January 27, 2011

13 weeks!

Ruff can now get up on the couch by himself- even the new one which is several inches taller than the old one. He's perfected the "wait" command. We haven't gotten a weight on him recently, but it's probably close to 30lbs or more. He's eating close to 2lbs of food per day. He looks more like a small GSD than a puppy now. He's going through a slight terrible twos phase, one minute he's calm and orderly and responsive, the next minute he tears around the house harassing the animals and trying to destroy things. His favorite trick is dunking his squeaky toys in the water bowl and then running around the house shaking the water back out everywhere. He's getting very determined to have the family together at all times too, he whines and searches if someone is missing. (Like right now, when he's been trying desperately to get into the bedroom and wake Dad up.) His ears are definitely "up", although not necessarily "upright". He got his first whole egg the other day for dinner, and though he couldn't figure out how to crack it yet, he had a grand time with it once I broke the shell. His housebreaking has improved dramatically, accidents are a rarity now. We got him a bell to help him tell us when to go outside, because usually his just sits quietly at the door and we can't always tell he's over there. We tried to encourage him to whine or bark, but he doesn't do it consistently, so we're working on the bell instead. He does usually whine at me at work to go out, which is good. He is an insanely smart dog. He learns quickly, and you can see him analyzing things in his mind when he looks at your or at something you're doing. I can't wait until he's old enough to start trying things like agility and herding, he's going to be amazing.

January 21, 2011

Weekly bath shot. :-)

Tonight Ruffers grew up just a little bit more- he jumped up on the couch in the living room for the first time. And he did it so quickly and easily you'd swear he had been doing it his whole life. Just one more thing our puppy doesn't need us for anymore... *sniff*

January 20, 2011

Happy 12-week Birthday Ruff!!

Our big boy is now 3 months old. He survived without Mommy for 5 whole days. I think he's pretty happy to have me back though. :-) All the boys came to work today, and Ruff very politely gave the little boys the crate and slept outside it on his bed all day. He was very well behaved for not going to the shop for almost a week. Mommy was very proud of him. :-)

His coat is already starting to change- there's a mohawk of thicker, sleeker hair coming in on his back. It's a little wavy right now, which is cute. His ears are both "mostly" up. They're up, but they're not straight. We need to get another weight on him, he doesn't have another vet appointment until he's 16 weeks. He finished off his bag of puppy food, which means he gets to graduate to his all-raw diet. Which is good, because he's been steadily getting less and less interested in the dry.

And now we're curled up watching TV and getting ready to eat dinner. And for the first time in just about ever I think- Daddy will be home soon to see us!!

January 14, 2011

We missed Ruff's 11 week birthday!

He had another good day with Shakespeare at work, they seem to really be getting used to each other. Much less growling going on.

After Mom got off work, Ruff got to ride in to DC to take Dad to work. He was a very good boy. After we dropped Dad off, we swung by Petco for some cat food and got lots of compliments.

Tonight we're all hanging out with Mom while she finishes packing. Starting tomorrow morning, the house becomes a bachelor pad!

January 13, 2011

Today Ruff and Shakespeare learned to share. :-) A little begrudgingly at first, but since there was only one bed at work today, they figured it out in the end. Tomorrow is Ruffer's last day with Mom before vacation- we'll find out how much of a mama's boy he's turned into!

January 12, 2011

Sunshine!! Didn't get nearly as much snow as they predicted- boo. No cute snow-puppy pictures after all. He has consumed an impressive amount of it, however. Apparently it's better than treats. Tomorrow looks like Bath Day, since Mom has to leave on Saturday morning. Ruffers spent the day "shopping" on the lower shelves of the store. We're trying to teach him that just because he can reach it doesn't make it his. So far, he's conveniently not learning it. Now it's time to curl up for another night home with Mom- but pretty soon he gets Dad all to himself for 5 days of boy time!

January 11, 2011

Waiting for the snow to fall so we can go outside and play! They claimed it would start at 2pm and it didn't start until 7pm, so playtime will have to be tomorrow. Ruffer's had a good day at work with Mom, and is starting to learn "shake" and "jump up". He's also getting very consistent about asking to go outside both at home and at work. Tonight he gets to stay up for another boy's night with Daddy while Mom gets some rest. :-)

January 10, 2011

First vet visit was a success- no temper tantrums. :-) Ruffer's surprised us by weighing in at only 18.8lbs- as tall as he's gotten I was sure he was over 20 by now. According to the puppy weight predictor that means he'll only grow up to be about 90-95lbs or so. :-P We'll see. The same predictor said that Shakespeare should have grown up to be 15lbs, which is more than double his actual weight. So I guess the only way we'll ever know for sure is to wait and see.

January 8, 2010

First snow!! Well, not the exact first, since it was snowing when he was born. But definitely the first snow he could run around in. And eat. We're now just 1 day away from his vet appointment, and finally finding out what his exact weight is! He's now mastered the inside stairs, both up and down. He's making good progress on the "wait" command, and also leash manners. He's found his bark, and it's a big bark for a currently smallish dog! He's just inches away from being able to pull himself up onto couches. He eats more food in a day than the other 2 eat in a week. :-) A puppy growth calculator online claims he's going to reach 105lbs when full grown. That's 25lbs larger than his father and 40lbs larger than his mother, so we'll see if that actually happens or not. One of our next goals it to get his registration done with AKC and possibly also UKC (they have more recognized sporting titles to earn than AKC). We've started a list of various activities we may want to participate in with him in the future. So far we have:

-Rally Obedience

-Sheep Herding

-Schutzhund

-Agility

-Conformation (Dog Shows)

-Search & Rescue

-Dock Diving

We're not 100% on any of them yet, we're just going to try some beginner classes and aptitude tests here and there and see what we all like and might want to continue in.

January 6, 2010

Ruffer's got a good bath at work today. He's turning into such a handsome boy! He still whines for baths, but he's stopped thrashing and squealing. If only the clean smell lasted longer...

Week 3 (Jan 2- Jan 8)

First ear came up. :-)

First vet appointment is scheduled for Monday, Jan 10. We'll finally get to see where his weight is. His records show he was 6.5lbs at 6 weeks old. We got a rough weight on him (he wiggled a lot) at 8 weeks, and he was around 12lbs. It's hard to be certain, but I'm betting at 10 weeks (as of Thursday the 6th) he's at least 20lbs. He's certainly gotten MUCH taller and thicker. His legs and paws are huge. He's been to the park several times now and plays very well with others. He's starting to really look like a German Shepherd. Especially when he slinks along and stalks the other animals- it's adorable. His "come" and "sit" commands are pretty solid. We've started on "wait" and "down", as well as some "leave it", "bring it", and "give it", all of which he's starting to respond to. He's incredibly intelligent, although still very stubborn and puppyish. :-)

Which brings us to today (Thursday). He's exactly 10 weeks old, and I think it's safe to say he's his daddy's pride and joy. :-)

Week 2 (Dec 26- Jan 1)

Ah, simple blessings: he slept through his first full night without waking.

In addition to this huge milestone, he learned his first command: sit. He also took his first walks on a leash, and took his first trip to the dog park. He's become a pro at car rides and work days with Mom. He learned to harass the cats, courtesy of Pippin. Shakespeare finally broke down and started playing with him. He learned to whine at the front door for potty times (not 100%, but closer every day), sit automatically for his meals and to go out, and got his first taste of beef trachea (yum!). He celebrated his first New Year. He's getting better at baths and nail trims, which we try to do often to get him acclimated. In general, he's progressing at an amazing rate. He must have great parents. :-)

Week 1 (Dec 19- Dec 25)

Getting a puppy the week of Christmas was probably a crazy idea, but we survived somehow. In the midst of our last minute shopping, packing, family events, and work, we managed to keep track of our crazy little furball. Now dubbed "Ruffian", but more commonly called Ruff, Ruffers, Woofs, or Big Guy, the puppy was growing every day, and learning just as fast.

The first two nights, we discovered that GSD puppies are very good screamers. By night 3, he started to figure out the system (thankfully, since it was my first night alone with all the dogs while Static was at work!) and only woke me up about 4 times for potty breaks. Night 4, only 2 potty breaks, and he held at 1-2 for the next week or so. He made excellent progress on potty training, provided we kept track of time. He made the rounds during the week and met many of his future playmates: Khaya, Hamlet, Karma, Lupa, Panzer. He also had his first trip to work with Mom during the day while Dad had to sleep, and met Sam, Happy, and Smiley. He got his first bath (he was not impressed). He celebrated his first Christmas. It was a big week for him overall, but at least he turned out to be very adaptable!

The Beginning

I met Ruff's breeder 3 years ago when my best friend lost her German Shepherd to cancer, and asked my help to find a puppy for her family. I kept in touch with him over the years, as I found him to be a very knowledgeable and quality breeder. When my sister began looking for a GSD, I contacted him to see if he had any that met her specifications. He didn't, but he kept me posted on his litters. Meanwhile, it became very evident that at some point in time, we would be getting a GSD for Static. I tried to work it out for Christmas of 2009, but the timing just wasn't right. In October 2010, the breeder contacted me to tell me his female had given birth to a large litter, and if we wanted one, we could have first pick.

I had hoped to make it a total surprise for Static, but realizing that this was a bad idea, I told him that if he was ready, there was a puppy with his name on it waiting in Pittsburgh, and he would be ready the week of Christmas.

The next 2 months were a crazy blur of puppy-proofing and preparing. We got updates and photos from the breeder, and we had some ideas about which ones we might want or not want, but we decided to wait until we got there to make our final decision (or rather, Static's final decision). On Sunday, December 19th, 2010, we drove 4 hours to Pittsburgh with Pippin and Shakespeare to pick up our new family member. Out of the 4 male puppies we were looking at, our unofficial favorite was the one who ran over to us and plopped down next to Static for pets. So Red Puppy it was, and we were on our way home.