, they sometimes let her take it.  They may just do a low growl.   Volos doesn't run from her anymore. He's allowed her to hang out near him.   Lada doesn't straight up go after her when I give her attention.  Even this morning I believe Peryn tried playing with her.    Progress!

Let's get to the updates: 

Aug 2- we learned the pens are useless to keep her in.   She jumped up on the side & climbed over the top. She discovered the area behind the couch could be used to travel through (I call it the Expressway).  She used it many times & got stuck in the lamp cord, pulling it off the table & breaking it. 

Began noticing some issues with her going in the house. She was going way too often. Sometimes there was pee, sometimes there was a drop, there was blood at times.   It was way more than potty training issues.   I was sure she had a UTI.

August 3-she went missing.   Turns out she was lying beneath my Mom's open recliner.  When Mom began to close the recliner, it "swept her under". When I went looking for her & couldn't locate her Mom asked if it was possible for her to fit under the recliner. Opened it up & there she was. Didn't make a peep.

Got in touch with the vet & dropped off a urine sample.

August 4- Had a bunch of energy.  Played in the basement at lunchtime. She had a visitor.  She also ran outside along with her siblings.

August 5- Mom & I had somewhere to be & we didn't want to leave her alone -esp if she had a UTI.   Daycare watched her on the "secure" side for a few hours.   

August 6-Stinker stole my Hawaiian Scooby off the shelf again. Figured it out when I heard the metal scraping across the floor. This was the 2nd time she did this. 
Saw some signs that she may be like Volos with toys. Kept coming in the room to take a toy from the toy box & take it in the other room. 
Mom & I went to visit some cemeteries & we took her along for the ride. She slept the whole time, cuddled up next to me. 

She barked at some walkers on the path behind the house.   
Doesn't have a UTI, but possible vaginitis. Given some anti-inflammatory & probiotic to put her on. 

August 7- Rich took her on 2 walks.  She was locked in the crate for the first time while we left for a few hours.   Later she got to play in the basement. She did pretty well.

August 8- Went out to breakfast, she was left in the crate a few hours-again she did well.  She was extremely playful. While outside she ran with the ACDs while playing fetch. She's obsessed with the rocks around our patio & she took off to the front of the house.  Scared the living daylights out of us when we realized how quickly she disappeared.

August 9- When I let them out in the early morning, she was lying in the rocks-playing with a bug.  She did a bit of chasing her tail.   She was EXTREMELY playful playing with the toys. Showed her 'Volos like tendencies' again.   She had some mini-zoomies.   
Brought out the pool & she splashed in with me & the ACDs.  Was extremely cuddly.  Little stinker got into the bathroom trash--so had to clean that up.

AND----she looked so much bigger. In fact, she's now bigger than Lada.

August 11- She jumped up on the couch. No more multiple attempts, she now can jump up from the floor. 

Thawing in the puppy relationship is noticeable.

August 12- I had to go into the office, so she was left alone by herself in her crate.  I came home to a silent house.  She was pretty non-reactive to my coming home & letting her out. As I said, she's very chill. 

She now likes to jump up on the couch & climb up on the back of it.    
She got a new toy that the boys took from her.  When she tried to take it back, they let her!

Pupdate#1- Ziva

 She's home!    She's ...a puppy therefore a handful.

We picked her up before noon on Wed the 28th.  In the 10 days since we last saw her, she'd grown quite a bit.   All that was left was Rixie (Red).   Christine, the breeder, kept her so Rosie has at least one of her puppies.   
Rosie....omg Rosie.  This beautiful dog just killed me.  She walked us to our car when we went to leave.  She said Goodbye to Ziva ... ugh.

Ziva..... Well She is LOVING her new home.  She is loving the other dogs--however the same cannot be said for them. They're either ignoring her or running from her.   Right now they want nothing to do with her.   I am sure that will change...we'll have to document that.  

She is a handful.  Puppies...yeah... I knew there was a reason I wasn't in a hurry to get another.   Trying to keep on top of her on getting her to go out.   She's so much like Volos & just plain stubborn.    But for the most part she cooperates 75% of the time.

She came alive yesterday after the kids came home from daycare.  She really loves watching them, chasing them & following them.       We have to keep a watch on how they react to her.   We're allowing normal correction "barks/nips". Like she bit Lada on the tail & Lada nipped hard at her. We'll allow that. But when they do it because she's near or wants me, we're shutting that down.

Peryn is still obsessed with getting Volos to play with him and he has a willing participant right there with him... It'll take time. 

Volos--- yeah. He's not a fan. He runs from her.  His first instinct is to snap & we're getting on them for that, so he just avoids her.   

Peryn & Volos however are trying hard to get into her pen as she has toys. Toys they do not have access to.  It's funny & annoying. 

Lada.  This was the one we knew would have issues.   Unless you've seen an ACD attached to it's owner...it's difficult to really imagine just how possessive they are.  Possessive and protective.  I have to keep reminding myself to pay attention to Lada as she is not handling it well.  

First night home I had Ziva in bed with me a bit before I put her in the pen for the night.   ALL 3 dogs left me in the room.   

This NEVER EVER HAPPENS unless they are going outside.  Lada NEVER abandons me in bed.   Volos--is hit or miss when Rich isn't home (he wasn't).   Peryn--Peryn is like Lada.  The only difference is Lada sleeps on my pillow at my head.    THEY LEFT ME because she was there.

We've had her now for 4 days & I just adore this puppy. She's pretty chill for the most part. Nothing like the psychos were.   She's all about sleeping, cuddles, & playing.  

Things of note: 

She disappeared on us and it turns out she went behind the couch and ended up passing out.   

She just about lets anyone hold her.  She doesn't squirm or try to jump down.  She's CHILL.

She was chill at the vet, when we had my Mom's family over, just pretty much chill.     

Wed -Friday she slept in a pen, but she was put into a crate last night for the first time with us.   She whines a bit, but for the most part settles down to sleep. 

Took her to the vet on Friday.   Here's the summary:

She's currently 21.6# at 9 weeks.  The heart murmur that she was diagnosed with from the breeder's vet isn't as bad as originally thought. It may clear up on its own.
She has a yeast infection in both ears, so she's on meds for that. We take her back in 2 weeks for her next set of shots.  

More Updates May 28 2021

First: The bite. I mentioned it in the last post.  Well, almost a week later and I have a nasty bruise.  No other issues so the shot &  antibiotics are doing their job.     Here's a few pics now that we're a week out.

It's extremely sensitive to touch, but other than that--no major after effects!

And....

She's HERE!!!!!!!!   Born May 27 There were 3 females, so we will be getting one. Which one, we do not know yet.  The breeder wants one for herself. There is the other person in front of us, a breeder that wants one for showing--either sex doesn't matter.  We knew about that person.   SO Essentially If they choose a female, we get the remaining one.

They won't pick until their personalities begin showing. They need to see which one will have the best temperament for a show dog. 

We will not be able to see the pups until they're at least 3 weeks old.  So we have to be more patient.   

Momma Rosie is doing well. As is all the pups. 

So we have a few weeks before we can meet with Momma Rosie and the little pups. We have time to begin prepping for another puppy.  I swore we would never get another puppy, yet here we are again.     

As an aside- there have been several Berners needing homes become available. Unfortunately they've all been male or much older.  I would have loved to bring them home, but we really need a young female.  This is exactly why we've gone this route, through a breeder.   
We know what we need to offset the dynamic of the pack.   If we had a bigger home & yard...more pups would be welcome.

So I'll share a few more pics I was sent today.    We don't have any more information that what I have shared with you.   So You can ask more questions, but we don't have anything else to tell you.

The puppers

Rosie Recovering. See pups in corner

Little babies

Additionally, here is an updated Couch Potatoes photo.

Finally-- I've recently been able to transfer most of my personal home movies (8MM) to digital.  Here we have my baby, my #1 Pupper...Galen to finish out this post.

Letting you in on an upcoming "Surprise"

 

Rolling Acres Puppies

so if you figured it out based on the picture, good for you!   If not, the beautiful pups pictures are expecting a litter May/June. Rosie is from Rolling Acres Puppies & Beckett from Adesa (Bobbi Kinley-Blewett) are expecting puppies.

Why is this exciting? Unless there are no females, we will be bringing home one of these beauties in the August time frame!

It was total happenstance that we found them.

As we've mentioned before, we talked it out and decided our next dog was going to be a Berenese. In the past we didn't have a breed specific desire when rescuing, we just waited for the dog to call to us.

After many years of raising these pups, we've definitely determined that the Bernese Mountain dog is the breed we want.  It's a big "scary" dog.  It has a deep bark to deter people.  It's sturdy for me to hug tight.   Most importantly, they are cuddly. These giants love to get attention and get loving. That is something we loved with our originals and something we still want. 

While we preferred to rescue, a few hiccups put a stop to this.  Well not a few, several.   First Bernese rescues are very rare to find as a rescue.  Most of them that end up in shelters & rescues are pulled from puppy mills, back yard breeders, or older Bernese with health issues.     

Second, to find a young FEMALE to adopt makes it more difficult.  We need a female to even out the male to female ratio.  The two boys do not need any more testosterone.  The best way to bring another pup into the family, we need a young female. Lada will most likely be more accepting to a puppy than a grown dog.   Peryn will love a young playful pup.   Volos ...we'll see.

Third--timing. We want the puppy now.  The older the dogs get, the greater the divide in ages.   Waiting lists for some of these larger well known breeders puts us out 12-18 months.

So Rich was at work discussing my crusade against scammers on Facebook puppy groups.  He mentioned how we were looking for a Bernese puppy.
The guy actually used to work with a woman who BREEDS BERNERS.

He gave us her name & #, said he'd let her know we'd be reaching out.  I reached out the next day via message and she called us.  They were trying to get Rosie inseminated for a new litter. As a matter of fact, that's where she was going when she called.  

Long story short, we completed an application & sent a deposit.   SO here we are today....waiting for the puppies to finish "Baking" LOL.   

We are nervous & very excited.   We would have preferred to miss the whole puppy stage, but it's a sacrifice we needed to make.   

You shouldn't need to ask her name as the name is chosen....just not the pup.   Look back a few posts to find that info. 

What we do know that unless a miracle of having a RUNT female happens, we're getting a big one. Momma & Daddy are NOT small.    I joked that Volos was our "Intro Berner" seeing as he's tiny at 68#. 

So that's are upcoming "Surprise".   You can only read that here as we're not posting it anywhere else yet. 

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!

Puppy update 2.16.17

Hey all.    It’s been super crazy. Four dogs can do that to a person!   It’s really not all that bad.  They’re all getting along for the most part and keeping each other busy and exercised.  Sometimes though, they make me want to pull my hair out.  We took them to the park again, about 2 weeks later. Again they had a great time. There were other dogs there, so Lada and I stayed away and went to the small dog side.  Peryn found someone willing to play fetch with him, so he was quite pleased.     No new park visits as of yet. Ready for the rundown?

Mommy just scolded her

DUCHESS: I think competition has been good for her. She’s much more affectionate…well as affectionate as SHE can be.   She’s a lot less standoffish. She continues to engage Peryn in playtime.  He takes her up on it of course. She attempts to play with Lada.  They have this weird love/hate relationship. Lada is both afraid and in awe of Duchess. She’ll bark a storm at her when they “play” yet she follows her around when outside. Duchess is definitely a better dog since bringing Lada on board.  Not that there was much wrong with Duchess. She’s always been a good, loyal, protective companion.   We really got lucky with her.

ATHENA Athena and Lada have a great relationship.  Just like with Peryn, Athena loves to play with Lada. The two of them are pretty cute together and Lada adores Athena. Athena still plays with Peryn, but not to the extent that Duchess and Peryn play.    Athena is doing well and seems pretty happy.  I adore this girl, so I really don’t have anything negative to say.  I do think Athena is more engaged with the “pack” than she was before.   She definitely seeks out affection a lot more than she used to. She’s quite demanding of it really.   It’s nice to see her with us than off by herself like she used to.

Ugh. I hate that camera thing.

PERYN Lada has been a godsend for Peryn.   We’ve cut back to 2 days a week in daycare as of late.  I was getting reports that he just wasn’t as enthusiastic about playing as he once was. Either he is missing his sister or the constant play has tired him out. He’s been a MOSTLY good dog.   In fact a majority of the issues we had that made us start taking him to daycare in the first place are gone.  We’ve even left him out of his crate when we’ve left a few times. He’s done brilliantly.    He still wants his fetch every day, but it’s for a smaller window of time than it used to be. He LOVES his baby sister.   LOVES.  They are constant companions and play all the time.  They’re around each other constantly. It’s really sweet to see.  The conflict comes when it comes to Mommy giving any affection. Both of them do not like to share me, Lada more than anyone.  They will do their best to block the other from getting to me.   It was cute for like .04 seconds, but it is annoying. One habit that Peryn has brought back is the walking on me.  He does it to get to me before she does and it HURTS.   He’s also back to eating poop….  Bad puppy habits he started back up thanks to lil sis.   HE also has taken to taking exploratory walks off the property.  In fact just a bit ago I was stuck chasing down (at a walking pace) him.  Of course Lil Girl had to join him, so I HAD to follow them.  I was not a happy camper.   Especially since I was not dressed to be chasing dogs down in 20 degree weather.

You want to play fetch with me all day long.

Hi Mommy Best Buds

LADA This girl.   She’s a trip.    She’s freaking insane! She’s also very very sweet and still so tiny.   She just weighed herself and she’s 15.8 lbs.  Almost 6 lbs more than when we brought her home.   Peryn was almost 30 lbs at the same point.  She is a REAL VELCRO DOG!  Peryn has nothing on her.  While he may pull his possessive mounting of me, she lets them all know I’m hers. End. Of. Story. She reminds me of ROO from Winnie the Poo.   So I have taken to calling her Roo.   She also is quite the jumper.  So she’s really a kangaroo in a puppy’s body.   She doesn’t get as bored as Peryn would get.  She can keep herself entertained in the office during a work from home day. Peryn couldn’t ever.   She LOVES her siblings.  She likes to follow them and mimic them.  She loves other dogs..as long as they don’t move.  When then try to interact back, she sort of freaks and runs away. She loves people though.   She’ll greet anyone.  She looooves are neighbor Kara.  Kara helps out on some of the days I work downtown and she adores the dogs.   Lada adores her back. She doesn’t have a favorite toy or thing…she just loves a bit of everything.   She is a piggy though. She loves to eat treats and tries to steal them.  She’s a good traveler like Peryn, but Peryn still is the best traveler.

  Annual Cattle Dog Cook Out 2017

We just found out this years Cattle Dog get together is in June.   We're excited to be going again. This year will be even better with Peryn & Lada together!    So we have that to look forward to.

SO that's what's up with the dogs.      They're great and wonderful.   

Mommy's puppy update

Feb 6 "Gotcha Day"

Time sure does fly by.   So much to say. 
First let's talk about my lil dude turning 1 on Tuesday.   My little boy is a big boy now.   He's like huge.  Not really, but he is a lot bigger and sturdier.   It's very noticeable next to his tiny sister.

And today I noticed his bark changed!  I don't know if he's sick and it's affected his bark, but it's a bit less puppy and more big doggy.    He's not allowed to grow up!!

Peryn is a good boy overall.  He was completely house trained at 9 months. NO more going outside, letting us know when he has to go out,  no accidents at all.   I was so proud of him.   

He's very demanding when he wants to play or go outside.  You do not ignore him or he will 1) bark at you 2) climb on you or 3) drop the toy at your feet over and over and over (like right now).

He loves everything. He loves people, playing with other dogs, going on car rides, walks, playing or swimming in the water, and his friends and family.  Boy does this dog have friends, Mr Personality. He loves dog parks or his day care...he loves Maddie from his day care.  

He doesn't necessarily have a favorite food. His focus is more on play. His favorite toys are his slingshot arrow, his tether tug, and his blue hartz ball.   If any other dog touches his toys, then that toy becomes his favorite.

He's fabulous with car rides...passes right out.

He is stubborn. Has the cutest frustrated growl.  And is explorations in the woods scare the crap out of me.

He loves his Daddy, but loves his Mommy more.    He's a sweet guy and I love him to pieces.

Happy 1st bday Peryn.

Gotcha Day

Ms Lada.


Sigh, we've had this little doll for about a week and a half. Tomorrow she turns 13 weeks.     

In some ways, she is very much like Peryn was as a pup--very fearless. She loves to jump from couches, beds, any high furniture or person.  She loves to take on Peryn like he's her size instead of the size he is.

Add caption

The differences are very obvious.  She is much more loving. She loves to be held and give kisses and cuddles.  She also is much more cautious of other dogs bigger than her.  I get the impression smaller dogs and dogs of her size do not phase her, however her big sisters intimidate her.   Only today she actually played a bit in the backyard with them.    I hope this continues to in the house.

The one thing that FRUSTRATES me and I don't know if it is the same as Peryn was or different because Peryn has come a long way, but she PEES CONSTANTLY.   We take her out, she pees.   We walk back in the house and she'll pee right there.    Come upstairs, pee some more.

I have rags and the urine enzyme eliminator in spray bottles all throughout the house.    I don't know if she's getting it when we praise her outside for going out there.

Right now she's a pretty good listener, so she isn't on a tie out a lot. That and the fact that Peryn loves to pull the other dogs leads.   She's too small and gets dragged around by him otherwise.

She also HATES the crate.  The big difference here is Peryn was introduced day 1..when he was just barely 5 weeks old.    She's 12 weeks and lived in a barn until we brought her here.     She's not used to confinement.   We're going to continue to work on that.

Peryn and 2 of his sisters

She and Peryn get along famously.   It's just what we hoped and it will hopefully grow from there.   I am hoping to reduce the # of times a week he goes to daycare-but that remains to be seen.

So that's all I've got for now.   I'm heading to bed . Will update you on the big girls later...

Sibling cuddles

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.

And introducing.....

Lada at 8 1/2 weeks

We've never had more than 3 dogs. Always said it was too much.   So imagine my surprise one day as the hub says "You know what we need? We need a female red to go with Peryn"  For those who don't speak dog lingo....He saying we should get ANOTHER cattle dog, a female this time and a Red one.
Another dog.

We talked about the pros and cons... Pros--they'd be very close in age and energy level so they'd play well together.   Galen & Sheba bonded in a similar situation when they were the same age. These 2 could be really good for each other if we were to let it happen.      Duchess & Athena play with him only when they feel like it--which isn't often.

Peryn's done very well as daycare.   He LOVES other dogs and he loves PLAYING with other dogs.  He's FANTASTIC with dogs of all ages.   This could work.    The girls might not be too happy, but they've dealt in the past.  Best to do it before Peryn gets much older.

But 4 dogs???? Are we crazy?

Lada at 9 weeks.

Did a general search and could not find any red female heeler puppies in quick driving distance.   Not meant to be I guess...

Still I would look and let Hub know that I didn't' find anything.....  until another individual on the heeler group I belong to began posting pics of the new heeler pup she'd be bringing home. Her pup is 2 weeks older than Peryn and she was getting another for similar reasons (love of the breed and a companion to her current pup).

SO I did another search and POOF! 2 weeks prior someone in Ohio (an hour away at that) had red female pups! Seeing that the ad was 2 weeks old, I contacted him to ask if there were any left.   I told Rich. The gentleman responded that they had 1 female red left.    Sent us a picture and HUB was hooked.

We discussed it some more.  We're not getting her until we have stuff for a puppy AND after Christmas (we didn't want to have her locked up too much).   Worked out a time and day for pickup and scheduled it for 5 days later, the day after Christmas.  We went and got everything we'd need for another puppy and then had to wait.

Of course we get sick in the meantime and I'm told my Hub that I BETTER BE WELL enough to go get her.

We had them send pics every few days.  Rich was beyond excited and I made it into a guessing game on FB.

Christmas Day

So we went to get her and she's beyond adorable. She LOVES to be held. First afternoon/evening home was crazy. Dogs could not have cared any less and were not thrilled..  She didn't want to be let down...We couldn't get her to go outside to the bathroom.....
She was completely content to be held and fall asleep in the arms/lap/feet of my Hub.

nightime went as expected...maybe a little worse considering I was hacking up a lung while trying to let them out in the middle of the night.

This morning (12/27) is going much better.   She and Peryn have played.  She's exploring and playful and still wants to cuddle.
Still need to work on getting her to go OUTSIDE for the restroom...but otherwise she is a darling.

Duchess is ignoring her to an extent--so is Athena...but Peryn is actively trying to engage (and bully) her.     I see good things ahead.

day #3 Tuesday Dec 28

It's LADA!!!!!

Today Peryn went to daycare as scheduled.  It would be too much for me to watch them all today.   It was a good thing. She was able to come out of her shell and explore. Duchess tried (and failed) to engage her and I got to work on house training her.
Although little dude scared me first thing this morning and took off into the woods.....heart attack I didn't need.

Well, we picked him up and like always he was exhausted and just slept while we had dinner and cleaned up the kitchen.   However once we arrived back upstairs, things changed.

With him refreshed from daycare he began to actively engage with his sister.   They were playing tug o war, chase, wrestling, and just sitting quietly chewing on different ends of the same toy.   THIS !!! THIS is why we got her.   Two young pups -just bonding and playing.  I'm so happy!

They are still currently playing.   Peryn has a real playmate to keep him occupied.  Lada has someone to help burn all that puppy energy.  They will be each others companions as Duchess and Athena get older.
If they are half as great together as Galen & Sheba were, I'll be very happy.

So here's all about Lada

She's going to be 12 weeks old, born Oct 7.  Both of my pups were born in 2016.   She, like Peryn, is an Australian Cattle Dog.   Peryn is a Blue Heeler and she's a Red.   She's approximately 12 lbs and seems slightly smaller than Peryn was at that age.
Her dad was a Red and her mom was a blue.
She's EXTREMELY affectionate--more so than Peryn ever was or has been.  She's got a sweet disposition and right now seems more of a people puppy.

Like Peryn, she doesn't seem to have a mask.  She will have a big spot on her hind quarter by the tail.  Where Peryn was our kamikaze daredevil from minute one, she's a bit more cautious.
Oh and she's a drama queen.    OMG....you think she's getting hacked to pieces when she's playing and doesn't like something.      That will be interesting to see if that continues as she gets older.


SO welcome to Lada and look for more puppy postings to come....