Dog: Spider Hunter

Hi everyone!

So a week ago today, I had Juliette spayed. The operation went very well, but naturally, I was pretty worried and anxious. Luckily, I was able to bring her home that afternoon, but I was just nervous about her over-exerting herself.

The first night was pretty easy and she wasn't over doing it at all, mainly because she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. I opted to forgo getting her the "Elizabethan Collar" or E-Collar -- basically the cone thing. (If you've seen the movie "Up" you know it as the Cone of Shame.) My theory was that Juliette has someone around her 24 hours a day. I am the world's lightest sleeper. I wake up if she changes position in bed, or if she starts dreaming in her sleep and changes breathing. We didn't have any issues and she basically learned that if she so much as sniffed her incisions we'd all say "NO" in surround sound, so she stopped.

On Monday, she had a little excess drainage from the wound, so I took her into the vet who put her on antibiotics as a precaution and also forced me to take the E-Collar, which I knew she didn't need. Since then, the wound has calmed down and Juliette has also not gone after the wound. It's healing very nicely, and so is she! The most difficult part of the process has been that we can't play with her the way she wants to play, and she doesn't understand why.

The upside for her is that she's gotten to try a couple new things as a result of the surgery and us trying to find other ways to entertain her. For example, on the first night afterwards, I went to Wal-Mart and bought her Frosty Paws Ice Cream by Purina. It comes in an original flavor and also a peanut butter flavor (which I couldn't find). But she loves it! I thought it'd be a nice treat and in the first 24 hours, she wasn't eating much, and the vet actually thought it was a great idea as something soothing and appealing, but soft for her try in the first few hours. Also, she has a pain medication that she gets once a day by syringe but she actually really loves it -- it's formulated to taste good for dogs, and she's so patient about it, she will literally open her mouth for me to squirt the medicine in. And, to make the process of her taking an antibiotic a little more easy, she, like all our dogs before us, has discovered the joy of peanut butter between a couple little crackers.

Now, Juliette is doing great. She gets her stitches out on Monday, but she's been feeling much better for days. She is still sleeping mostly on the floor, but we've gotten all our extra comforters out and made beds for her so she can be comfortable. But two nights ago, I was sound asleep when I woke up with one paw on either side of my head. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but she had bounded up on the bed to save me from a spider dropping on my face, which I caught and squished.

Now, she has become our little spider hunter. We have a very big back yard, and as it is, spiders tend to gravitate towards our house. But with all the rain, they're really showing up. I swear, it can be dark and soundless in my room, and she can be out like a light, but she'll jump up and fixate on it. However, she is making it very easy for us to find and catch them. Luckily, with Memorial Day coming up, my dad and brother will be doing a lot of gardening and I'll be doing some cleaning, so that will minimize the problem. It is very funny though -- she gets very excited when my dad squishes them and lets out a happy bark. Now we joke that she and my dad are going hunting together!

I'll be posting pictures of miss Juliette eating her softy paws ice cream soon! :)

Until then, lots of love from both of us!

--Heather & Juliette

Once Upon a Mattress, Home Alone, The Easter Beagle, and a Golden Retrieval Mission.

Hi everyone!

So first of all, it's been a really long time since I updated! My life has gotten so busy over the past several weeks. Not long after my last entry, I was formally offered an intern position working in marketing, promotions, and graphic design for 97.1 The Ticket (WXYT 1270 AM) and WWJ Newsradio 950. I do most of my work with the Ticket, though they also partner with WWJ frequently, and one of my bosses works between both offices so I dabble a little in things at WWJ, too! They are both part of the CBS Radio family, so I'll be getting to do work with WYCD (Young Country), 98.7 AMP (Pop Music/Top 40), and Oldies 104.3 WOMC. With the start of baseball season, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as well as several major business events, most nights, I don't even get on Facebook for more than two or three minutes.

Anyhow, I guess I'll do my best to start where I left off ...

Near the end of March, Juliette started teething big time. It was definitely a tough time for her -- she did NOT like losing teeth. But, through that, she discovered how much she loves ice cubes, and we also found some great toys for her to help with teething, as well as an amazing gluten-free and all-natural chewy that is sold in bulk at Cost-Co that my dad found for her. Since then, she has lost all her teeth. Her back teeth are still working their way in and they are SO big still for her mouth (which isn't fully grown), so they still bug her sometimes, but for the most part, she's doing really well. She rarely even play bites anymore, but most she'll do is nibble on someone's toe a little (which I think she does mostly 'cause it tickles me and I laugh) or suck on a finger. She chews on me a little harder sometimes, but never with anyone else.

A big accomplishment in the month of April was that Juliette has made the transition from sleeping in the crate to sleeping with me in my bed! This was a very exciting achievement for her and she loves sleeping in the bed now. It will definitely be nice when I have a bigger bed, but for now, we make it work. I can also trust her to sleep out of the crate at night anywhere else in my room if she likes -- she likes to sleep on the floor if it's warmer, since the air conditioning vent is right under this mini-couch in my room and it's like a jet-stream of cool air.

In the middle of April, my parents went away on vacation to Traverse City and Petoskey, so it was just me and Juliette for about six days. I was really nervous because I've never had the house alone that much by myself, and I've never not had a parent around with me while I'm taking care of her for any real length of time. But I think it made us closer, and also prepared us for the future!

Part of that future is that me and one of my best friends, Katelyn, who I've known for like twelve years and who I danced with, will be getting an apartment with me in the fall in Ypsilanti so I can be closer to EMU to finish my degree. The apartment is beautiful -- two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a patio, and very pet friendly (they have little pet stations all over the complex). We are incredibly excited!

Also around the middle-to-end of April, Juliette graduated from her puppy class. I have a picture -- but only one -- that I need to scan in. They have little graduation caps and everything! She starts her intermediate level class with our same trainer in June. Our trainer also had one extra session with me to make-up for one where I'd been sick, and since Juliette had all the commands mastered that she needed for the class, he started teaching me some tricks for her. She can now spin, and she can also roll over (but she doesn't really like to do it much yet on command). Also during this time, he worked with she and I on agility training and Juliette just LOVED it. I'm definitely going to be looking in to outlets for her to work on agility more as she gets older. She took to it very well. She wasn't at all intimidated by running through the tubes (many dogs are, according to our trainer), and she was good at jumping over things and through hoops.

For Easter, Juliette got a special visit from the Easter Beagle. (If you've ever watched the Charlie Brown/Peanuts Easter special, you know what I'm talking about -- and if you haven't, watch it, because it's a holiday classic!) The Easter Beagle (me), got her a brand new Kong. Her first little one is one she still loves, but it's more a ball to chase now, so I upgraded her to the bigger puppy Kong and got her new treats to fill it!

During the last weekend of April, a friend of mine, Brandi, who I worked with at a Girl Scout Camp, threw a party for her now-one-year-old Dalmatian named Oreo and Oreo's sister, Tinkerbell. Juliette was invited and she had a blast. There are a ton of pics on my Facebook of it! I also met with the lady of a dog-centered Meet Up group that Brandi takes Oreo to called Troy Dogs Live. Once Juliette gets her rabies vaccine and is spayed and healed, she will be joining the group with me, so she's going to have lots of puppy friends!

This past week, Juliette and I made the trip up to CMU to bring my brother Kyle and a last load of stuff home for the summer. It was her longest car ride (besides when I brought her home, which I'm not sure she remembers) ever and she did so well! She was such a good girl that she got some vanilla ice cream on the way home!

Lastly, this Friday, Juliette will be getting spayed, micro-chipped, and then given a rabies vaccination. I'm preparing to inflate one of our air mattresses so she can still sleep with me without her having to try and jump up in bed and potentially rip her stitches.

Other than that everything is going so well! We just love this little girl dog, and she truly is a little Jewel which is a nickname she's taken on.

All is well in Juliette-land! :)

More soon, I hope!

We gots no troubles, life is the bubbles!

Hey guys!

So the title of this entry is from "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid, which is appropriate since Juliette got her second bath this week! I thought I was going to get a reprieve because Petsmart offers this amazing puppy package for bathing, and Juilette's sister, Bailey, who is loved (I hate to say the word owned, since they really are members of the family) by a friend of mine from high school, got it done a few days ago, and I just thought that it'd be great. They do the works -- shampoo, conditioner, blow dry, brushing, removal of shedding hair and that good undercoat brushing, trimming of hairs around the paws, nail clipping, and a bandana all for $15. I thought this would be a steal, and I also thought I'd get to avoid anymore battle scars (the one from her first bath is still visible on my elbow). But, when I called to set it up, they told me that once she's four months old (which she just turned) they require a rabies vaccination certificate. Well, my vet and the entire practice of veterinarians don't believe in giving the rabies vaccines to puppies before they are six months, since it usually doesn't take and they end up needing it again, and besides that, there are some health risks. So, I couldn't get it done. I think it's really silly that they have that policy when many vets don't give it before six months. Neither of our other dogs had theirs before six months, and they were seeing a different vet at that time than we do now.

So, anyway, last night, I hunkered down in the bathroom with Juliette and luckily, I had my mom around this time to document the experience with pictures. Most of them are on my Facebook, but I'm gonna post a few below. In general, though, it was much better. She's adapting to it, and I don't have any scratched except for one little surface scratch on my neck that I can barely see now. She really does like the water, and once she was out of the tub, she was fascinated by watching the water drain in the tub and actually tried to get back in. I'm hoping that it'll start to get nice and warm soon, and when it does, I'll be getting her a kiddie pool that she can chill out in in the backyard with me while I read and stuff during the summer, and I'm definitely planning to try and get her to some lake at some point to play around. Her paws have this amazing webbing and I can just tell she's going to be a great swimmer!

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from the experience! Overall, it really wasn't bad and I'm actually a little glad I couldn't get her professionally groomed because now I have pictures of me bathing her as a puppy, which I think is kind of a monumental experience!

:) More later this week!

--Heather

The Land Before Time, Part II

When I was little, there was this series of dinosaur movies out called "The Land Before Time." Initially, the first few movies were good for kids movies, and my brother and I both loved them. But after awhile, they started adding so many sequels (I eventually lost count) that it was more comical than anything -- especially as my brother and I were graduating high school and they were still adding more movies.

On our very first full day with Juliette, more than seven weeks ago now, my dad went out on errands and came back with this bright green dinosaur that she became enamored with. He's fluffy and soft, and instead of squeaking, he's got this roller-ball thing inside him that makes a rattling/rolling noise. She loves to shake things, so this provides much more entertainment for shaking. Here she is when she first got that dinosaur:

Then, the dinosaur was about half her size.

As she's grown, this dinosaur has slept with her every single night and is by far her favorite toy. She isn't a destroyer when it comes to toys, but he naturally started getting some holes from wear-and-tear. So last weekend, my dad went out to run some errands and decided that, after we'd sewed the dinosaur up several times, it was time to just buy a new one and swap it out -- which we did. But while he was there, he saw another dinosaur as well: A blue triceratops. He gave the triceratops to Juliette last weekend, and she just loves him -- he's a little furry, too.

As you can see, she's just as in love with this dinosaur!

Week before last, Juliette went in for her third round of boosters with Dr. B. She's doing very well, and as of them, weighed about 24.5 lbs. I'm guessing that she's closer to 30 lbs. now, and she sees the vet again two weeks from yesterday.

In other news, today, Juliette lost her first tooth! She was especially bitey after we'd gone outside for a bit, which isn't usually normal, but I noticed that one of her bottom from teeth was loose, and sure enough, after dinner, it was gone. We've learned as she's chewing that she, like our other dogs, loves ice cubes and thinks they are a great treat, so she's been eating a lot of those and sucking on them, and that seems to help with the teething. My dad also found these great dental care chews at Costco that are the same as a large Milkbone in length, but they are a little harder, and also a little thinner. They are great for her to chew with on her back teeth -- her mouth doesn't open wide enough yet at the back for some of her favorite bones, so these seem to help with that a lot, and she really likes them.

Today is the first time it's really rained since we've had her and that she's also gone out in it. It's sprinkled a few times, but today we got a very heavy rain. Her reaction was to chase the rain and run all over the yard in circles biting and pawing at it.

Otherwise, Juliette is doing very, very well. She's incredibly smart, and she's learned the "down" (lie down) command and hand signal. She has also learned out to catch, and she's learning, however hesitantly, the command "leave it." We practice "leave it" with treats and she isn't supposed to take them when we practice unless I give her permission. This will be really useful for going on walks when I don't want her to go after something. She's most hesitant about this skill, but she's getting better each day!

I'm so glad I have this cute little golden girl! :) She's definitely the best decision I've ever made and, in times of stress, she really seems to be in tune to me already. For example, I found out yesterday that my big sister from my sorority (who is basically my real sister) is moving, and I was very sad. She was very subdued and calm most of the morning and wouldn't leave my side.

She is now curled up in the pillows at the corner of the head of my bed. We are getting close to the point when I will let her sleep outside of the crate at night, if that's what she wants, but I will still keep a gate up in my room.

For now, I need to go get her crate situated for bed and get to bed myself -- I'll update more soon!

May the force be with you ...

Hi everyone!

I'm happy to report that Juliette is, per usual, doing incredibly well and getting bigger and smarter by the day. On Tuesday, she goes for her sixteen week booster shots and will be in her third week of puppy classes!

Since my last update, we have discovered a few new things about Juliette. As I've talked about, she's really into music and has been very interested in TV. With all the Oscar-buzz that was generated about Natalie Portman before and after she won, many of the Star Wars movies were on over the past week and a half or so. My family is really into Star Wars, and they have been playing in the background or we have been actively watching them over the past two weekends.

The first time that we realized Juliette had really noticed the sound was last weekend when Kyle was home. She was in my room with me while I was doing homework, and the computer generated sounds of R2-D2 caught her attention and she perked up immediately, jumped up, did an about-face, and ran down the hall! Now, when R2-D2 makes noises on the screen, she starts wagging her tail and wiggling and gets very happy. She will also lay on the couch and seriously watch what is going on on the screen. The sound effects and again, the music, really catch her attention.

She'd never seen the start of one of the movies before, so I put one in for fun tonight to see if she got excited about that music as well. My TV is on a dresser that stands about two and a half feet higher than my bed, and the dresser itself is at the end of my bed. When the music started with it, she was immediately entranced and put her paws up on the dresser and put her nose to the screen to watch, just like Lucky in "101 Dalmatians."

On Friday, Juliette made her first visit with me to my counselor's office. They are used to having therapy dogs in the office, and several patients bring their pets -- cats and dogs -- so I had permission ahead of time. She behaved very well and was mostly just anxious. Once my counselor decided we should just open the door and let her roam and explore for a bit (which was fine since I have an evening appointment outside of the offices and the its doctors normal operation) she was fine. I was mostly relieved that she didn't have any accidents!

On the topic of potty training, we are now going thirteen days with only two accidents, and they truly were accidents where she'd just woken up and suddenly had to go, and they were several days ago. I feel she's really getting the hang of it. We're also having to take her outside less, so she's getting used to it.

Other than that, over the weekend I was able to spend a night out for the first time since I got Juliette. I loved going out with my friends, but I really missed her, and couldn't wait to get home. I missed her not being there when I woke up. I'm so glad I have her in my life. However, my parents did enjoy a night to themselves with her and my dad brought her crate in their room voluntarily, which was nice since she sleeps in it in my room and can hear me breathing and sleeping all night and hasn't slept a night here without me feet away. She truly enjoyed "camping out" with my mom and dad, as my dad said, and tonight, she went into the bedroom with my dad when he went to bed early and really wanted to hang out in there for a little bit, which I think is great.

For now, she is sleeping soundly in her crate and I'm finishing watching the movie we started. :)

Until the next time, may the force be with you. ;)

Puppy see, puppy do

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since I've updated. In the past few days, we've marked four weeks since I brought Juliette home, and her three month birthday (Feb. 21).

We've had a few really big events going on here for Miss Juliette.

The first of these is that we started puppy classes on Thursday. We go to Petsmart at 10:30 a.m. and our trainer's name is Craig. There are four other dogs in the class -- a Shiba-Inu, a Poodle-Shih-Tzu, a boxer/terrier mix, and another mix rescue puppy. Juliette is easily the most talkative person in class -- I guess that's not surprising given that I'm her owner and I'm a talkative person. She really wanted to get to know all the other dogs and have lengthy conversations with them while Craig was trying to instruct us. He first tried a water bottle, which works on most of the dogs, but Juliette likes water, so she thought it was a game. His second tactic worked much better -- he has something called bitter apple spray that he sprays just on her teeth, and it is sour, so it keeps her distracted and she doesn't bark at much. When he did it, he'd say simply and firmly "Quiet." By the end of the first 20 minutes, he didn't even have to pick up the spray to say quiet, and she now does it on command, no spray needed around the house for us 80% of the time!

Craig is a really cool trainer. He himself has seventeen dogs at home, ranging from five and a half months to sixteen years. He has a full range of breeds, including several pure-bred Border Collies (another breed I love), and he brings a few dogs to each class to demonstrate and it's very, very cool. Juliette already knew how to sit, so we were a little ahead in the first class, but one skill he's teaching us is "Watch," so that whenever I call her and get her to sit, she knows she's not just sitting, but that she is to be watching me for an indication of what to do next. We practice these things outside the room through the store, and she really made improvements. I was impressed with how fast she picked it up, even though she was surrounded by aisles and aisles of treats and toys, not to mention other pet owners who wanted to meet her and other dogs outside of her class. Craig also teaches some really cool frisbee classes for dogs once they get a little older, and I'm definitely going to sign her up! She's definitely a runner and a jumper and I think she'd really benefit from it. Craig himself holds several world records for some of the sports he competes in with his dogs (mostly frisbee throwing sorts of things that would be timed, or tricks). He's very inspirational!

On Wednesday night, I gave Juliette her first bath with me. The Howells obviously bathed while she was with them, and from what I've read, I'm not supposed to give her a bath more than once every three to four weeks because her skin is still sensitive. So, a couple times a week, I freshen her up with puppy wipes and spray and brush her (her hair is so light, something I'm not used to, so I'm determined to keep her clean!). But this past week, I wanted to give her a bath before her first class (yes, friends, I am a nerd in puppy class just like I am in my own classes -- I get really excited for the first day!) and I decided to embark upon this quest -- and it was a quest -- while my mom and dad weren't home, thinking there'd be less distractions.

Initially, she was a little nervous in the bath tub, and she really couldn't figure out why I was getting her wet. Eventually, she made friends with the faucet and realized how cool it was that water was coming out and she got all wiggly and happy with it (just like she does with the vacuum, as long as it isn't on) ... But when I turned on the shower head, that was a whole different story. That scared her a bit and she really tried to get out and left me with some battle scars. But twenty minutes washing time plus an hour to really get completely dry, some shampoo, a lot of Golden hair, three towels, two t-shirts, a pair of pajama pants, some blood, gauze and Neosporin later, she was clean and fluffy!

Finally, I am proud to report that Juliette is now potty-trained -- at least I hope I am not speaking too soon. As everyone knows, when I got Juliette home, she was mostly house broken, and she really didn't have any accidents for four days. Then, on and off for the next few weeks, it became more frequent. Several times, we could tell it was out of temper -- for example, she'd been told that she couldn't chew on a person or, no, she couldn't eat my boots. Sometimes, it was out of sadness -- like when my brother went back to school. But over the past couple weeks, she's gotten very consistent in her signs and how she tells us she needs to go. Aside from one little accident yesterday, she hasn't had any accidents now in almost eight days! :)

Otherwise, I am just still so thrilled with this little girl. She is growing immensely, and I get so many compliments on how pretty she is. Of course I'm biased, but I've had lots of Golden owners come up to me at Petsmart and say she's just so pretty. And she really is a sweetheart. I'm not much of an early-bird, though she is, but she is starting to get used to coming back up in bed and just cuddling or loafing with me while I sleep.

Kyle came home this weekend, and we took tons of pictures with his fancy camera, which is a digital SLR. I will be posting them soon, but for now, here's this pic -- one of my favorites from the weekend:

She throws her paws up in the air sometimes

Hi everyone!

So, I can't believe that it's been more than three weeks now since I've had Juliette. I can't imagine life without her anymore. She is such a great little girl and we are so happy to have her.

Since my last post, we've had a few really big accomplishments on our end. First of all, Juliette is going to the bathroom in the house much, much less, which we are very happy about. Secondly, we have established a toy box for Juliette, and this morning, she started putting away her own toys before she took new ones out. Most of the time, she got the toy in. (Or at least she tried -- her favorite bone is by Kong, so it's a little bouncy, and she kept trying to drop it in, and it would bounce off the edges.)

She's also becoming more of a cuddle-bug (which she already was, but she is even more now). She really loves to get up on the couch with me and cuddle while I read or use my laptop, but she really doesn't like anything that detracts any attention from her. This evening, I was laying on the couch reading, and she actually walked right on top of me, laid down on my stomach and stretched her paws out over my shoulder, so I really couldn't hold the book up. And then she proceeded to give me lots of kisses and chew on my hair. But it was very cute! :)

The end of this week has been very different because the weather has been warmer and there are all kinds of new things for Juliette to discover. She's definitely an outdoor dog, and several times when I took her outside, she was happy just to lay down in the grass and let the sun shine on her and the breeze blow by. We had a little war over grass and whether or not she would be allowed to pull up my dad's yard, but that's getting better. Of course, we are scheduled to get another mountain of snow dropped on us tomorrow, and then it will be back to the status quo.

My parents have said several times recently that Juliette is the perfect dog for me. She's goofy, a little clumsy, but very congenial. She had recently taken to spending lots of time on her back while she either attempts to catch her tail (and she will talk to it while she tries) or play with a toy while she's on her back, paws up in the air. Here's a picture of her playing with her rope tuggy on her back:

So you think you can dance?

I can't believe that it's already been two and a half weeks since we brought little Juliette home. Today, I went shopping at Petsmart to stock up on more wet (canned) food for her. She's eating Nutro Ultra-Holistic Superfoods Large Breed Puppy wet food for part of her dinner. The same brand also makes a pouch food that has a chicken/salmon component to it that is good for her fur. I'm not replacing the canned food, but a few nights a week, she gets a tablespoon of this with dinner now. Also, we used to feed Daisy yogurt a couple days a week -- not a lot, just a little bit. Our vet liked this because yogurt is so good for everyone, even dogs. It's good for your immune system and digestive tract. She said it would be okay to give Juliette a tablespoon or two of yogurt a couple times a week. We started that late last week and she really likes it!

Juliette also continues to be mesmerized by different visual things. In addition to realizing that the people in my paintings and posters are real, she has been totally entranced by the screen-saver on my Mac, which is the brush strokes that changes colors.

As we continue to get to know our little golden girl, we are discovering more and more how much she loves all things musical. As I've said, we are a musical family. I am almost always listening to music -- if I'm studying, getting ready, just hanging out, working or even just playing with her in my room at night. She has a few artists who have really caught her ear -- Michael Buble, the Black-Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Train, Usher, Backstreet Boys, and yes, even Eminem.

Last night, when a really upbeat song came up on iTunes on my computer, she got very excited. She started dancing around in circles wagging her tails and jumping, so we had a little mini dance party in my room. She was very happy and it tired her out!

For the next couple nights, my dad is away in Chicago at the headquarters for his work, so it's just us girls. So far, things are going all right, but we know that she is missing him. She has been searching for him and we've had to take a few extra trips outside to look for him. However, we have learned that Juliette understands the concept of the phone. We did it with her my first day back at school and this evening when my dad called, we put him on speaker so Juliette could hear him. She got very, very happy. So happy that she licked the phone with such force that she hung up on him! LOL ...

Anyhow, things are going mostly well here! We are still having a few potty issues, where she will pittle when she wants something or is upset about something (like someone not being home or not being allowed to bring a stick inside, etc.). But since puppy classes start next week, I'm hoping I can get some tips then. Despite that, we love our little girl and are having so much fun with her! :)

--Heather

Chew this, not that

Hey everyone!

So, it's been a few days since I posted anything about Juliette, but that's not to say we haven't been incredibly busy!

Things are going very well with her here. The thing that we've been working on most this week is her puppy biting and teaching her what is okay to chew and what isn't. There is a series of books out there on weight loss and better eating called Eat This, Not That, and it's kind of been the same way around here, showing her what is okay and what isn't. At the moment, for example, Juliette is laying next to me on the couch and instead of letting her chew on my laptop, iPod, or (her personal favorite) my arm, I have her chewing on her blanket. She's not really a destroyer of anything, with the exception of napkins, so it's pretty safe to let her chew on the blanket.

Juliette has also started to become quite talkative. She likes to talk to us while we make her dinner or, if she's doing something she's not supposed to, she also gets a little sassy. However, it's never out of control or mean, she's clearly just voicing her opinion on it. My mom says she's like me.

We seem to have had a minor set back in potty-training -- she's had about one accident a day inside -- but we think this is probably because she is becoming a little more comfortable around here. Part of it is also that we are trying to learn her new signals for going potty. In her first few days here, she found she really liked to lay by our front door. She was also really good about going and sitting by the door and whining if she had to go out. But it got so frigidly cold and wet that we ended gating off our foyer so that she couldn't lay by the front door, so now we are learning new signals for her needing to go, which aren't always consistent. I hope I'm not speaking too soon in saying this, but she seems to be doing great today and we have yet to have an accident. Luckily, the few accidents she has had have been on our rugs that come up and can be washed easily.

Juliette is also starting to develop special games, habits, and things she likes to do with each person in the house. In the morning, she loves to sit in my mom's lap and cuddle for awhile while she reads. When my dad gets home in the afternoon and goes to put on the flip flops he wears around the house, she loves to sit at his feet and chase his toes. And if my dad is home when I've taken her outside, getting dried off by dad is a favorite activity and game.

We are having major breakthroughs with the crate this week. She is now really starting to accept the mid-afternoon nap concept. And, the past three nights when I've put her down in my room and asked her to go to her crate to sleep, she went in without any fight. Today, I did the same for her afternoon nap for the first time and she was happy to go in. This is really great. The first puppy that I remember having (my parents had one dog before I was born that was well out of the puppy stage by the time I came around), Midnight, loved her crate and treated it like her room. We want Juliette to love her crate just as much.

One downfall this week is a personal one. I have come down with some kind of bug and have been sick now for about eight days. I have been to the doctor two or three times now, and they believe I may have mono again. We have yet to be able to get a blood test done because I have been too dehydrated for them to tap my veins. However, I am not too worried even if I do have it again. Juliette has really warmed up to napping (and sometimes I even let her nap and cuddle in my bed in the afternoon). The biggest issue if I do have it again will be that I need to take a week or two more away from school, so I will have to enlist my Student Access Office to negotiate with my professors. I'm able to keep up with Juliette just fine, though, and of course my parents are a big help.

I am still really learning how to handle being a "puppy-parents." But my mom and dad have both had so much experience, so they have been really helpful. A personal triumph between she and I this week is that she is starting to come whenever she is called and if I say "No," to her when she's moving towards something at a distance (i.e.: the remote controls on our end tables which are some of her favorite toys), she will get away from them. She is also walking well with me on the leash around our yard. I'm confident that by the time the warmer weather gets here, I will be able to get her leash trained to take a couple walks with me a day.

The most exciting event for Juliette this week was that one of my best friends, Maggie, came over to visit her on Tuesday. Maggie is one of Juliette's many aunts and was very happy to meet her! Here are pictures from Maggie's visit:

That's all for now. :) I'll post more this coming week!

--Heather

Top chef

Today, Kyle headed back to CMU. I think it was one of the harder times for him to go back. He and Juliette got very attached to each other very quickly.

This weekend was one of both victories and some battles.

The main battle is that Juliette is now well into the period where occasionally, her puppy biting is a little too forceful. She of course isn't intentionally hurting anyone and really just thinks she's teething, but it does hurt. After a lot of research, I decided on a two-prong approach to it. First, keep something she can chew nearby to distract her when she goes to chew on a person (and of course scold her, but encourage the chewing on the toy heavily and praise her). Second, if she's really insistent, get up and move away from her and attempt to remove the temptation. This has worked and she is being much better about it!

We are also learning a few new things about Miss Juliette.

One of these things is that she is most definitely a kitchen-loving dog. I'm thinking that's probably because she spent a lot of time in the kitchen at the house where she was raised her first nearly ten weeks. She loves to watch anything that is going on and she is very well-behaved. She doesn't beg while we're cooking, she just wants to lay at our feet or watch. She of course also loves being near the dishwasher when it's running -- I think the noise is comforting and of course it's warm!

The biggest victory is that Juliette is now not only tolerating her crate but enjoying it, and tonight went there of her own accord to fall asleep! She also hung out in it a few times today while I was doing things. I'm so happy that she is growing into the idea that it is her place.

Tomorrow is Juliette's first visit with our family vet -- I'll be sure to update soon! :)

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of

I've never been excited for anyone else quite the way I was for both my little brother Kyle and Juliette last night. Kyle got home from CMU around 5:30 p.m., and right away, they took to each other. Juliette loves having a boy around, which is great -- all puppies need a boy to play with! Kyle loves to play fetch and missed that as Daisy was getting older, so he really enjoyed playing with her last night. It's nice to have the five of us together. She is of course enjoying even more constant attention than she already was.

This morning was a little exhausted. Juliette was a little more overwrought than usual and that resulted in a little more crate time mid morning than I would normally like, but she has since calmed down quite a bit and is now relaxing and enjoying a nice Saturday afternoon with us.

We are getting some sudden snow here this afternoon. It started as flurries less than an hour ago when I took Juliette outside for a potty trip. Within five minutes, it got heavier, and now it's a full on snow shower and my car has easily another inch of snow on it. Kyle and I are looking forward to playing in the snow with Juliette sometime this weekend, probably in the backyard, but I'm thinking of going to Walmart and investing in a pair of snow pants for the first time since I was maybe thirteen. I'm going through way too many clothes.

For now, I'm off to go to lots of homework I've been putting off. Tonight may prove to be an all-nighter for school, but she's worth it!

Separation anxiety

Tonight marks the end of my normal school week and tomorrow night marks one week since I have become a new-puppy owner. I am thoroughly exhausted! Of course, I didn't really have a full week this week. Thanks to Snowpocalypse 2011, I was granted two full days off Tuesday and Wednesday. Next week, assuming we don't get another load of snow dumped on us. Let's pray it doesn't -- the drifts of snow in the front of our yard are twice the size of Juliette, easily. This of course means that this is the thing most attractive to her in our yard, two and a half feet of dirty plowed snow. In addition, the streets of Royal Oak were seriously messy tonight for school -- left hand turn lanes were completely filled with three and a half foot piles of snow that were creating a median of sorts. I have been hanging out in Royal Oak for school now for over six months now for school and tonight was like learning my way around the city all over again. The name of the game there is Learn How to Get Everywhere Using Only Right Turns. I don't recommend playing!

One upside of becoming a new-puppy owner is that my time line is dependent on what she needs. This means that when 7:45-8 a.m. arrive and she wants to get up and is whining, it doesn't matter that my internal clock is begging me to go back to bed until noon. Of course, I'm exhausted all day, I'm drinking more coffee than ever (I've gone through more than half a bottle of my favorite White Chocolate Mocha creamer in less than a week), but I do actually get more done and I manage to stay busy most of the day. The downside is that I'm naturally a night owl, and I am not yet used to the fact that my body doesn't want to sleep 'til anytime before 11:30 p.m. yet (hence the past midnight posts). Part of this is that I haven't adapted my homework schedule yet -- I'm used to staying up all night Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights to do homework and sleeping in Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Since I'm getting up earlier, I should be doing homework throughout the day ... But Juliette does not understand homework and it's very hard to stay focused when you have a cute puppy discovering new things every second! (Today, she was very frustrated with my math homework detracting my attention from her, and she proceeded to try and take it ... I am much too old to be trying to tell my professor that my dog ate my homework!)

Something Juliette has decided she does not like much is the noise of crowds on the TV. We are a TV, sports and movie loving family and we spend a lot of time watching things together as a family and as such, we have a big TV and surround sound. We've always been more of a sit down in the living room to eat dinner and watch something than sitting down at the table. We love the Detroit Red Wings here (although my dad really doesn't get into it until Stanley Cup Playoffs) and Juliette experienced her first hockey game in this house this week. When the crowd cheers suddenly or a commercial is played that has a stomping/clapping/cheering background to it, she will bark at it for several minutes. She is incredibly smart though, because she did realize it was coming from a particular speaker more strongly than the others and started barking at it specifically. The same thing happens with cheering crowds on American Idol. However, tonight one of our funniest moments happened while watching Idol. If you watch, you know who Tornado Man is -- if you didn't, Google him. I'm sure there will be some viral videos in the next few days. Anyhow, he was dressed strangely and was very, very loud and dancing weirdly and singing weirdly, and Juliette decided she needed to bark at him. We were already laughing, and her barking at him confirmed how we felt even more!

Juliette does however like music, which is great, because we are very musical family. She loves the Jeopardy music and she will sit in bed with me and watch Gossip Girl or on the couch and watch Grey's Anatomy with me and my mom for a long time. We love good music around here, and we're all singers and we play instruments. My dad always sings, and she's shown a fascination with him singing and perks her ears up and gets happy when he sings (this happened for the first time within minutes of bringing her into our car to bring her home last week).

She is also already showing her protective streak. Last night, I took her outside and several of our neighbors had put out their recycling and garbage already, though we had not, and she immediately took notice to the garbage of the neighbors across the street and started barking at them. She also protected me from our wishing well in our front yard! It's so funny and silly, but it's cute already that she is protective!

Tonight, I had my math class, which is already pretty painful for me. I like math and my teacher is not great. Normally, in that situation, I'd use the time already in class to study the chapters on my own and do homework. But my professor likes to wander the class as she teaches to make sure we're doing the examples, mainly because she doesn't know how to teach them, so she takes our papers up to put on the overhead and instruct based on how we did it. She also grades on attendance and especially participation, so getting caught working ahead or differently is kind of frowned upon. (This is the professor who, on our first day of class, handed us a worksheet that was labeled, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. The next class, she handed us a packet, the first several problems labeled 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 ... You get the picture. Today, she told us that if she'd added extra credit points to our test, our score would probably go up. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.) Anyhow, my little girl apparently really missed me. My mom conducted the experiment of letting her listen to me on speaker phone, and apparently it really got her perked up!

I think it's so cute that she misses me ... But it also makes me feel bad. I also miss her so much. I know that once we've gone through the schedule a few weeks, she'll be better about it. And I do think that my schedule is pretty perfect. She doesn't have any time alone, really, and my parents are so happy to have her and are very attentive. My schedule looks like this:

Mondays:
HIST 370, 9:30-10:45 a.m. at EMU
Break at home from 11:15 a.m. until about 12:25 p.m.
HUM 1900, 1-3:55 p.m. at Royal Oak
Break at home from 4:25 p.m. until about 5:15 p.m.
HIS 2520, 6-8:55 p.m. at Royal Oak

Tuesdays:
Free all day
Leave for Orchard Ridge at about 5:15 p.m.
ENG 2200, 6-9:55 p.m.

Wednesdays:
HIST 370 - 9:30-10:45 a.m. at EMU
Break at home from 11:15 until about 5:15 p.m.
BUS 1100, 6-9:55 p.m.

Thursdays:
Free all day
MAT 1150, 6-9:55 p.m.

My mom is home all day every day right now, and my dad gets home sometime between 3:30-5 p.m. most days, so she really has a full throng of people concerned with watching her around all the time. But I hate those few hours I have to be away. I was very grateful for snow days this week. They did make me procrastinate more than I would normally allow ... But she is so worth it.

Tomorrow, we are going to try an experiment: NAP TIME! I've decided that after she's had lunch and after I tired her out, I will put her in the crate for an hour or two to relax. She gets a little overtired in the evening and sometimes that makes her cranky with anyone who isn't me, and sometimes even if it is me. She loves to cuddle and sleep on the couch and stuff, but she gets woken up easily and tempted by other things than sleep. I'm hoping that maybe this will make her get a little rest and also give me time to clean up, nap myself, or do a little homework undisturbed. Obviously, I wouldn't do this on Monday or Wednesday, because she will be in the crate mid-morning anyway. We usually have lunch, go outside, play inside and then go outside again, and then she sort of naps wherever or chews on one of her Kongs or bones for awhile on and off. My mom did this with our first dog, Midnight, and she said it was really helpful. She also said she did it with both me and my brother, which of course makes sense.

For now, I'm headed off to lay down and relax. Tomorrow, it's a day of homework and puppy love and of course, my brother Kyle comes home to meet our girl! I can't wait to spend time playing with them both in the snow -- visitors and other people to play with (but not other pets yet) are welcome. :)

Every little thing she does is magic

I can't believe it's already been almost a week since I've had Juliette. This week has been a little strange because of the blizzard, which granted me two school-less days that I would not normally have had. But, this is also good for her to get used to me being gone a little more gradually.

For the past three nights now, Juliette has gone in her crate to sleep with no argument whatsoever. Last night, she went in at about 10:30 p.m. She woke up at 11:15 p.m. and whined, so I took her outside, then she went back to sleep and didn't wake me up until about 8 a.m. this morning, which was a huge achievement.

In general, she slept a lot yesterday, and she's definitely grown. Today, she's been a little fireball and running around getting into everything. The only problem is that she makes me laugh when she's getting into things, which is not good for disciplining, but she is getting better. Today was very exciting because my dad was home from work, too, and Juliette is absolutely in love with my dad.

Every day, there are little things she does that are incredibly fun and exciting and I can't help but want to watch her all the time! It makes getting homework (or anything, really) done quite hard, but I just don't want to miss anything. Yesterday, for example, she finally figured out how to squeak her moose toy. She's been watching us squeak it and kept trying and finally got it yesterday! These things may seem silly, but I don't want to miss a second of it.

Today had a few new firsts for us. The first of those was the first snowstorm that I've seen her witness. She loved it, of course. Having been born and initially raised on the west side of the state, she's no stranger to it, and she has loved romping around in it. The second of these was that my aunt Sue came over today and met her, so she has been our first guest and the first person outside of the people who live here and neighbors that Juliette has met, since Maggie wasn't able to come over on Sunday.

Right now, we are experiencing another first -- both my parents are out right now at an appointment for my mom. So, for the first time ever, I am alone at home with her. She was very sad that my parents left, of course (she's very clearly a people-puppy and loves to have and be a companion), but now, she's on the couch with me, her head is on my legs and she's asleep and dreaming. Her paws are going and her eyelids are twitching, and her tail is even wagging, so it must be a good dream! Anyhow, I'm incredibly grateful to have her here, because this was kind of the point -- I am a dog person, I don't like not having a dog, I hate being alone at home without a dog. I'm so happy to have her here with me!

Tonight's picture is of Juliette discovering my laptop last night. She is very, very interested in it and from the determination on her face, I swear she is trying to figure out what it does and how it works.

The shadow of your smile

Things are starting to get a little normal around here and Juliette is getting very well adjusted. Last night, she slept a good seven hours in her crate before she woke up, then slept another hour in the morning. Then we played for awhile, and then we got up in bed and took a nice mid-morning nap.

Going to school today was hard, but I made it, and I was so happy to have my mom home the first little while, and then my dad shortly after I left, too. My parents said she clearly missed me a lot, but she was still very happy and played all night with them. It was nice to have them here and not have to worry, and coming home to see her was so exciting!

New on the list of things that Juliette is discovering the past day or two is her shadow. We had beautiful sun both yesterday and this morning, and she loves to pounce at her own shadow, or dig at mine! If I dangle something up to make a shadow too, she will run around pouncing after it for a long time.

She also loves to find things! Since we have quite a bit of snow in our yard, it's very easy for me to get the toes of my boots completely buried in the snow, and she loves to uncover the snow and find them!

Juliette is so, so smart. We have her learning the word sit already, and she does it after you ask a few times -- she's also been learning the hand signal for it, which is VERY impressive. She's also going after things like leaves in the yard less and responding even better to the word no.

Another great thing is that she's learning the routine. At the end of the night, I walk back and forth from my room bringing each of my things (my purse, my schoolbooks, etc.) and she follows me back and forth chasing me. We do the same with her favorite toys while I get her crate set up. This really tires her out. Then, I gate up my room and she plays with me on the floor for awhile, and then I work on homework or get online for a little while and let her chew and wear herself out a bit. Then, I get her up in my bed with me and she snuggles with me for awhile. Tonight, when she was done chewing her toy, she put her paws up on the edge of my bed looking like she wanted to get up and snuggle, and she did! I can tell she's getting close to be needing to go outside one last time when she's changing positions a lot and starts panting. We take her one last time, then she snuggles a little more and goes in the crate. She's sleeping next to me right now, and I'm just getting ready to put her in.

We're preparing for Snowmageddon here. We're supposed to get 2-4 inches tonight, and then another 10-16 over the course of Tuesday night and Wednesday. Luckily, I have plenty of food for her, we always have water on hand, and we have tons of extra blankets. The only thing that will change if for some reason our power DOES go out is that she would get to sleep the night with me in my bed the entire night to stay warm.

Otherwise, things are going great over here! :) We are all loving our little girl, and we are looking so forward to my little brother coming home this weekend to meet her. We all agree that she is just a little gem and we feel like we are the luckiest family! :)

These boots were made for sleeping

Hello everyone!

So, night two with Juliette went pretty well. She was very, very tired last night, but she really didn't want to go to sleep and was really against the crate. But, after crying for about five or six minutes, she did eventually fall asleep and slept for a solid four hours. I got up with her for one quick potty trip and then she went right back to sleep in the crate for another four and a half hours. Overall, the night went very well.

Juliette really loves one particular pair of my winter boots that has drawstrings at the top to keep them tight. They're furry on the inside and have furry tassels, too. Juliette really thinks they are fun to play with, but when she stuck her head in them for the first time today, she realized how furry and fun they are! She then proceeded to take an hour and a half long nap cuddled up with them. It was so cute ... See for yourself!

Earlier this afternoon, we took Juliette to Petsmart for the first time. I got her all enrolled for her puppy socialization class and we got her several new things. She now has more toys than she could ever possibly need but is truly enjoying all of them. She was also the star of the store and had many adoring fans who pet her and fell in love with her! She also started being a little more vocal, especially when other dogs were in the store. It was incredibly fun to watch and she was by far getting the most attention of any pet in the store and behaving so, so well.

Tomorrow is my first day back at school since I've gotten Juliette. My Monday is the longest, so in someways, I'm really upset that I have to spend a lot of time away, but I'm also glad I get it out of the way right away! First thing in the morning I have a class out at Eastern from 9:30-10:45 a.m. I'll probably be home around 11:15 a.m., and I will get her out for lunch, playing, and going outside for a little while. Then I have to leave around 12:30 p.m. to go to Royal Oak for my class from 1-3:55 p.m. I'll probably get home around 4:15 p.m. for dinner, playing, and going outside for a little while, and then I leave for class at 5:20 p.m. for my last class, when I'll be home around 9 p.m. Luckily, my mom will be home all day, and my dad gets home around 4 p.m., so she won't spend much time in the crate at all.

Tonight, we are having my friend Maggie over and she is the first of my friends to meet Juliette! :) I'm very excited to see her interact with someone else!

:) That's all for now!

Through the looking glass

Today was our first full day with Miss Juliette and it went pretty well. We had a little whining with the crate issues, but it wasn't too bad, and in the end, I did get her to sleep a solid five hours.

Most of today was dedicated to Juliette, playing with her, and figuring out what she likes and what makes he curious.

Today, Juliette discovered our full length mirror, and also that she could see her reflection in the cabinet of our TV stand since it's made of glass, and in the reflection of the oven door. She has been exploring these all day and just trying to figure them out. It's incredibly cute! She also discovered she likes to take newspapers when people are reading them, and at one point, she found a circular for Kohl's which she brought right to me -- yep, she's definitely my dog. She also really likes socks.

Juliette is already fitting in so well with our family. She's gotten very attached. For example, my dad left for a couple hours this afternoon and she definitely noticed. She searched all over the house for him. But, she was a very lucky girl, because when my dad came home, he'd picked up a couple more toys for her. He got her a really cool, soft plush bone with sort of a corduroy material, and then two ropes of floss/rope tuggy material to it and a bright green dinosaur which makes a low sort of rattling noise that she just love.

Juliette is very smart. She has already learned the commands sit and the word no. However, there are a few things that "no" doesn't seem to work for -- i.e., plants or branches in the yard, one specific set of cords behind my mom's arm chair in the living room. But, she goes to the door to let me (or whomever is closest) know she's got to go outside. She's doing great on the leash and she is extremely patient and great at communicating. She's also found some of her favorite places to nap and picked up on certain games she likes to play with.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Petsmart with my mom and dad to pick up a few things and get her registered for her first set of puppy classes which start in late February. Maggie, one of my best friends, is coming to meet her tomorrow.

As of now, I just got Juliette in her crate. She whined for about 5-10 minutes but now seems to be settled in, so I'm going to take this opportunity to get some sleep! :)

Our very first night ...

Hi everyone!

So, as most of you know, tonight (January 28, 2011) I brought my new puppy Juliette home. I was so lucky and blessed to receive her from the parents of one of my sorority sisters. Juliette is an almost ten week old Golden Retriever puppy. She is adorable and, in my opinion, incredibly smart. She's happy, incredibly social, very curious and a quick learner.

I made the decision to adopt Juliette in December, about three weeks after we had to put our family dog, Daisy, to sleep. Daisy hadn't been sick that we knew, so it came as a shock. But she was almost fifteen and lived a very full, happy, long life with us. I was hit very hard by it immediately because as many of you know, I've had a nice helping of surgeries over the past two or three years and Daisy was my constant companion. Without her, healing might've been much different and slower. I was very, very lonely, and even though I was still mourning, I started the search for my first dog and decided that a Golden Retriever was the best fit for me, given how smart they are and their natural good nature. When I turned to my sorority sister Emily for help, she let me know her dad's dog had just had a litter of AKC registered Golden Retrievers a few days before we had to have Daisy put to sleep. Emily and I had just recently gotten back in touch, and I felt like it was meant to be.

Juliette's name comes from the name Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts. I spent every summer from the time I was little until I was well into my teenage years at Girl Scout camps that were my second home. Neither of them had any names that seemed fitting for this little girl dog and then Juliette came to me, and it seemed appropriate, especially since I have ever intention to make sure Juliette loves to be outdoors and go everywhere with me. Another strange irony was that in looking up Juliette Gordon Low to make sure that I had the spelling correct, I realized something that I know I learned back in my scouting days, but had forgotten -- Juliette went by the nickname "Daisy" amongst her friends. This was another reason I felt like it was meant to be.

I have been counting down for weeks now, and I honestly can't believe she's finally here. I feel like I'm living in a dream! My parents are so excited to have her here too, and my little brother is excited to come home next weekend. Juliette will also be meeting several of her many aunts this week and next. She is a very loved puppy.

One of the cool things is that Emily is also taking one of the puppies, as is a friend of mine from high school, and Emily's parents are definitely keeping one. She'll remain pretty close to her siblings throughout her life and I'm very excited to see how they grow and change in comparison to each other.

For now, everything is clear here on our front. After a lot of playing, several potty trips, a snack and some snuggling, she is now in her crate. My big sister Kim suggested the concept of me having her up in bed to cuddle last thing at night and first thing in the morning, that way, she learns when is good to be in bed with me and that I can ask her to come up. Juliette will eventually be quite big, and I've got a twin bed for now. Kim did this with her puppy Riley, and it worked well for her. She slept soundly for about 45 minutes before she woke up and whined a bit, but settled down quickly. She is now sleeping again, but I'm not crazy enough to think it won't happen again. She has a very snuggly bed in her crate, a soft stuffed moose toy to cuddle with and a Nylabone to chew. I also have a toy that has been used by she and her siblings in the crate with her, so it has a familiar smell. I've put a blanket over the top, and she is okay for now!

Juliette is a very fast learned. I have an adjustable leash that I'm using for right now until I take her to the store tomorrow and make sure I get a collar that fits well. She already ducks her head right into the collar part of it and goes outside to go to the bathroom without issue. We have a very big front and back yard, and there is all kinds of fresh untouched snow, so she's loved eating the snow and playing in all of it. We've had a lot of fun!

I'm going to lay down and watch some TV for now, and hopefully I will get to sleep a little. Tomorrow, we'll be headed over to Petsmart to get her a collar and leash, and probably a few more toys.

I'll try to keep posting so that everyone can see what's going on! :)