Spring is coming...

Mom says this week is going to hit 60 degrees! Yaay! ...I have no idea what that means but I heard dog park so I'm IN! And since Spring is coming I thought I would finally introduce you to my other best friend (also black and white in color) Beans! 

I watch him very carefully. 

For he is a mischevious hopping Aussie with large ears. 

"Beans be comin for you..."

Mom calls him a "bunny" but I know he is a funny Aussie... see his nub??

"Fuzzbutt. I am a Rabbit. Stop staring at my TAIL"

Anyway... he must be watched. 

Hey... hey! Where are you trying to go?

"Buzz off fur butt!"

Oh geeze. This is what I was talking about! 

"busyyyyy"

Oh great... thats gonna make a mess... oh boy...

"nom nom noms my food is in here!"

Phew! He's down! 

"Craps! Moms comin!   la la la just practicing doggie yoga!"

I taught him that! See!

No worries mom... I've got a close eye on my "bunny" Aussie! 

"Why the hell is that furball following me??"

Dog Park & Collar :)

We spent the evening at the doggie park :) I needed to cheer myself... I mean Charlie... up after a horrendous trip to the pet store (more anxiety issues to put it mildly!). So we made friends at the park... there were 3 great danes that loooved Charlie...

This crowd makes Madison look tiny!! Everyone was friendly though :) 

The love wasn't quite mutual! He found a little malti-mix that was more his size to play chase with!

Here are pictures of Charlie and his big kid collar! I had to find it under his new fluff! I'm so happy his hair is getting long! Charlie sat patiently (for the most part) while I snapped pics trying to get the color to show... its darker in real life! Almost the same as his copper points!

What do you mean they can't see the collar?

 

How about now!

Get my good side!

"Agggggh NO MORE PHOTOS Mom!!!! They get it! I'm cute... new collar... blah blah!!"

 oh Charlie...

Wordless Wednesday!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

Tonight all of the kids in the neighborhood were playing... all of a sudden in addition to the hundred kids there was an impromtu puppy play date in my front yard with Madison, Charlie, the neighbor's 2 Jack Russels, and Zoe, a 5 mo lab pup! All puppies were having a blast running barking chasing etc etc :) Zoe is 1 week younger than Charlie and she weighs in at a whopping 47 pounds!!!!!! Charlie is a meager 14!! Although I did measure him and he is almost 16in at the shoulder :)

Cut to the chase... the reason for our post is because *out of the blue* Charlie let TWO count em TWO men he had never met before pet him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea how it happened  or why but who cares I'm so proud of little nubs!

He was also the only doggie (besides Madison of course) that was an ANGEL with recall and sit stay whenever a car creeped by!

I am SO PROUD of Charlie :)"mom said it was hard to find a crown that fit my ears..."

Update

I decided it was time to catch up on all the issues that I've been neglecting here...

1. Charlie and I are still looking for a job in Ithaca... we miss Beau!!!

2. Charlie is still fearful :( I am working very hard to take him at least one place a day. We frequent the pet store and pick up my little brother from school (WHOA kids!). I take him for a hot dog and cheese walk in the neighborhood every day because the meer sound of cars people and garage doors makes him anxious! The walks are getting a little easier, and he doesn't bark/growl when people approach him. He just runs to the end of the leash which is still frustrating.

On the upside my parents have people over quite often and this is great for Charlie, most of the neighbors even welcome him to their house if we go for dinner or a playdate. I've found that asking strangers to ignore Charlie and occasionally toss him a scrap of food (without making eye contact or talking to him) that he warms up really fast! Maybe people ignoring him makes them less threatening? After a few well placed scraps Charlie is sniffing legs and after about 30 mins usually accepts eye contact and a quick pet! Men take a little longer but I'm really pleased with it! Of course downside... BEGGING! But I think begging is easier to fix than panic... so I'll take it.

3. Madison is walking alot better. She is putting full weight on the leg and not on painkillers anymore. She is still stiff especially after laying down but can even trot without a noticable limp. We are assuming she just overexerted her self too many days in a row and her hip couldnt take it :( poor girl! So we are talking to the vet about a joint supplement and the beloved racquetball is in hiding for a few more days (shes a fetch addict).



Well its time to work on sit-stay.. we are facing the all favorite puppy challenge of rushing the door when it opens! SO glad hes a fast learner!

Measuring up...

So I'm trying to figure out how big...er small.. Charlie will be!

He is 5 months (WOW) and 2 days old :) and is currently 14 1/2 inches at the shoulder and about 12 lbs. He has tiny ballerina paws (haha) so I can't see him being a "large" mini aussie! BUT the rule of thumb is that a puppy's weight at 14 weeks is 1/2 their adult weight... at 14 weeks Charlie was about 11lbs.

He's looking SO grown up in some of his pictures!


But not all of them!

He may be getting taller but DEFIANTLY not wider... He eats well but I can't stick any weight to those little bones! Maybe he's too fast? :)

How big were all your puppies at 5 months? I keep looking at Dash's puppy pictures because he and Charlie look like they had similar builds at this age. Its hard for me to think what he'll look like because the only minis I know (in person!) are his parents (mom was 20lbs dad was 30lbs) and his cousin (a whopper blue merle girl at 37lbs!!).



---------------------------------------------
In other news Madison got a haircut! With all of her fur she is SO hot in the summer and cant even lay outside! So here she is! I swear its the same dog!
She is SO much cooler :)

Won a battle! ...still fighting the war!

Well I must talk about my proud victory... and my still going on seemingly never ending challenge with Charlie.

Good news first.. WE FOUND A NEW SHEEPY! Charlie's first ever toy was this little stuffed squeaker sheep. It's his favorite and makes a wonderful tug toy for him and Beau. However.. Sheepy has undergone countless surgeries...lost his squeaker... lost his ears... his tail.. and all of his stuffing. He had to go. So in the fashion of that Petco commercial I toted my pup and the dead sheep to the store and even held it up to the sales associate who definatly thought I was insane.. but none the less led us to the stuffed animal asile. There was ONE sheepy left!!!!! VICTORY!!!

However I am still battling the timid (understatement of the year) bit of Charlie :( I'm hoping that living without Beau until I move to Ithaca will allow him some alone time to come out of his shell. Last night a neighbor brought his 4 month old yellow lab pup to visit. Charlie loved Zoe of course, but was very afraid of her owner. By the end of the visit, Zoe's owner could get Charlie to sniff him but not much more... I was pretty darn happy though. Normally he bolts and barks from a distance. However our other neighbor (who is a larger man and looooves Charlie) still cant get within 5 feet of Charlie even with treats!!

Following the advice of countless 'googles' and my mini aussie buds (thanks you guys!) I bring a hot dog/cheese/chicken with me everywhere (ew!). Today we went to a park with my younger brother... Charlie was a mess! After half a hot dog he calmed down enough to walk around the playground. He was still terrified of the 13yr old boy who tried SO hard to entice my puppy closer. Later though he was able to be comfortable with a little 4 yr old girl who was feeding him hot dog and her mom, who was just sitting and offering a friendly hand. He wasn't overly excited but he relaxed and laid down and allowed them to pet him once or twice... thats all I want!!!!! So... we are making some progress.. small children are definatly easier for him to warm up to and women are... well they're easier than men!!

I just get so sad when people ask me over and over if he was abused??? :( I guess I just need to be more patient. Its frustrating when I can think of nothing that would have brought this behavior about though (he was an outgoing baby).

But I will trudge on with my trusty hot dog. I'm trying to think positive.. it only took about 5 minutes for him to take a treat from the tiny girl... be thankful for small victories!

Here is Charlie zonked from his hour of torture... maybe he is counting sheep?

Oh Canada! ... Almost!

Charlie is accusing me of being a lazy blogger.. rightfully so BUT I have yet another excuse! Beau and his owner moved to Ithaca NY this past week and... they don't even GET internet... you have to have dish internet! (Isn't that weird or am I just a suburbs kid to the core??) All the way to Ithaca we saw signs for CANADA! And there were statues of buffalo on the median... good thing I wasn't driving because I did a hard double take thinking they were real!

Heres where Ithaca is...


But luckily it looks like this...

Beau is SO SO happy. He is a good house dog but belongs on a farm and dearly missed his cows and fields and constant state of muddienesss!





Charlie and I will accompany them as soon as I find a job! ....easier said than done...



Charlie and Beau LOVE the huge grass field behind the house... I love that the yard is "fenced in" with corn and there are NO CARS for me to worry over!!!!

Happy dogs.. I think they were hunting butterflies? If only they could hunt jobs!!! :)

Charlie loved bouncing in the grass...

Trouble with being timid....

Charlie has all of a sudden become.. TERRIFIED of EVERYTHING!!!

He's always been shy around new people over the past week its gotten so much worse! I tried to take him on a walk (by himself) and despite the fact that I was on a quite street he was darting in and out and crying the entire time. :( I took him to the pet store with Beau and he had the same panicked reaction... When people try to pet him (even very gently hold a hand out for a sniff) he bolts the other direction! I don't know what to do because at home he is wild crazy and boisterous but as soon as hes alone or somewhere 'new' hes miserable! :(

Anyone else had a timid scared pup? I hope its a stage... all I can think of to do is keep dragging him everywhere I can... but its so bad that people give me funny looks when my cute puppy runs and cries from a welcoming hand :/

Today I tried a solo walk with a handful of treats and we made it halfway down the street with no anxiety but when we went for ice cream with Beau he was crying and wanting to be held or run away the whole time even though I was offering treats and the doggy ice cream!


Oh Charlie...

A Day at the Park!

While the flea bombs were being set off (it was successful by the way!!) the boyfriend and I took Charlie and Beau to the lake for a swim! I didn't expect Charlie to go in but... he bolted into the water right after Beau and we couldn't get him out for almost 20 minutes! Beau played fetch the whole time and Charlie happily swam in circles around us! We took lots of pictures..but they arn't so great I OF COURSE forgot the camera so the cell phones had to do!



I just want to know how I ended up with TWO skinny leggy black tri herding boys :)


Beau teaching Charlie all about the lake!

Swim Charlie Swim!!

I'm sure you can all imagine how well he slept that night!

AHHH FLEAS???!?!?

Lets start off by saying that I hate bugs. And Charlie HATES baths.

The roomate's dog, Charlie's bff, who he spends hours rolling around with came home from the boarding kennel with... fleas. The roomate turned the lights on last night and found her dog in a swarm of the nasty critters. Worst Nightmare. She got a flea bath first thing this morning but poor Charlie, at just over 11 weeks, is too young to get ANY flea control!

So after a 7:30am call to the vet... Charlie's (and my own!) bedding has been washed in hot water... twice... and poor Charlie was immersed in Dawn dish soap water for 4 LONG mintues then rinsed and meticulously combed. My skin is crawling! EEK!
Heres poor Charlie recouperating after his "traumatic" bath :(



Off to buy flea bombs for the whole house.

This is war.

On the road...

"Grandma" says Charlie is doing great and sends lots of pictures! I cant wait to see him again... 3 days!! I'm posting a quick picture of Charlie's "big brother" Beau, a 2 year old Border Collie for Charlie's new friends to see (and yet another picture of Charlie relaxing on "Grandma's" couch!!)









Beau sitting on a hay bale watching his farm :)