Our First Week in Pictures

We brought the puppies home on the second weekend off February 2010.

The puppies had played in their breakfast so despite having been bathed the night before they needed baths. So after spending some time settling in we gave them their first baths in their new home. Since they were so small we opted to use the sink. 

Neither pup enjoyed the bath.

 Jasper tried to play with Pookie while Topaz bathed. Pookie wanted nothing to do with either puppy. 

It took her a little while to adjust to having puppies.

The bath wore both of them out so after being dried off they were both wrapped in blankets to help them stay warm until their fur fully dried and they slept in our laps.

Topaz was always the first to do everything. Here she was on week 1 after already figuring out how to climb up on the couch and encouraging Jasper as he tried to climb up. Finally, he made it up. Even though they were not supposed to be on the couch I did not have the heart to put them back on the floor after he had worked so hard to climb up.

We brought them home in a snow storm and so we made them little coats out of a pair of think winter socks to help them stay warm when they went out to potty. The snow was actually so deep that we had to clear a potty spot for them so they could actually go. They would get carried out to their spot, attempt to potty in between the designated persons legs so as to stay as dry as possible and then whine to be immediately picked up again. They were not fond of the cold, wet ground or the white stuff that fell on them.

They also spent all the time they could snuggling and sleeping on people. And occasionally they snuggled while the one holding them slept (it is exhausting having two 7 week old puppies as roommates).

It Wasn't Me

We all know how it goes someone passes gas and immediately places blame on the dog, but what happens when the gas passer is the dog?

Tonight while Topaz was stretching she farted quite loudly. Ken and I both looked at each other and then her and she turned around and gave us the innocent look that said "it wasn't me". The look and all she hoped to accomplish with it was destroyed when she immediately burped quite loudly. 

The Princess and the Frog

We live on a property that used to be a catfish farm. It has at least 5 ponds on it and a creek which means that during this season we have lots of young frogs or toads that like to hang out at the house. I have not been able to get a close enough look at them to be able to tell if they are frogs or toads.

Until Monday night Topaz did not realize that these amphibians had being hanging out under our porch and stairs. We were coming inside when she saw one hiding out under the stairs. She decided to stick her head under the bottom step and get a sniff and just as she got all the way up to her shoulders wedged under the step it hops. Now apparently this is one of the most frightening things ever because she attempted to jump out from under the step which resulted in her getting stuck. Finally, she manages to get herself out from under the stair but then spent the next minute spazzing out.

Now because she will not hold still every time she moves blades of grass move which she deciphers as even more hopping monsters coming after her which results in even more freaking out. Finally, after a minute of this I get to hold her still enough that I can get my hands on her. Once she is calm enough not to be jumping every where she realizes that all the moving grass was from her and there are not little hopping monsters every where. However, it still took me another several minutes to convince her that she could safely walk up the stairs and even then she still did it glued to my leg.

Now when we go out after dusk she cautiously approaches the steps and tentatively sniffs. Once determining that the evil, hopping thing is not present she jolts up the stairs as fast as she can and looks down from the porch with a triumphant look of ha I won that time.

So there we have it- princesses do not like frogs and amphibians rule (not dogs).

Gummy Bear

I have a bad habit.

Okay, I lied I have several bad habits.

One of them is begging, but it is not really begging.

It is really practicing the whats yours is mine philosophy. 

 

I strongly believe in this philosophy.

This is especially true if that something is food...or a pillow...or a blanket. Well, you get the point.

If the food happens to be sweet...or bread, I love bread, you better believe I will be there for the mine part.

I do have manners, however, see I brought Mom one of my tennis balls as a trade for gummy bears.

 

Every day moments

Saturday was a long day. I worked a few hours in the morning and then Ken and I made the 45 minute trip into the city with a stop at the local nursery in town. Several hours later, we returned home with a butterfly bush, 2 carnivorous plants, 3 mystery day dahlia bulbs, 5 oriental stargazer lily bulbs, and 25 arabian knight gladiolus bulbs. Unfortunately, he was unable to find some things he needed for work so he left out for the 45 minute drive in the opposite direction to Jackson to see if the stores there carried what he needed.

I headed outside to start planting after spending a few minutes with Topaz and putting away the other things I purchased.

This really means that I spent 5 minutes waiting for Inspector Topaz to check all the indoor bags and deem that all items were 1) safe and 2) there were no goodies for her. I then put away the items while she attempted to re-examine them squeezing herself into the fridge just to triple check that the items were indeed not intended for her. I walked her which turned into a 25 minute adventure of sniffing the bush and bulbs about 1,000 times, inspecting the car to see what cool smells we had picked up and then checking her yard to see what locals had visited while we were gone. Finally, after all that I was able to put her back indoors and start planting. She watched from the doorway as I worked and when I was done she had to come out and inspect and approve all the changes I made to her yard. I have only planted the bush and 3 of the bulbs...I have lots of planting in my future and she has lots of inspecting and approving to do.

I was ready for some relaxing time after all that work. I had Ken pick us up some dinner on his way home and we sat down and watched Garfield: The Tale of Two Kitties while eating. I almost overlooked the fact that at one part of the movie Odie plays with a squeaky toy until I notice the fact that Topaz is running around the room frantically searching for the toy to punish it. The search ends with her standing in front of the tv, head cocked as Odie plays with the toy. She then shook her head and then went and found another toy to play with. However, after that she was a bit more attentive to the tv- she did not want to miss out on any ore squeaky toy fun. I have probably watched that movie a hundred times or so and never had I noticed that a squeaky toy is played with.

Mornings are not my friend

I have a confession to make...

I am not a morning dog.

The lights should not be turned on before the sun shines brightly through the windows. 

And most definitely no loud, obnoxious blaring alarms should interrupt my dreams.

However, mom does not listen to me when I tell her this.

She still sets the alarms for super early, she still turns on the lights and gets ready for work.

Despite me making faces like this...

and this...

So, I just shove my head under the pillow and try to ignore Mom.

 

Not so techy doggie

Topaz considers herself tech savvy.

She likes to touch the computers, stand on them and even drop her toys on them. 

However, despite her best of intentions she is not all that tech savvy. Or maybe it is just that paws and a mouth do not allow her to easily handle the small parts.

This morning I found my laptop keyboard minus the comma key. 

I am not sure what type of tech support my laptop needed, especially the keyboard.

She clearly felt it needed her special technical abilities though.

Thankfully, all I am missing is my comma key.

The CSI Junkie

House, CSI: Las Vegas and NCIS are my junkie shows. I usually have one of these shows playing during the day while doing housework. However, I have recently discovered that Topaz is a CSI: Las Vegas fan.

I just so happened to have an episode of CSI playing in the background while I was doing some housework. Topaz was of course being her typical lazy self and was all stretched out on the mattress and I thought asleep. Apparently, she was watching tv with her eyes closed which I discovered when the theme song began to play. She sat up, cocked her head to one side and sat there watching the screen. This lasted for about three minutes until she decided to resume watching tv until Brass said something. She then proceeded to sit up and watch the show for the entire time Brass talked making funny faces, cocking her head from side to side and talking to him. However, if Brass was not on then she would resume watching tv with her eyes closed. I decided to leave CSI on since she seemed to be enjoying it despite the fact that it was the same two episodes being played over and over again. Finally, the channel changed from playing CSI to Auction Hunters.

Now of course, CSI is one of those tv shows that plays the theme song at the beginning and end of the show. So the theme song begins to play and Topaz sits up and begins to wag half her body as she watches for the next episode to start. However, this time auction hunters comes on. This resulted in an shocked expression on her face and then she began to softly growl at the tv and then give me a hey what happened look. I  do not like Auction Hunters so I changed it NCIS but I consistently was stuck listening to deep sighs and moans coming from the peanut gallery as she grieved over her loss of CSI for the day. I scanned the tv channels and of course CSI was not playing but House was so I switched to that. She quit moaning and sighing after that but she continued to sulk for several hours.

   

 

Watching Brass

 Pouting because it is commercial time

 

Topaz and the locals

Topaz is of the opinion that most of the local wildlife are friends, except for birds and rodents.

Living in a place that is completely surrounded by fields and wooded areas means that we often have encounters with the "locals".

We have the herd of deer that is outside at dawn and dusk at least 3-4 times a week. Most of the deer are quite young and there is even a yearling that is still quite playful and has not learned to recognize danger in the way that the others have. Usually I go out to watch and attempt to photograph the herd grazing and frolicking  in the field without Topaz. However, there have been a few times in which I walked her and the herd was outside. This of course resulted in whole body wags and her talking to the deer. She never understands why when she talks to the deer they all run away. She just cocks her head to the side and then looks at me with sad, pitiful eyes because her friends ran away instead of coming to say hi.

We also have many types of birds that are constantly hanging out in our yard. Most of the birds show complete respect for Topaz and promptly take to the trees and electric wires. However, the mockingbirds have a different opinion. They believe it is their yard and she should be honored that they are willing to share it with her rather than the other way around. One particular mockingbird even believes that the van is it personal perch. Yes, I parked it in that exact spot just for that bird to use as a perch. If Topaz pees to close to the van then the bird flies around Topaz's head chatting away. It is quite amusing to watch this little bird (in comparison to the 55 lb dog) as it gives Topaz a scolding for peeing to close to it's perch. Despite her dislike for birds, Topaz handles the scolding well. She wears an unamused look on her face, however, she has never attempted to catch the bird.

We do have rabbits, however, Topaz has never noticed them. It is a good thing they hide well, mostly for my arm rather than their safety. She is convinced the raccoon that has visited on several occasions is an odd dog and never understands why Mommy refuses to allow her to meet it. She has taken no notice to the bats. The resident carpenter bee that constantly guards our front porch and we affectionately call Mr. Bumbles and her do not always get along. Mr. Bumbles likes to buzz in her face in attempt to push her away from the porch to which she responds by snapping at it. Mr. Bumbles does not try to keep her away from the porch to often now. However, it is constantly chasing off birds, other bees, wasps and other insects. The most recent local visitors have been either small frogs or toads hanging out in the shade by the side of the house by day and then becoming active by night. Topaz has yet to have an encounter with one though.