Beware of Lions at Lowes

So we were walking along in Lowe's the other day get the bean out for a little socialization. She is doing very well and since it was at the crack of dawn and no one would be there yet we figured that it was a good time to take her. We made it through the garden department with little incident - by that I mean just fine, but she seemed a bit to happy to be walking through the water out there. Next off to the plumbing department to get stuff for the sprinklers that I broke (not the bean). Finally we needed some drill bits - for what exactly I don't remember - but we needed them.

It seemed like we would be making a clean get away (well besides everyone oohing and aweing about how cute she is) and then she stopped dead in her tracks. I looked back and said - Let's Go! but she wasn't budging, and then I saw it. A wild lion was on the loose in Lowe's hanging out in the lawn furnature department. On closer inspection - my closer inspection - to my relief I figured out it was just a little statue. Sabina on the other hand was not so easily convinced. So I did what all good puppy raisers would do I sat down on the floor in the middle of Lowes (did I mention this was on the main aisle?) next to the nice Lion and made friends. I petted the Lion, gave the Lion treats and finally got Sabina to come over and check things out. As you can imagine by this time I have a little audience going. I am making a little trail of treats on the Lion's feet to get her to come over and talking nice to the Lion. I am sure to someone walking by with a power drill it was quite the sight.

In the end we all made friends, Sabina shared her treats, and even tried to get the Lion to play. Alas playing with a little puppy like the bean is not behavior fit for a stately Lion. Everyone is now offering to pay me to take her to Pottery World - home of every animal statue imaginable. Not gonna do it...

Growing Up Labby

So in Sacramento we had two weird days of really hot weather, so we let the bean try out the pool. She really took to the water. It started because our other dog and I were in the water so she came over to check it out, but since Dave wasn't home I didn't let her in. I didn't want him to miss it! Once we were all out there I lifed her into the water and let her lay across my arms, she was just happy "hanging" out there. Then all of the sudden her little legs started going and she swam around a bit. Unfortunately she has now mistaken her indoor water bowl for the pool.

We were sitting on the couch and saw her go over to her waterbowl and the next thing I knew she was splashing around and had three of her feet in the bowl. Today when Dave came home to play with her and feed her lunch, he found that the water bowl he filled that morning in the kennel was bone dry. She is labby through and through, loves water and loves food.

I promised a couple posts ago that I would never ever talk about her good sleeping habits again. True to my word I am not going to say is doing great. I am going to tell you she isn't terrible and that Dave and I are sleeping all night. Crate training is well worth it if you can make it through all three long miserable weeks =).

We also went to the vet and had her next round of shots and a clean bill of health! She also gained a whole 4 pounds. She looks bigger to me everyday. I am attaching a pic from Easter, she had a great day playing with the other dogs and kids. She was sooo pooped out, I wish we could wear her out like that everyday.

The No No Couch

I think that if for some reason the bean didn't make it through advance training she could go in to police work. Detective Bean - has a nice ring to it doesn't it. We have been dog owners for 14 years so we figured we knew how to puppy proof a house - wholey moley were we wrong. We have a couch in our bedroom that I used to sit on an read; however, it has now become the No No Couch. Pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down has been found by the bean. We used to keep a suitcase under the bed (isn't that where you are supposed to keep suitcases?) she pulled it out by the handle. I had a bag of well more bags behind the couch she found it. She even squeezed her fat little puppy body under the treadmill and pulled out my ankle weights. Now I hadn't seen those things in so long I almost forgot we had them, but still she found them and pulled them out. So in response to this and the fact that we have NO storage space, we stacked everything on the couch. It has become quite the topic of discussion around here.

Just to further illustrate her powers of finding the bad guy somehow she got a DVD out of the Nintendo Wii. Seriously. My fat finger can barely find the eject button, but not only did she hit it somehow, when the $50 disk came out she identified its value and rescued it from the evil wii machine. Dave found her running around with it in her mouth. She slayed the evil mario (it was super mario galaxy) and rendered him absolutely dead. When I put it in the wii the screen went black and said "disk failed, remove disk, disconnect power, and consult wii manual." Yikes. Can you blame her? It was shinny and fun to chew on.

Jinxed

I will never ever never ever ever brag about her having a good night again - ever. I don't know what I have done in a previous life - but all three of us paid for it last night. I will just go back to my nightly mantra - tonight could be the night, tonight could be the night.

Tomorrow is our first vet appointment, time for our next rounds of shots. Do they prescribe doggy Ambien? Just kidding, sort of.

Saved by the Kong

We have had the bean since 3/24... and 3/23 was the last night of sleep we have had. Seriously. To be honest she is getting better and the "murdered puppy" sounds she makes at night are steadly declining. Here is the run down. We go to bed between 10 - 10:30. These days she only complains for about 5-10 minutes. Dave and I sigh and go to sleep until about 12:00 when the barking starts, she goes on for about 15 minutes, rests and starts in for another 5-10 minutes, then naps till 2:00, repeat at 4:00 and an encore performance about 5:45. No kidding - full on someone is killing me barking. Let me out of here I am going insane barking. There is in an intruder in the house stealing all of the kibble, let me out and I will tear them to shreds (after I lick them a few times) barking.

Then there was the Kong.....

I am not talking about that cute little pink, for new puppies Kong I bought. I am talking about a huge, bigger than her head, sized Kong that had been forgotten under the bed by the others before her. I knew it was down there (and that was the only thing she hadn't drug out from under the bed - but that is another blog) but she never grabbed it. Until Thurdsay night - when she was running around proud to be dragging this thing around - prancing actually - in that I have something I am not supposed to have dance. So - back to the barking. One of the problems is that the way the crate is partitioned her little toys fall to the other side during the night - leaving her no toys to play with so she barks instead (of course why wouldn't she). This new (to Sabina) Kong is to big to slide through the crack and volia - we have a toy to play with. The past two nights have been the best we have had yet.

Now we are down to one bark performance (about 1200) and the rest of the night she either mildly complains with a short whine or a hrumpf and gets to chewing on the Kong. Which means I am sleeping. It is so wonderful. I love the big Kong, I love the dog who abandoned the big Kong under the bed, I love the person who created the big Kong, the person who sold it to me, and mostly that Sabina finally found the one thing left under the bed, the only thing that was every under the bed she was allowed to have and finally that she drug it out.

Busy Weekend

This has been a very busy weekend for The Bean. As you might guess she is sleeping so I am blogging! Yesterday we went to puppy kindergarten and had a blast - we haven't played with so many puppies since we left our litter mates. After class we went through the drive thru, got gas, and had to break Dave's dad out of the hospital after his elbow surgery. So we had lots of car time, she is doing very well - eventhough she would like to be up on the seat. Unfortunately all of the treats at class upset her stomach, lets just say it was a long night and leave it at that.

Today Sabina spent most of the day in the yard, she was a tremendous help as you can see in the picture. She went to the hardware store for the first time, and rode in the cart. I hope she doesn't get used to being pushed around because she really seemed to like it. It was a very quick trip, she wore her little cape, and after a little while even got bored and layed down. Today was also the first day in the dog run (hence the trip to the hardware store.) I am so paranoid about her that I moved all of the rocks to get out all the old leaves (Dave pointed out that we got most of them before I started moving the rocks, and that the tree above the run might, possibly drop some more tomorrow.) Then there was me testing all of the fence boards (again, I did this last week) - this is when dave pointed out that we were just cleaning and setting it up the run for both of them not building a maximum security prison. Whatever.

All and all she is already getting noticebly bigger. She likes to play and has fun learning and practicing her commands - okay she probably doesn't even care about that part as long as she gets a treat! Here is one last pic from the weekend.

She's Sleeping!!

So it looks like this is going to be a theme... the "bean" sleeps and I blog. So we have officially had the bean for a whole week. She has learned her name, is very reliable in the house training area, but still hasn't figured out the 20 pound cat is not a toy. Here is a pic of Sabina and Puck napping.

Did I mention last time I wrote how great she smells? I just love puppy breath, puppy smell, we are all about puppy right now. Dave tried to practice our "let's go" a couple days ago on the way to the mailbox. They were doing great until a gust of wind blew some leaves by - what fun! On my turn to the mailbox we got most of the way the down the driveway when Sabina decided that she was done, and layed down. She is more than a bit stubborn.

She is very adventurous. Today I left the shower door open, waiting for the hot water (and waiting and waiting) when she just waltzed in. We had a great time playing in the water. We have some short outings planned this weekend, she has only had her cape on once so we will see how that goes!