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Izzy really loves to play so I have become an event planner for her busy social calendar. She does one private park adventure a week with LuckyDog Day Care. She loves going and gets to play with different dogs. She seems to really enjoy other goldens but has friends of all types. She doesn't mind the mud. Thankfully they clean her before she comes home. Izzy loves chase. Her besties are Iylah, Runa, Winona and Maya. I try to arrange at least 2 play dates a week for her. We ha

This has nothing to do with accomplishments. I just shamelessly hoped more people would read this. Izzy is now 52 pounds! She looks so much like an adult, but I have to remind myself she is just a teen and a crazy one at that. It's easy for me to focus on what she is not doing but it's important to focus on what she is doing. Today I just wanted to share some really big accomplishments we've seen in the last week. #1 Izzy sat calmly in the driveway and watched a herd of dee

I can't believe Izzy is now over 6 months old! Puppyhood is flying by! Izzy is 50 pounds now! Her favorite thing is to play with her friends. Iylah, Runa, Winona and Maya are her besties. She loves daycare. Unfortunately, because we will not be spaying her for at least 2 years if at all, she can't participate now that she is 6 months but thankfully, she can do Adventure Club where she goes to a 4 acre fenced environment with a small group of dogs. She is doing great with the

Izzy's wound. It's been too long since I've posted! We were on vacation for a week. Izzy stayed with Tracy (her breeder) and met a new friend, Maeve. She was having so much when we left, she didn't even notice. She did great and enjoyed her vacation as much as we did ours. It was so nice to not worry about her. I think she forgot most of what we taught her though. She chased the cats, pulled on the leash with new vigor, rushed through the child gates and forgot what "come" me

Looking so serious. It's hard to believe we have had Izzy for over 3 months now! Time really flies! She has grown so quickly! She lost her last baby canines last week. Her adult teeth are much smoother than those razor-sharp baby teeth. She rarely bites now and when she does, it's gentle. Two months ago, I didn't have any confidence in teaching her to have a soft mouth, but she does. We remodeled our family room as the x-pen was too flimsy and wasn't allowing the cats to come

GrayC feeling at home I still remember the exact moment GrayC entered our lives. It was June of 2018 and I was looking out our front window and saw her at the end of our driveway. My first thought was "oh no, not another cat" and my second thought was "great it's a female so it's either pregnant or has kittens". Living in a rural area, I had been dealing with a constant stream of dumped cats and I really didn't want to deal with another one but I help who I encounter that nee

Who could not love this face? Izzy makes progress every day. I realized we hadn't worked on stay. After just 3 repetitions, she got it. Now we will work on distance and duration. We are also working on having her sit to get what she wants. I'm hoping to enlist some volunteers to help us practice this when greeting people. The biggest progress this week though is with the cats. I think the remodel of the area was a success. Both the gates have cat doors, and they can get up hi

Then and Now (she is starting to take up two beds) One of the books I read before we brought Izzy home said to "embrace puppyhood" because they grow so fast. Wow was that good advice! I can't believe our girl is just 2 weeks short of 5 months old! When we brought her home, she weighed 17 pounds! She now weighs 40 pounds! The photo Tracy sent us when we were matched. Gotcha Day! She fit in the stroller! Our first outing. Izzy is losing her baby teeth. She is now playing with t

The remodel Having a huge x-pen around our family room wasn't working for any of us. Izzy often jumped on it, and it wasn't secure enough to leave her in. She also got her toe stuck in it and if you have never heard a puppy cry in pain and fear, it is awful. The cats would jump into the area and then be stuck. We couldn't put something for them to get on to get over the pen as Izzy is a little mountain goat and would have got up on it too. Lastly, we were tired of tripping ov

Izzy laying on me for the first time! Emmi was a big snuggler. I loved when she would get up and take a nap on the couch with me. I remember one of the first times she did this. It was after I had tongue surgery at OHSU to remove pre-cancerous cells. I was in so much pain after the surgery. When Emmi got up on the couch and cuddled with me, it was such a comfort. Emmi cuddling with me after my surgery. That surgery was so painful and something I hope to never go through again

Now this was fun! Orchard Point Kennels has a Hunted House. They have their barn decorated and have treats hidden in plastic eggs that are on haybales or hanging from the stalls, a shell game with spooky cups and a variation of bobbing for apples using a kiddie pool and balls. After the course, we got to pick a costume and get photos. What a fun and amazing socialization activity. A new location, new smells, decorations, haybales, a new person, nose work and more. Ryan, who o

Every day Izzy makes progress. Baby shark rarely shows herself now. She responds quickly to training. We only have one more session of Puppy Kindergarten left! 98% of the time she is just pure joy to be with. This week she got to spend lots of time with friends, new and old. She walked with our friend Cary. We went over to visit Barb and Maya and this time we let them play. They had so much fun and Izzy showed a lot of respect for her elder. Barb also brought out a tunnel. B

Izzy is becoming a lap dog. It was a quiet week for the first time in a long time. We had some beautiful weather so I was able to get Izzy out to play. She loves her giggle ball and her boomer ball and is proving to be quite a gymnast. Our little gymnast. Izzy had a vet visit on Wednesday and had to have a blood draw for her nomograph titer to check for protection for Distemper and Parvo. She did great. She had class on Thursday, and we worked on polite greetings. She still n

She is growing up so fast! Izzy is just over 4 months old. We have had her for just over 2 months. We have done so much in 2 months, and she has grown up so much in 2 months! It has flown by, and I now see why they say to embrace puppyhood even though it is challenging. Her personality becomes clearer every day. She is smart! She learns so quickly. She is becoming so verbal and makes the funniest sounds. She is funny and can be so silly when she plays. She makes us laugh ever

My friend's sweet granddaughter who is a dog whisperer with her calm energy. Izzy was initially very nervous around kids. I knew it was really important to help her be comfortable around all kinds of people. People of all types and ages. She met our grandkids, and they were great with her and were calm and gentle but unfortunately not all kids are like that when they meet dogs. We took her to a park and had many excited kids approach her and this was more challenging, but we

Izzy. She seems to be getting even more beautiful. It has been a busy week! Izzy is almost 18 weeks old. We have had her for almost 9...

This was Izzy's last puppy playtime as they can only go through16 weeks. She and Runa had a blast. They play really well together taking...

Izzy loves watching TV and her favorite shows are animal shows. Why do we go through all we do raising a puppy? Well because they are so...

Izzy who must be part mountain goat gets on top of her crate. Most of the blogs on puppies and posts on facebook pages I see (our breeder...

Stitch keeping me company while I water. Stitch showed up in 2022. Initially he and his sister, Simba, visited to try and get the birds I...