Doggiversary!

One year ago today we brought you angels home.

And every day since then has been filled with joy and laughter. With progress and landmark moments.

You came to us as two puppies that wouldn't leave the safety of your kennel. You wouldn't let us touch you or come near you.

Now you leap into our laps. You paw at us for pets. You nudge us with your noses.

When we come home you are a fury of furry dancing paws, panting happy faces, and a frantic need to be touched and loved.

When we leave you sit at the door and wait for us to return.

You are our babies, you are our happiness.

Long Overdue

It's been a while since I talked about how the dogs are doing. I guess they are almost so normal for us now that I forget that I should be keeping track.

Caleb and Lily are wonderful. We are just a month and a few days shy of a year with them.

We have come so far with those pups.

Caleb is braver and happier than ever. Last night in fact when I got home from work he let me give him lots of love with both hands. He didn't shy away when he saw that I was using two hands as he has for so very long.

He scrambles over his brother and sisters to demand love from me. And every night he sticks his head closer to me so that I can give him good night pets in the kennel. He doesn't hide at the very back any more. He sits closer to the front so that he can get his goodnight love.

Lily is simply my baby girl. She is happy and crazy around me and hubster.

We have a ways to go with guests. They still do a lot of fear barking. But after my folks stayed at the house for two weeks the dogs were adjusted to them at almost the same level of comfort as they have with the me and the hubster.

Overall, they are doing fabulous!

And Caleb is coming along

After spending two weeks with my parents staying in the house it seems like Caleb has made some positive progress. He seemed to have plateaued in his progress and wasn't getting any more social. But having two strangers living in the house forced him to come out of his shell a little bit. Add to that the fact that I pick him up just about every night and have him cuddle with me and we have a pup that has no choice but to get better.

He's more curious, he wants to be more a part of the family and he is far more aggressive in getting his share of love and pets. He doesn't let the other dogs push him out of the way as much as he used to.

Lily is just fantabulous. I took her with us to Doc's when we got our tattoo's and she proved to be quite the mommies girl. She knew exactly where mom was and wanted to be as close to me as she could. Even when the hubster took her for a walk around the neighborhood she knew exactly which house was Doc's and wanted very badly to come back and see me. She had never been in his neighborhood before but she sure knew where mom was. We found that particularly promising since one of our fears was that she would run and never come back. Now it would appear all she wants to do is run to mom. Yippee. That is SOOOOO good.

I also took her to my friend Girl J's house. She lives out in a small town in Wisconsin just over the MN border. She was all about mom. And just like Sophie she walked always looking up at me. When Lil Al tried to walk her she pulled to be up closer to me. So again Yay!

I am a little less afraid that if she got loose she would run.

So over all the dogs are doing better. We still have a long ways to go with Caleb but it seems like every day that goes by I feel better and better about his progress. And I probably don't give him enough credit in knowing who his mom and dad are and feeling safe with us. I am starting to believe that if it came down to it he would come back to us. We aren't in an ideal place yet and I still loose sleep over the thought of him getting loose. But we keep working at it, we keep doing everything we can to make him feel safer and we know we will get there.

Springtime for puppies

The puppies are doing well. Lily is crazy. She's a silly little girl that loves to turn in circles when she is excited. We play a little game in the morning when we first get up and go outside. She loves for me to pick her up and toss her into the grass. Then she charges back to me and flips around in her circles. She will do this for hours if I am willing. And by toss, please know that I mean she gets picked up about 6 inches from the ground and plopped about a foot and a half from me. And she just loves it.

Caleb is making progress. Bless his little heart. He's coming around bit by bit. Over the weekend he was curled up on the middle cushion on the couch. Up until now he would always shy away, jump down and get away from us if we sat down on the couch. Sometimes if he was at the far end of the couch we might be able to sit down at the other far end but it was not a sure thing that he would stay. This weekend though he stayed even though I sat down right next to him. I couldn't believe it. And to top it off, I gave him a few seconds to adjust to me being near him and then I scratched his back near his tail. And he let me. And didn't jump down and go away. It was awesome. And a HUGE step forward for him.

He has also gotten far braver when it comes to coming back in the house. He used to be the last one in and we had to stand far away from the door. Now, he charges right in with the rest of the dogs no matter where we are standing. Again, this is huge progress for him. He is the love of our lives. And we will do what ever it takes to make him feel safe and loved.

The hubster and I got them an even bigger kennel over the weekend. Lily likes to really spread out when she sleeps so it didn't leave much room for Caleb. Now, they have a kennel big enough for a 200 lb. dog. They more than fit with lots of room to spare. So Lily can spread out all she wants and Caleb still has room to stretch. There new kennel is so big I had to make them new beds to fit. I think they like them. And Lily looks adorable snuggling inside. The bed is super cushy so she almost disappears in it when she cuddles up.

The other two dogs do very well with Lily and Caleb. Everyone gets along just wonderfully. Sophie and Caleb are often snuggled in a little puppy pile. We couldn't ask for a better house full of furry. And Socs our kitty is very much in love with Caleb. And Caleb with him. They love to snuggle. Caleb always loves to get Soc's to give him a bath. It's very cute.

Quick update

Just want to let you know that the puppies are doing well. Caleb continues to struggle with trust and bravery but he gets incredibly happy when he sees me so I will take that as a good sign. I get leaps and flips and dances from him. Lily too. The little peanut spins in circles when she sees me either when I get up in the morning or when I come home from work. All in all, they are doing just fabulous.

All's well

All has been well. No major changes with the dogs.

Caleb has roundworm but it is being treated. And the good thing was the trip to the vet didn't traumatize him or set our progress back. He did wonderfully.

So, basically, they are doing fine.

No major forward progress. But we haven't taken any steps back either.

They are still the greatest joy.

5 months of puppy love

Caleb has been slowly but surely getting more insistent on getting attention. He now will nose me and but my hand in his mouth to get me to pet him. He really only does this when other puppies are involved. And it is still entirely on his terms. But a very exciting thing has been when he comes in and has to get wiped off. He now “sits pretty” and waits anxiously to get his paws wiped. His tail thumps against the counters the entire time. Considering he would hid outside or if he came in, cower in a corner we consider this HUGE.

He still has issues if we try to bring the dogs inside one by one. He tends to get scared and will hide outside. His confidence is very much tied in to the number of dogs with him. As long as he has his brother and sisters he’s a very brave little guy.

We still can’t approach him. But we are at least getting a little bit closer to him before he flees to his kennel.

Lily is just crazy. She has had a few accidents in the past week but nothing too bad. A few nights ago Lily was being unusually hyper and she barked a lot. We couldn’t figure out what her problem was or why she was so agitated. The hubster finally figured it out late in the night. We had a sleety snow storm and the ice was hitting the windows, he noticed after hearing the ice hit louder that that coincided with a rise in Lily’s agitation level. So storms bother her. Oh goodie. We can’t wait for Thunder Storm season. It should be interesting.