a dog's life.

long time, no post. what can i say? i've been living the high life- a dog's life, one might say. i've graduated from puppy class and have entered the world of the "intermediate" family dog. i am still fantastic at the tricks, but bore easily. i've learned some new quirks- lying down when sipping from my water bowl (very irritating to mum and dad as i soak my beard like a sponge), opening the sliding closet doors (and lying down inside the closet on top of the shoes), a strong love for cherry tomatoes (ate them right off the vine!) and how to fish socks out of dad's overnight bag even when the velcro closure is closed. i'm huge, and still very much a loving pup. enjoy some snapshots from my life these days!

dog park! (a new and unbelievably wonderful place!!!)

making myself at home on mum and dad's throw pillows- cozy night night!

i love car rides-- note the dried-up drool on mum's car window (she loves it!)

i am a changed man.

(before)

(after)

hello! as promised by mum and dad, i went to Camp K-9 yesterday for a haircut! if i do say so myself, i look like a handsome devil. and, carol, my groomer, said that i was very well behaved (for a puppy, especially). mum laughed for about ten minutes when she came home to see me- all of my curls are pretty much clipped off, as is the dark hair on my nose. dad says that i look smaller now, but i think i look more mature! you can hardly tell now where the shaved spot was. i also have a new sophisticated gait when i walk around- proud, i guess. dad was amazed that when he picked me up, the staff advised him to take me out right away as i hadn't gone at all the whole day- he said that i relieved myself for the longest time he's ever seen. i think that i was just a little scared of being in a new place with strangers. enjoy the new, dapper photos!! love, oliver.

staphylo-what?

hi! i've had some exciting (in an interesting sort of way) things happen over the last week! after my last vet visit, just before fourth of july, i received three different vaccinations, and seemed to tolerate them well. the next day, however, mum noticed that i had developed a skin rash- she thought secondary to the immunizations. over the next few days, they noticed some small scabby areas on my skin- again, thought that it was a reaction to my shots. when mum noticed that it suddenly looked as if frosting had spilled onto my back, she knew something was wrong! we had heard of "hot spots" and other airedale skin problems, but of course i had never experienced it. dad brought me to the vet, and a hundred bucks later, i was diagnosed and treated for a staphylococcus skin infection. the vet says that it is very common, especially in puppies- and she thinks that i must have gotten a small cut on my skin when playing with scrappy (my new golden friend from eau claire) which became infected after i swam in lake altoona (unfortunately, mum didn't have her camera for that adventure!) i now am shaved in a large section on my back to allow the biggest spot to heal (dad has taken to calling me "patches"), and taking antibiotics. mum and dad also have had to give me a bath with special soap THREE times per week! we're getting the pattern down, but i still don't like it very much- i make french horn noises when mum's rinsing me off. i also need to get used to the hair dryer- nasty, noisy thing. i'll keep you updated, but here are photos in the meantime! love, oliver.

the times they are a changin' (me)

hi there! i wanted to share a couple more cute pictures of me, and give an update on my status. mum and dad are starting to go nuts with my antics-- i've now reached a height which allows me to readily climb up onto the countertops with my front legs, effectively squirming my head in sight of the coveted flatness that often holds delicious-smelling goodies (i.e. dinner waiting to be served). i've also just as of late taken a very special liking to my new bed. i LOVE it (her) (if you know what i mean... they're getting tired of prying me away from it as well-- guess it's my man-hormones kicking in!) i'm working on teething away my molars, not there yet... and have otherwise been continuing to remain adorable. i am scheduled for my first haircut next week!!! i'll be sure to update with new makeover shots. ta-ta!

long time coming...

mum's birthday!

hi all! it's been a very busy (and not always fun-filled) past month, and i apologize (as do mum and dad) for the lack of updates. certainly, there have been many things new happening in my life-- for one, i now weigh 29 pounds, and have all of my vaccinations!! this means that we can go to the dog park, and i can play with other pups without worry about getting sick! i've had my first (and second) visits to both of my grandpuppy-parents- a very messy, icky second one however to mum's parents because my tummy can't yet tolerate rawhide in any form. here's some photos to catch you up!

i love toilet paper...
being modest...

new friend (jim's golden puppy!)

that's all for now (mum needs to get to work!) i'll try harder this month to keep you updated-- oh yeah-- i just lost a bunch of teeth last week so now i don't bite as much (just jump up on things because i'm tall and can now reach them!)

Bum Colon

Hi everyone. Dad finally called the vet and she decided that I have colitis from eating something i shouldn't have (I am denying it...). Dad got some medicine for me and had to cook up rice and brown some ground beef for me to eat because it is easier on my tummy than kibble. I must say that i love the new combination and now I am really honing my begging skills. I feel better already...my bodily functions are returning to normal and I have a lot of energy.

I'm glad I'm feeling better because I get to go to a bike race this weekend and meet both sets of grand-puppy-parents...I'm very lucky. AND, mom is coming home tonight!! I really can't wait.

happy memorial day!

Hi everyone. Just wanted to wish everyone a happy memorial day.

The big news yesterday was that I was sick. I threw up a couple of times and had a bout of 'icky' poop. I pretty much slept all day which worried dad a lot. He even set his alarm for 2:30 last night to wake up and check on me. I gave him a dirty look because I was trying to sleep. I'm feeling better today though, I'm chewing everything in site and following dad around the house. He thinks he is going to get some things done around the house today... I'll be seeing about that!

Before I log out, here are a few more cute shots of me...

photo share!

Here are two of my newest favorites- dad and i napping, and me posing for mum! Have a good weekend!!

socialization?

Here is a photo-share taken at my school-- all of the distractions are clearly visible. Although mum and dad don't get it, you can see why I have such a hard time paying attention!

I guess you could say that my education is coming along well. Mum and dad, however, are doubting my ablilities to pay attention during class, and stop showing my dominance toward the other pups. I have to say, I'm a little embarrassed by the photo below; I just realized after it was taken (with a small reprimand from a trainer) that humping is very impolite. After a sanctioned "time-out", I was much more civilized.

I am getting better about car rides... as you can see, I simply have to sit down on the backseat, concentrate on not having what mum and dad refer to as "nervous yawns", and look cute. I can't wait until next week's class-- more yummy treats and friends to visit!

wilderness dog.

although this is late in coming, as mum and dad have been quite busy, i thought i would share my adventures in the outdoors! the day before dad's first scheduled mtn. bike race, they took me to a nearby park to test my abilities in water. dad wanted to see if by holding me above the water i would respond with a doggie paddle reflex. i didn't. i did, however, take a few steps in-- cold and unappealing, really. i enjoyed hiking much more, and did a nice job of staying on the trail until we came upon geese and their hatchlings. you can barely make them out in the background... i got really scared by the sounds those parents were making-- HONK!

After romping for a while, i was exhausted and we went home. Mum noticed that i was walking funny, and inspected my paws to find thorns and sticky stuff in my fur. Dad held me while mum used scissors to clip out the owies. I fell asleep during the whole process. Hey, I was beat!

i am a lucky dog.

saturday was a good day for me. i met some dogs! benny the giant yellow lab and ice the cool doberman. i was scared at first but i caught on after a while...

benny taught me the important dog things like smelling butts, chasing tennis balls, and eating bones...

by the end of it all, i was taking the rawhides right out of his mouth. make me a sammy benny!

but that wasn't the only cool thing. i got to play with sydney! she was pretty rough with me but i decided that she was different than the other people there so i didn't even bite her...i just let her rough me up. mom kept saying how proud she was of me for telling the difference, but i just like syd and don't want her to be afraid of me!

by the end of the day, i was beat. i slept all night. here i am waiting for mom to come back with a um, how you say, burritos?

growing pains.

hi all! i've had another exciting weekend! this time, i've learned how to ascend stairs like a champ-- still have only gone down with significant coaxing (i.e. pushing) from mum, but i'm getting there nonetheless. besides dried-up worms, i learned this weekend that i really enjoy fresh, squirming ones too. they (a & r) think i'm disgusting. i'm also fascinated with several other inedibles: books, carpeting, wine bottle necks, bath rugs. i really am getting bigger and bigger, and i've probably already doubled in weight! to trick me, mum let me have a chunk of carrot as she was making soup last night-- i chased it around the kitchen, then livingroom by pawing at it and nipping. never ate the darn thing- yuk. it got me so excited that i had an accident on the livingroom carpet. speaking of which, i mixed up the concept of "traveling on stairs= trip to the bathroom", and after running up the stairs to the forlorn hallway of closed doors, thought that i was outside on two occasions. this prompted a baby gate purchase. probably didn't help that it poured all weekend, and i really hate rain (on my fur, paws, everywhere). that's all for now- more photo-share!

(carrot dance)

(stuck on top of stairs)

(cute- sporting a bandana)

bite,bite,bite,bite.

hi all! i have continued to grow at a breakneck pace, and now can reach into my "toybox" (i.e. cardboard box that they let me chew and hold my stuff in) without jumping. i still am terrified of stairs (cry and bark at the bottom until they pick me up and carry me). i still don't sleep through the night (but do make it unbelievably unpredictable for mum and dad to figure out when i'll get up). i love to stop during walks to eat dried-up sidewalk worms as if they were chewing gum, and, now that they're blooming, dandelion flowers as well. i sleep in bizzare fashions on occasion, and love the sunbeams (cat-dog they're sure). i absolutely love that they let me have plain yogurt in my dinnertime food (see the evidence on my nose below). last but not least, i have begun to discover furniture legs as delicious treats. mum and dad hate that... almost as much as they hate my new habit of continually jumping up onto the leather sofa, being told "off", then jumping right back up. i'm only nine weeks old, what do they expect!?

cute, with a capital c

more photo-share to enjoy from the weekend... i really enjoy lying in the sunbeams- some might think that's a bit cat-ish, but i disagree. despite my appearance of laziness, i have also spent my weekend perfecting the commands, "oliver, come!", and "sit". mum and dad think i'm a genius, but i mix things up a little bit by pretending to be dumb-- peeing on the floor, ignoring them, and the like. i met a neighborhood 2 year old while in the front on my tether (after i stopped chewing on it incessantly). i think i did well. they haven't traded me yet!

weekend update

for those of you who have thought that i have been away for a while, i'm here to tell you that indeed i have not! i have been keeping mum and dad running their pants off after me the last several days- and true to form, we had a very busy weekend. let me explain. friday, after they got back from work, i was pretty well-behaved; no freak-outs really to speak of. i did, however, find it difficult to sleep through the night (again) and it took mum quite a long time to help me feel cozy enough to fall back asleep. saturday morning found mum sick with dad's crummy cold, so with the two of them worn-out, i was in control (or so i thought)! they snuck up on me with the fantastic idea to make me have a bath. mum kept mumbling that i smelled like a dog. hmmm. here's the photojournalistic recap:

aaaaahhhh.... FREAK OUT.

hi everyone. no new photos to show today, as i was quite naughty this morning (i peed on the office carpet as mom was trying to get a picture of me). maybe tomorrow if i decide to be a good puppy-- i have had so many adventures so far that i am really exhausted right now. fell asleep on my food mat, i guess. off to the kennel.

oliver-0, robin & andy-1

hello, friends. my first day at home went something like this- wake up, pee, eat, poop, play, walk, pee, nap, eat, poop, play, pee, the vet, the petshop, pee, play, nap, christy/sidney, RAGE, pee, eat, poop, nap, play, walk again, play, fall over from exhaustion. what a life. i'm trying my hardest to be smart yet sassy yet irresistible- andy and robin think it's working as they crack up with all of my antics (such as pawing at the air in my first attempt to tell them this evening that i had to go o-u-t). i'm much more comfortable with things than last night- no indoor messes since early this morning. and, the vet said my eyes and heart were "perfect". no objection here.

looking coy...

my family...

surrender.