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.

Fabulous puppies

The kids are doing great. We are 1,000 times better on the house training. The only problem we have now is someones penchant for peeing on the rug upstairs. But for the most part they are locked off from the upstairs so it's no big deal. We are just thankful that they have stopped having accidents on the furniture. And are now letting us know when they need to go outside. It's a wonderful thing.

Caleb continues to make slow and steady progress. He comes more and more to me for pets. And he's willing to be closer to me in general. We still can't approach him. Not even remotely. But considering how far he has come we know he'll get there. He's such a joy. He's very intelligent. He knows how to get wiped off after being outside. He lifts each paw up for us to wipe off. Only two of our dogs even understand that concept. Both happen to be our boys. The girls won't sit still long enough for it. But Caleb deals well with it now. No more cowering in the corner over it. Yay for Caleb!

Lily is great. She's very sociable and cuddly. She's hyper. She has a lot of nervous energy. But she's very very happy. And when we look at her she sets that tail of hers a thumping.
She's a ton of fun. Despite the fact that she's a little 10 pound terror.

All is well and progressing nicely. It probably seems like not much is happening but every day gets a little better. A little easier.

The best sign of progress lately has been that we can leave them unattended for more than 30 seconds and they do okay. They happily amuse themselves. This is a huge relief. We no longer have to kennel them just to go into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee, or to use the restroom or to answer the phone. We can trust them now on a level that makes life far easier for us. Yay for my puppies!

Big Brown Eyes

Last night I was laying on the couch and someone pounced on my hip. Expecting to look up and see Sophie I was stunned and happily amazed to see Caleb. He let me scratch his head and then because Lily then pounced on me to get love he fled the scene. I was still in happy awe. A little later, Lily was sound asleep in the crook of my knees, Sophie was snoring on my hip, and because he wanted some love too Caleb puppy commando crawled across the back of the couch to get head scratches.

This was simply thrilling.................

progress progress progress

Caleb is doing pretty great. He's approaching us more and more every day for pets. He stays longer and wants to get scratched over more of his body. We had to start with barely touching an ear and one side of his head. Then we got to go from ear to ear. Then it was a little of his neck. But now he pretty much likes to get all over pets. And that is HUGE. He'll also sit much closer to us when we do this. Every day seems to be progress with him.

Lily is pretty much assimilated into the family. She's very attached to both of us. She loves to be snuggled by both the hubster and me. She just loves to be with us. She's still very frightful of visitors but we know in time she'll be fine.

It just takes time......................

The smiley one and the ankle biter

Caleb has added huge smiles to his progress. He has the happiest face I have ever seen on a puppy. He smiles so much after we come home. I am still trying to figure out a way to capture it on film. It really is just the cutest.

We are making huge progress with him. He comes up to us so much more now for attention. We still have issues with approaching him and he won't come for pets when called, but on his terms he is quite anxious for love. He gave me a huge treat last night when he sat down right next to me on the couch and nudged me for love.

He really is doing astoundingly well. We are so very proud of him.

Now, as for our little peanut. Lily is fabulous with the hubster and I. She is all about the love. She comes when we call her. She will sit in our laps and hang out. She's pretty much assimilated herself into our lives completely. The only thing we have to figure out how to deal with is her extreme hyperness. She bounces off the walls. We have been exercising her but she is still almost always wound up.

The other day a friend of mine came over. When she was walking out of the living room Lily charged out of the kennel and grabbed the back of her pants trying to bite her. As my friend put it, a mosquito would do more damage, but that's not the point. And as she and I further talked the damage could be far greater with a child. The second time she went at her my friend turned and looked at Lily and told her no. Lily backed off immediately.

My friend hadn't see the dogs since the week we brought them home. Her impression was that Caleb has made the most progress. She said he is fearful but curious. Where as Lily is just fearful and that her way of dealing with the stress is aggression. And she's right. We haven't had many people over since we got the dogs. But what we have seen is Caleb who avoids them but his tail is wagging and he's content. He'll go up to them for food but otherwise is just simply a little cautious around them. Lily on the other hand will sit in her kennel and growl at them the entire time they are at the house. And apparently, if given the opportunity will charge them. The hubster said she had done it before I was just off somewhere else so I didn't see it.

But, as in the case of my friend, as soon as she let Lily know her behavior was unacceptable Lily did back off. So she can learn. And she does listen.

It's just a matter of patience. And things will be just fine. They have come so far in so little time. We know what we need to work on and we are aware of the issues. We aren't in denial. We have more company coming on Wednesday. So it will be interesting to see how it goes. They know what to expect and the problems we currently have so they are prepared to help us along.

Anyway, I look forward every night to going home to my puppies. Our house is just so full of happiness. And I wouldn't change a thing.

Head scratchings and snuggle bugs

The exciting news is Caleb has been far more tolerant and anxious for head scratches. We have even had some full body petting and scratching. Usually he lets us pet him from quite a distance. We have to stretch our hand out and we can barely scratch his muzzle and ears. But this weekend he has been more anxious for love. And he's not only stayed close for scratching but he has put his whole body under my hand. He's done it with dad as well. We are so excited.

Lily fell asleep twice in my lap Sunday. She was snoring like a freight train. It does my heart good to know that she feels safe enough to go to sleep with me.

She's really becoming quite the little sweetheart. She's still a pistol and a half but along with her high energy and puppy like enthusiasm a sweet and affectionate dog is surfacing. I knew she had it in her. It was just a matter of a little time and love. She's been affectionate for a while now but there is a new level of sweetness to it.

I can't express how thrilled I am at their progress. We still have a long way to go with Caleb but we made some promising progress.

He was also surprisingly social when our friends were over Saturday night. He didn't just hide in his kennel. He was out, his tail was wagging. And he took food from both our guests.

Exciting and promising all around.

Patience and time, it just takes patience and time. As well as a whole lot of love.

Goofy puppies

We took Caleb and Lily for a walk during the holidays and discovered that Caleb hates water so much he preferrs laying in a puddle over walking through it. How odd is that?

But both dogs, once we got them on dryer ground walked quite well with us. It takes a while to get Caleb going strong but after a while he gives in and walks with the family.

He is still fearful of us but we see little glimmers of progress. For instance when we herd them into the kitchen to wipe off their paws he wags his tail more and is more anxious to get cleaned off. He doesn't cower any where near as much as he used to.

He also seems to come close for pets more often now. This morning he stepped over Lily to get me to give him love. It doesn't last for long but every time he does it he is braver and stays a little bit longer.

He even got up on the couch with me yesterday. He curled up on the other end of course, but hey, it's progress.

Lily is pretty much fine. She's very attached to us or at least seems to be.

We still have to work on the potty training with her when it comes to rainy days. Dad even built her a covered potty shelter to try to help encourage her to go outside.

Thankfully she isn't phased by snow. She's more than willing to go potty out when it's snowing.

That is a blessing.

One word: Perfect

That's how Lily was the entire trip. She never had an accident in any ones house. She stuck by me when we were outside in the yard. She was an angel on the plane - both ways. And she was absolutely calm and carefree through both security checks.

She warmed up to my parents and even allowed them both to hold her. She took treats from dad. Carried his shoes around the house. And got up on his knees begging for egg.

At my Aunt and Uncles house she was a little timid but by the third day she was playing, taking food from them, and in general being a very good girl.

I couldn't believe how well she did on this trip. I was so proud of her. And when she came home she was happy as ever. She's been social and goofy.

How did Caleb do with Lily gone? Dad says he was quieter (in a good way). He didn't bark any where near as much. He only had one accident in the house. And he seemed to not be in any more distress with her gone. He went for a walk with the other dogs and though he had to be carried to the end of the block he eventually was willing to walk around the park a few times.

Unfortunately we didn't make any progress in his socialization like we had hoped. And he is still avoiding us. But he's exploring the house more every day. He comes upstairs now on a regular basis where before he would never venture up to the bedrooms. He takes his morning treat from dad very happily. And he plays ball with me when we wake up.

He will come around. We know he will. It will just take time.

Slowly but surely

I can't say we are making huge progress with Caleb in terms of getting more social. He still avoids us like the plague. But he likes to be in the room with us. He follows us around and his tail is always wagging. I think he feels like part of the family, he just doesn't trust our touch. But we have all the time in the world to get there with him. He's excited to see us and anxious to play which is a good thing. And I know in time the trust will come.

Lily is really turning into my other shadow. She follows me everywhere. We may have some issues with separation anxiety with her. The hubster says that she barks a lot when I leave the house. And he can't seem to quiet her down. But as soon as I am home she stops. I am sure that as she and hubster get closer that it will get better. But I think right now it's all about mom. I'm very glad that she follows me closely and is practically under my feet all the time. I will worry a little bit less about her when we go to California. I know for sure that both my parents and my Aunt have completely enclosed fences. Of course before I let her out at either home I will do a complete inspection just to be sure, but my folks are always checking their fence to keep the little critters out of the garden plus they have a little tiny dog and they don't want anything to get into the yard that might eat him. My aunt just had a brand new fence put up last summer so I know her yard is safe.

On top of being my little shadow Lily is also just getting braver. So hopefully after the initial fear of being in a strange place she will settle in and feel at home. I have a feeling she will spend a lot of time in her little kennel, but having another dog around will probably help her to be brave. We'll see.

Other than that the pups are progressing as we hoped. Sometimes I get a little sad that we can't cuddle with Caleb yet but he'll get there. I know he will. I see it in his eyes. He wants so much to be brave. Actually, speaking of eyes I know we are making progress with him because we can make eye contact with him and he has no issues. Before we couldn't even look directly at him without him panicking and running to hide.

almost sleeping

I almost had Lily sleeping in my lap tonight. She cuddled with me for a long while. She curled up in my lap and snuggled. It was awesome.

Caleb is sleeping next to Sophie. He really likes her.

They are doing well.

The Prince and the Pea

Progress has come in many forms.

Caleb, though still not social does allow for things that previously would completely freak him out. He doesn't want to be near which causes quiet a problem when the ground is wet because when he comes in he has to get wiped off. He hates that and in anticipation of it tries to hide in the yard. But last night he let me pick him up and bring him in the house. And we have figured out that it is easier to block them all in the kitchen and wipe all the pups off than it is to bring them in one by one. If we bring them in one by one then Caleb KNOWS what is coming so he hides. So we have done the kitchen block off routine twice now and it seems to work a little better.

Caleb also is more willing to at least come out when strangers are over. And his tail wags more.

Lily follows me around a lot more. She's really becoming my little shadow. It especially makes me happy when we are outside and she follows me everywhere. It makes me a little more confident that if she got loose she wouldn't bolt.

I also took her to the vet for a health certificate so we could fly to Ca. She didn't want the vet to touch her so she came to me and hid her head in my arms. The vet said what she did was good because it shows she feels at least safer with me. And that I should take that as positive progress. He also suggested that we keep a diary of everything that goes on in the day so we can keep track of her accidents and if their is causality to them. Such as change in routine, a fight between Hubster and me, loud noises, excessive pestering from one of the other animals, etc......he pointed out that what doesn't seem like much to a human can be a lot more upsetting to an animal because they don't understand what it means. Such as watching a football game and screaming at the t.v. We take that for what it is but to a dog it's far more traumatic and they don't understand why everyone is yelling. And it scares them.

We continue to struggle with Lily and house breaking but we know we will make progress. And we remind ourselves that though it wasn't nearly as bad, Sophie took 6 months to stop having accidents. Bad weather and wet ground are our enemies in progress. And oh, goodie for us, winter is fast approaching. And then spring showers. It's going to be quite the uphill battle. Oh well. She's totally worth it. And there are always puppy diapers :-)

Overall we are having fun with the pups. It's a great joy in my day to play ball with them in the morning. And then again when we come home. It's good exercise for them and they love it.

Silly puppies

Lily is such a crazy little puppy. She's full of energy. She is obsessed with collecting. And she loves to be naughty. She is ten pounds of terror. And we wouldn't change a thing. She's a joy. She's affectionate. She loves to give kisses. She steals bones and toys. I repeat, she is a terror.

Caleb is the quiet one. He watches. He gives you the puppy eyes and you melt. He loves to play ball. He loves to be a seal and get the ball on the tip of his nose and then push it up the couch. He loves to get pets - on his terms. He loves to get treats. We can see it in his face that he wants to be brave. He wants to trust. He observes the other dogs. He sees they have no fear. But he just can't quite take that leap of faith. We know some day he will. Until then we take what he is willing to give. He is the good child, the angel.

All is going well.

Puppy Love

Caleb is doing quite well. He is coming around more to be petted. He also is shying away less and less from me when we play ball. And the big moment came this morning when I was not only able to get the balls from him so I could throw them but I was also able to give him a pet on the head. And he stayed right in the same spot, no flinching, no ducking, no jumping off the couch. I was ecstatic!



My little Lily is doing equally as well. She really comes at me for love and to play. She is fearless when it comes to getting attention. And we have such a wonderful time together. She is also progressing really well with Daddy. She is always front and center when he gets down on the floor to give out love. And last night she curled up next to him on the couch and she went to sleep.

Better and better

The pups are doing marvelous right now. Caleb is getting more comfortable with us. We had our morning session of playing ball and today when I went to gather up all his little stuffed toys for another round of toss he didn’t shy away from me. Normally when I gather balls he scoots far away from me if one of the balls is close by. But this morning he allowed me to pick them up and he didn’t move away. That’s HUGE.

Lily loves to be on the couch with me. She is huge into what we have coined “Schnuffeling” in which she wriggles around burying her little nose in the couch cushions, under our arm, under our leg. And while she is doing that her whole body contorts and wiggles. It’s too cute. If Sophie is up with me (which she usually is) then she schnuffels all over and around and under her too.

And as for getting pets I think Caleb comes to me a little bit more every day to get love. And Lily has reached the point where she begs me to pick her up and give her loves.