Now Hiring - Patient Puppy Sitter.

Mokey finally outgrew her puppy collar. Now she has a waterproof one!

This past weekend the family went out of town to see Grandma. Usually Mokey would go with us, but since Gram just got new carpet, Mokey's not perfectly potty trained yet & there were a bunch of perfectly tasty Christmas decorations lying around Mokey stayed home and was boarded at the kennel instead. I'll be honest and admit I didn't really want to leave her - not because I was worried about the quality of care she would receive, just that I would miss having her fluffy head wandering around. I've gotten quite used to her you know. Mokey got an excellent report card at check out! While she might have played shy at first, all of the treats won them her favor - Mokey always picks her stomach over her fear. It was good for her to be taken care of by relative strangers who would take their time and be gentle with her.On another note, I worked a long day this week and my little sister babysat Mokey for me. When I walked in, Mokey was figuratively thrust back into my arms with a 'here's your child' kind of air. Apparently, watching someone else chase after an active puppy and trying to take care of that puppy yourself are two very different things. Mokey wasn't bad while I was gone, she's just an active puppy who finds everything in her world interesting and worthy of a good chew. She also tends to run hard and then crash for a couple of hours - sometimes her nap time doesn't seem near long enough and sometimes she doesn't bother with the nap at all. But it is true that no matter what you're doing, it takes twice as long with Mokey around. I'm thinking I may have to find a new babysitter :)

Comforts of Life

This week Mokey discovered the couch - a couch she now loves dearly. In fact, her new favorite thing to do is to grab her puppy, climb onto the soft furniture and enjoy mouthing her toy. It's really quite cute. She's not allowed up when anyone has food, but when it's late and we're lazing around she finds herself a cushion, and she does take up an entire cushion.

Mokey's taking all of our Christmas activities in stride. The large polar bear decoration was mildly disturbing, but after it refrained from moving during its examination Mokey decided her initial drama was a tad unwarranted. Since she gets to tag along on some of our shopping trips and earns copious amounts of treats by doing so, she's agreed that that aspect of the holidays isn't so bad either. Not to mention she's an avid tree lover. If the object in question originated from her favorite plant then she's happy to have it around. Of course, this means that the Christmas tree we recently put up in the living room has to be barricaded off; which slightly defeats the purpose of having a decorated, meant to be admired, paid good money for a dying tree, tree. Because the tree has been relegated to isolation, the wrapping paper is perhaps the more frequent victim of Mokeys admiration. She's made several attempts so far and delighted in demolishing a sheet of neglected packing paper. If anyone brings up the puncture holes in their gift boxes I think I'll just have to explain that Mokey has to tie the bow somehow and a huge paw isn't very useful when attempting to curl ribbon.

Leah & Mokey play outside - 39lbs

Yay Mokey!

This week was a week full of Puppy Accomplishments. Mokey got her last set of puppy shots and did beautifully at the vet. She had her temperature checked for the first time and though her eyes about bugged out of her head she withstood the indignity like a champ.

She also graduated Puppy Class! Yay! She has a long way to go but hey, it's an accomplishment. Next week we go on to Puppy Continuing - bet you can't guess what that class is about. I'm looking forward to the day when I can sign us up for Carting or Agility. Mokey seemed to really enjoy checking out the equipment they had at graduation class.

32 lbs

Also this week, first snow! Mokey went outside and promptly realized that it was just water very conveniently frozen and pleasantly shaved for her eating pleasure - Leonbergers seem to be very natural snow lovers. I'm looking forward to a more sizable snowfall :)

It's Getting Chilly!

30 lbs

This past week Mokey and I started our daily walk routine - a routine which wouldn't be possible without my mothers very fine knitting skills. Brrr. Mokey's what I would call a sensitive puppy and she tends towards the shy and fearful side so we've been trying to see the world a little everyday. Somehow I think that dragging myself out of our warm house to walk a puppy in the cold is only going to get harder as winter draws near. Mokey doesn't seem too worried about it.

Mokey also went to see Santa on Saturday. Yes, you read that right. The dog went to see Santa. Why not, I say! It was a brilliant opportunity for her to meet more people and other polite doggies and while Santa may have freaked her out and forced me to sit next to her for the experience, she did eventually make up with the fabled man. As a side note, Mokey and Chase can expect to find a special treat in their stockings this Christmas. Mother bought them each a big treat, one of which says "Naughty" and the other "Nice" - I'll bet you can guess which bone was intended for Mokey ;)

I just couldn't resist when Dad got the lights out, and Mo was a very good sport about it ;)