My puppy is 4 months old!

Yup our little tiny puppy that we brought home in January is 4 whole months old!I'd say she's pretty darn proud! She's still totally not going down the basement stairs, although I have a friend that doesn't blame her since she was almost too scared to go down my very steep basement stairs when she visited me recently :)Token child picture:Spring is coming but my yard is still 1/4 winter:S loves the yard and asks to go out often, here's a nice shot of her rolling in the leaves from last fall - the white stuff around her is not snow - it's toy stuffing :)I love the way the light catches S's coat and makes it shine, here's a very nice coat shine shot(say that 10 times fast!):

That's it for me - I had a very very busy day today and it's past time to put the kids to bed and myself to bed!

Cass :)

Dog food and disillusionment.

Who knew that getting a puppy and trying to feed her as well as possible would lead to so many issues for me. I think only I could turn something as seemingly simple as feeding a pet into yet another thing I do or want to do that is not mainstream.

As you know from my post "Have I become a dog food snob?" that we have done a lot of looking into pet foods since we got S because we want her to live as long or longer than Old Dog did. Now I don't want you to get me wrong, I think we are doing well by feeding S Orijen, she looks great, is growing well and has lots of energy. I have been reading tons of good things about feeding raw meats and raw bones to dogs and cats which is leading me, once again, to do things differently than everyone else. J has agreed, reluctantly, to allow me to try feeding some raw as long as we also still feed the 'clinically balanced' dry food as well. With that I have to be happy.

So where's the disillusionment? Right here. I am upset because from my reading and paying attention to pet food commercials I am seeing something that makes me angry the same way make-up commercials make me angry, diaper commercials make me angry, and formula commercials make me angry. I can hardly turn on the TV without seeing stuff that is at least misleading and at worst a flat out lie. I know it's awful late in my life to grow up and smell the marketing but I can say one thing, I sure don't like what I'm smelling!! The problem is I am sick of feeling like the radical nut that no one wants to have anything to do with because she has strong views on stuff no one seems to give a second thought to. I don't try to make anyone do things the same way I do but I do feel sad and frustrated when what I am feeling passionate and revved over is dismissed out of hand by the few people I do talk to about it.

Cloth diapering was 'gross' and 'too much work', breastfeeding was mostly accepted as a good thing but when I nursed M past her 2nd birthday I was definitely odd and although everyone was always intrigued by my wrap and the ease of which I wore M when she was smaller rather than using my stroller I always got 'oh I could never do that - I have a bad back'. Don't even get me stared on re-usable menstrual products and how 'gross' most women I talked to thought they were! I compost and recycle, I use cloth wipes for everything I can(we don't buy paper towel) and do all sorts of other odd things. I'm tired of the media and the reactions of others telling me I'm wrong because I'm not, dammit!

I think what makes me the most irritated is that very few other people seem to see it the way I do - up to this last odd thing J has actually been very supportive and has seen the sense in what I am saying even if he didn't always want to go quite are far with it as I did(like cloth wipes in the bathroom rather than toilet paper). When he does have something to say he is normally right and I respect him a lot, he is a very smart man and I love him.

All this because of dog food - who knew?

Cass.

A friend comes to visit and a trip to the vet ...

S's pal P came to visit today and they once again had tons of fun(this time in the back yard) with more room to play they were much quieter :)

Remember last time? If not here are a couple shots to remind you!At that time P was much bigger than little S and it was funny watching them play. S held her own over her larger, heavier and older playmate.

Today was much the same with lots of running and pouncing :)And here is a great action shot:
After our visitors left we all had supper and then S went to the vet for her final puppy shots. I took the time to note down all the weights I have on her vet papers so here it is, just for fun :)

S @ 7 weeks weighed 2.4 kgs/5.3 lbs
S @ 10 weeks weighed 5 kgs /11 lbs
S @ 13 weeks weighed 8.2 kgs/18.1 lbs
S @ 4 months weighs 10.7 kgs/23.5 lbs

She's a tuckered out puppy now!

Cass :)

Puppy love - Yet another update :)

I have more than the puppy to talk about so I will share a couple other things first. M happened to be in the room when I was taking pictures of the puppy so here is a shot of her:We have another new addition to our computer room - I convinced J that, yes, he really deserved a new computer just for him so things were moved around to accommodate his new computer. His case is the same as mine only black not red. Here's a shot of our computering hub in the basement :)Now onto shots of the puppy :)
A girl and her puppy ... Awww!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter and all that jazz.

Cass :)

Puppy love - Another update.

I will admit now before the world that my backyard is currently a mess - here's a picture to prove it:One of S's favorite backyard toys is half of an old push broom head. She is laying on the roll of old carpet I yanked out of the back room last fall. In the foreground you can see a wheel and chewed handle of an old broken folding stroller and most of her is hidden behind a large plastic barrel that J brought home as a rain barrel but has instead sat in the yard for a couple of years doing nothing. Once the snow melts I will do something about the yard now that we have a dog again - the dog(unlike the children) actually enjoys being out in the yard and needs a clean yard to be safe.She really loves her brush :)

Here's a shot for size of her laying on our oversize ottoman: and these last two shots are just for fun:S and I now take two walks a day for about 40 minutes each walk. I think she enjoys them and hope that she will have more good walks(where she pulls very little) than not so great ones(where she pulls quite a lot) she's coming along pretty well for an almost 4 month old puppy and at this point all it will take is time.

Cass :)

Another weekend - more pictures :)

First of all I would like to say to Mother Nature: NO MORE SNOW! The gosh darn snowbanks are as tall as I am(or taller) and we're running out of places to pile it!

That being said here are some pictures of the children :)Two girls eight years ... what a difference!Of course M feels that she is the center of the world ... I guess it's all a matter of perspective :)A at the computer and me in the background. We do like our compys in this house!

Now on with the puppy update!S is now over 3 months old and has been our pet for about 2 months. We love her a lot, can you tell?S loves the cat ... maybe too much.

She also loves the snow :)

And this shot I kept just because I liked it ... S with stand up ears!

Cass :)

Puppy Update - Week 7

First of all I will give you a vet update; At 7 weeks S weighed 5 lbs, at 10 weeks S weighed 11 lbs and now at 13 weeks S weighs 18 lbs. Vet says she looks great. No fleas.

Full of energy as well - here are some action shots:We're still working on getting her to give back the thing we throw :)

Here's a nice shot of her back and how her coat is once again getting darker:Another very nice shot of SOf course I have to throw these last ones in to try to show her size. Sprawled out she takes up over 1 sofa cushion:Of course we love her - just look at this face, how could you not love her?

Cass :)