Cape Cod, Part 2

Day 2 at the Cape went a lot like the first: running, digging, and playing on the beach.  Today we took the puppies on a little beach tour.  We went to Chapin Beach, Lighthouse Beach in Chatham, and back to Sea Street Beach.  They both love the beach but Tessie is a true beach dog.  She would stay on the beach all day.  She loves to dig holes in the sand and it's pretty amusing to watch her do it.  

The puppies have been acclimated to the Cape, which is good since they will be spending time there.  They both like the beach and it will interesting to see how they do with water once the weather becomes warmer.  They both got their feet wet this weekend and after they got over their initial surprise at waves coming in, they seemed pretty okay with it.  I know Skippy will enjoy the beach much more when he isn't shivering too.  

We're on our way home now and both puppies are fast asleep in the back seat.  They both do awesome in the car which is another nice thing.  Tessie gets very excited when the back door opens up.  She runs right over and puts her front feet up on the seat like, let's go!  We had a very successful trip to Cape Cod and I think the puppies will be happy to return.  

Pictures - click here

Cape Cod, Part 1

I'm writing this entry from the Cape, as we came down today for an overnight trip with the puppies.  It's their first trip to the Cape and as far as we know, their first trip to the beach.  They are having a ball!  They loved playing on the beach this afternoon.  We had to pull Tessie off because she loved running and digging in the sand so much.  Right now they're both curled up sleeping on the couch, completely exhausted.  

We came down after this morning's Puppy Kindergarten session.  We walked them down to the beach and at first I think they both were a little like, whoa what is this?  It was actually a pretty nice day, not a lot of wind and very little surf.  In fact, neither of them noticed the waves until we walked down closer to the water.  Tessie was sniffing some shells when a wave came in and got her paws wet.  She was startled at first but then started jumping around and wagging her tail like, that was cool!  Skippy kept finding crab legs that he wanted to chew on which gave us great opportunities to practice the "leave it" command we worked on at Puppy K this morning.  

We went down to the beach twice this afternoon and I think we will be spending some more time there tomorrow, it is supposed to be a little warmer.  I will update again with the second installment of our Cape trip.  Here is a short video clip of Tessie digging in the sand....

Satos, Juma, and Kindergarten

I wanted to post this before but it slipped my mind.  As I think I mentioned, both our puppies are from a program called Save-a-Sato, which brings animals to the States from Puerto Rico for adoption. There are huge problems with strays in Puerto Rico and many times animals there are abused or killed very inhumanely (click here).  We are very thankful that our two puppies have survived their time in Puerto Rico and are doing so well.  There is an online petition that you can see by clicking here.  It is an effort to get the Governor of Puerto Rico to step up and take responsibility for the horrible crimes being committed against animals there.  For more information about the program you can visit saveasato.org.

Now onto the puppy news.  On Friday the puppies met Juma, the mastiff that lives in the house whose yard backs up to my mom's yard.  Juma is huge, I'd say he's pushing 120 pounds but he's a big gentle giant.  There is a chain link fence that separates the yards.  I was out with the puppies and they were running around when Juma came out into his yard.  Skippy saw him right away and started barking at him.  Skippy still has a very high-pitched puppy-ish bark.  Juma came galloping over to the fence to check them out and let out a nice big bellow of a bark.  I'm pretty sure he was just saying hi to them but Skippy went flying the other way.  I don't think he's ever seen or heard anything quite like that before.  It was quite funny.  Tessie just sat down and took everything in but I think she did give a few barks at him towards the end.  As soon as Juma turned around Skippy ran right back towards the fence, barking his "brave" little head off.

This morning was our first session of Puppy Kindergarten with the puppies.  They did awesome!  They were definitely two of the most well-behaved puppies there.  Skippy was an excellent example of the command "watch," used when you want the did to look at you and pay attention and Tessie was just the huge sweet-pie that she is.  I had talked to the trainer last week about Tessie and her shyness and she had told me about her own poodle who had been similar as a puppy.  The trainer was awesome at modifying a few things to make Tessie more comfortable and towards the end she was doing great, going to sniff the other dogs and make new friends.  We worked on "sit," "watch," and calling the dogs by their name and having them come.  After that there was a little playtime.  There were a few puppies who got very into playing, much like our two do at home.  Skippy was content to go around the room and sniff the other owners and check out what kind of treats they had brought.  This little Golden Retriever followed him around the whole time.  It was very cute.  Tessie sat back and checked everyone out, giving the dogs that came over to her a good sniff.  She wasn't hesitant or nervous at all though which made us very happy.  By the end of the class they were both asleep!  We got some new toys to play with while we were there.  We got some "bully sticks" - suggested by the trainer, which they are doing a job on chewing right now.  We also got a ropey tug-of-war toy that Tessie loves.  She's been really into strings lately (shoelaces, sweatshirt ties, etc.) so we wanted to get her something similar that she could play with - big hit with her.  It was definitely a good Saturday for these two puppies!

Energizer Puppies

Two puppies are twice the kisses, twice the cuteness, twice the love....and twice the energy.  Tessie and Skippy are only alone for about 6 hours a day during the week.  Paul set up a web cam and he watches them during the day.  They basically eat a little, play a little, and sleep a lot.  When I get home in the afternoon they are ready to let loose.  Yesterday was nice out so we went back down to my mom's house to run in the backyard.  On a nice day they will run and play for a good hour and a half.  This is why I can't wait until we move to Hopedale and have a house with a yard!  We are definitely fed up with the apartment living.  You can see Skippy's new fashionable lime green coat.  I got this for him because he shivers after 5 minutes out in the cold.  Tessie doesn't have one because she doesn't seem to get cold (she would stay out all the time if we let her).

Today was a different story.  It was raining out today so we couldn't do too much time outside.  When they came in they were wild.  They were playing with so much energy that I was afraid someone might get hurt!  Tessie is a lot bigger than Skip and while she would never intentionally hurt him she gets very excited when they play, as he does.  I broke out the rawhide bones and we laid on the futon all together (no puppies on the couches).  They chewed and chewed and chewed for about 45 minutes and now they're both passed out next me.  Yay for mom finding a fun rainy day activity.  

Saturday is our first session of Puppy Kindergarten with the puppies and I am very happy to say that both of my babies now know how to sit.  We've been working on it the last couple of days, alternating carrots and bananas as rewards.  My grandmother loves the fact that the puppies love bananas.  I can't wait to see how they do with Puppy K and with the other puppies.  Hopefully the socialization they get with each other will help them.  

We've been trying to figure out what the mixes of our two puppies might be.  Tessie was called a "lab mix" when we got her and she is definitely a lab.  However, she has black spots on the white fur of her belly which made us think she could be lab/dalmation.  After Googling that mix we found a ton of dogs who were lab/dalmation mixes that have the same speckled paws that she has so we are leaning towards that as her mix.  Skippy is a puzzle.  He is definitely part English Pointer judging by his coloring.  Everyone tells us he looks like a Jack Russell Terrier but the vet thought he would be much smaller at this age if he was.  She agreed with the shelter that he will grow to be at least 40 pounds.  She seemed to think he was part hound, perhaps Basset Hound because his legs are a bit on the shorter side.  I see him having a lot of characteristics that Emma had which is why I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was part hound, maybe even Beagle.  He definitely has a Beagle-ish howly bark and he will also eat anything he comes into contact with.  But I guess for now all we can do is guess.  Feel free to let us know if you think you have an idea.

First Weekend

Our first weekend with the puppies is over and it's back to work tomorrow morning :(  We had a great couple days with the puppies.  It was so nice for us to be able to spend two full days all together.  I think the puppies enjoyed themselves this weekend too.  On Saturday morning they both really started to liven up.  They played with each other all morning, wrestling mostly which is pretty cute to watch.  It seems as if they are really starting to love having one another around.  They are constantly cuddling up together and we haven't had any issues of snapping at each other or anything like that.

I went to the puppy kindergarten orientation on Saturday morning.  The first class was no puppies because there was a lot of discussion.  The trainer is great and I think that the puppies are really going to benefit from this class.  The trainer had her dog, a standard poodle with her, as her "demo dog."  I was talking a little bit about how Tessie is often scared of new noises, people, places, etc.  She asked me a few questions and then told me that her poodle had been the same way when she adopted her.  This gave me a lot of hope for Tessie because the poodle was walking around the room, checking everyone out, acting very comfortable and calm.  She is actually a service dog who goes in to visit at nursing homes.  Tessie is such a special little dog and I can only imagine how awesome she is going to be once she knows she is safe here and she can gain a little confidence.

On Saturday afternoon we took the puppies up to Haverhill to meet lots of new friends and family.  They did great.  They were also able to meet their first doggy friend, Coco.  Today we went down to my mom's house for dinner.  The puppies ran around in the yard (which they absolutely love) and played with each other and us.  The biggest part of the day for them was probably getting their first taste of Nana's meatballs!  I let them split a meatball because they were so good while we ate.  They both LOVED it and scoffed it down pretty quickly.  They also tried banana today with Paul, which is definitely a favorite of Tessie's - Skippy will eat anything (and I do mean anything).  

I will leave you with a video of the puppies playing together.  This is one of their new favorite pastimes.  I had a couple of others but unfortunately I deleted them off my camera before they downloaded (duh).  

yay for the weekend!

It was hard for me to pick a picture for today's entry because we've had such a big day!  Today was Tessie & Skippy's first day home alone.  They only end up being alone for 5 or 6 hours while we are at work since I leave early and come home early and Paulie leaves later.  However, it was a big moment (for me more than them maybe)....I was a nervous wreck all day because my babies were home alone.  When I came home though they were curled up together in their crate, happy as could be.  They did great!

It was nice and warm today so when I came home I loaded them up in the car and we took a ride to my mom's house.  She has a good sized yard that is fenced in!  The puppies LOVED running around off their leashes.  Paul & I have done our best to get them running around on their leashes - Tessie loves to run up and down the hills out back....however, the fenced in yard was awesome.  They had an absolute ball and I know that that will be a place we will be frequenting.

It was hard for me to get good pictures of them because they were in constant motion, running, jumping, playing, sniffing.  However, I did get a movie of them playing together.  This was a big moment because they have yet to really play together.  Tessie had tried to start playing with Skip a couple times but he just kind of seemed like he didn't know what to do.  Today he instigated and they had a ball together!  I think he wishes he had a few more pounds on him (we found out at the vet that she's twice his size) but he held his own and they had so much fun.  Right now they're exhausted, curled up together on their bed, Tessie's leg around Skippy's head, which is the picture I had to pick to sum up today's fun!

I'm trying to upload the playing video and there are more pics up on Picasa - 

http://picasaweb.google.com/kebrown47/TessieSkippySOutdoorAdventures

A Few Updates

That picture is of Tessie lying on top of Skippy.  They do it to each other a lot.  Here are some updates on the pups....

Health

We went on our first vet appointment yesterday afternoon and found out that both are doing very well health-wise (which we kind of already knew).  Everyone at the vet loved them and they did pretty well, although both were scared.  Tessie had to get a shot and is almost done with her puppy shots.  Skippy is still too young for most of his so he got off easy this time.  

Housebreaking

They're both coming along in this area, considering it's only been about 2 days.  Tessie is awesome and has only had a couple accidents in the house.  The little man seems to be a bit more carefree about where he relieves himself.  At first he was going on the newspapers we put out and he always goes when we take them outside.  However, he has no problem popping a squat on the living room rug.  I think we're still getting used to the timing of when to take them out as well.

Walking

We definitely have some work to do with walking on the leash.  Tessie loves to go out and run around in the yard.  However, she does have moments where she gets very skittish outside (such as if she hears a loud noise) and gets scared very easily.  Skippy has no clue about walking on a leash and I don't think he really likes the idea of us telling him where to go.  I think he'd much rather be the one in control.  Hopefully puppy kindergarten will help us out with this.

Night Time

Our puppies are great sleepers!  Last night they slept from 11 to 6:30 without getting up once.  I even had to go over and wake them up this morning at 6:30 so they could go outside.  They sleep on their beds together on the floor next to our bed and they have had no issues at all during the night.  I almost can't believe it.  The first night they slept 11:30 to 6.  I think they got more sleep than I did though, as I kept waking up to check on them.  

Behavior

Tessie is the absolute best behaved puppy I've ever met.  She is so calm and lovable and I think she's going to have much more personality to show us once she comes out of her shell and knows that she is safe here.  Skippy is on 10 whenever he is awake.  He goes and goes and goes and then crashes wherever he happens to be.  He loves to sleep on us.  He also loves to sleep curled up in a ball with his nose tucked under something (his leg, Tessie's leg, a blanket, anything).

Food

My goal with food is to have them eating out of their own bowls without any problems.  We have yet to have any issues over food but I am working on getting them familiar with which bowl each of them eat out of.  Last night they seemed to do pretty well.  Skip will not eat from his bowl.  He takes a piece of food into the living room, eats it, runs back to get another, takes it to the living room, eats it, runs back, etc.

We Have Names!

The puppies have been named!

Our little labby girl is now known as Tessie.  Inspired by the Dropkick Murphy's song.  She is very shy when you first meet her but when she warms up to you she is a sweetheart.  She is very calm and mellow and loves her new bed.  Last night she was sprawling out, leaving her new brother hanging off the edge (which he didn't seem to mind).  She is about 13-14 weeks old and is very alert about everything going on around her.  She had been in a foster home for a while and her foster mother wrote a nice note to her new family about how loving and loyal she is once she warms up to you.  We love her already.  

The white pointer is named Skippy, Skip for short.  He earned himself a lot of nicknames last night as he pranced around the apartment and tried climbing into everyone's lap.  He LOVES attention.  He will come right up to you, climb into your lap and give you tons of kisses.  He's very little and at first we didn't think he would grow to be very big.  The ladies at the shelter think he will get to be about 40-50 pounds.  He is definitely part pointer though, we can tell by his coloring.  He has tan freckles all around his nose and ears.  He's a handful but he's very adorable.

They're both from a program called Save-a-Sato, which brings puppies to shelters in America from Puerto Rico so they can be adopted.  They're very well taken care of and we can't wait until the weather gets a little warmer for nice long walks - Skippy shivers when we go outside.  

They are both very playful and curious.  They slept great last night and are now sprawled out on the dog bed taking a morning nap.  They follow us everywhere and want to know what's going on at every second.  Tessie is doing awesome with housebreaking already, I think her foster family got her off to a great start with that.  Her personality is coming out a lot this morning, I think she is much more comfortable than she was last night.  Skip is still Skip, he's a little ball of fun.  He's had a few moments of jealousy with his sister but she just ignores him.

I have some pics up on Picasa already, more as the day goes on -

http://picasaweb.google.com/kebrown47/TessieSkippyHomecoming

Puppyhood....version 2.0

We did it.  We were so frustrated with the long distance adoptions.  We found an animal shelter in Sterling on Petfinder and went there this afternoon.  We adopted two puppies in about 40 minutes.  No home visits, no transports, no dealing with people.  We brought home a 14-week old lab mix and an 8-week old pointer mix.  We wanted siblings but they didn't have any.  These two were in a pen together and seemed to get along well.  He's very outgoing and loves attention.  She's shy but loves to cuddle with you once she gets used to you.  We are very excited and I will update more info tomorrow for sure - maybe with names.  Right now we're enjoying a few quiet moments while they nap.  

I deleted the other posts because I wanted this blog to be exclusively for these two little ones.  We loved Reesie and Ringo without even meeting them but now we know that this process was all meant to be because we have our puppies home with us tonight.