February 24, 2011

We're officially over 4 months! The 16 week mark was last Friday. So I guess he's now pushing 17 weeks. Today we started some clicker training to start working on tightening up his obedience commands in preparation for real training in a few months.

His current weight is somewhere around 35lbs... I haven't tried to measure him for height yet, but I guess we should give that a shot. It looks like his colors are pretty much done. A comparison from his 7.5week shots shows little or no change. He actually brightened up his markings on his chest and throat briefly, and they now seem to be darkening in again. I think his lack of growth in height and weight recently is attributed to his general thickening- his muzzle and legs are becoming noticeably more broad than they were before. We did increase his food from 2 to 2.5lbs per day, plus extra "goodies" every day or two. He's getting more outgoing at the park, although his clumsiness and lack of speed still keep him from being a full player. It's good socialization for him though.

I've been keeping a photo album of his age progression- all but the first one are shots of him on my grooming table at work. It was the only place I could get a good shot on a regular basis.

https://picasaweb.google.com/AJScorpio1184/RuffianGrowthPhotos#

It's amazing how much he's grown already. And still so far to go!

February 14, 2011

Ruff had an exciting weekend.

Saturday he got to see all his cousins. Hamlet and Karma were suitably unimpressed, but he enjoyed Grandma's backyard and played chase with Shakespeare for a while. He was a very good boy all afternoon. Then he got to take a special trip to his aunt's house to play with her GSD Lupa. They played so hard he finally crawled up on the couch behind me and collapsed. He stayed tired all night and all the next morning. Sunday we took a trip to the dog park, and he ran around for an hour or so, and then tried to crawl into my lap to sleep. We went back home, and he chilled out the rest of the night. Today, it's BATH TIME. Someone is a smelly little puppy!!!

February 11, 2011

15 weeks today!!

While filling out the AKC papers I realized I was off a day- Ruff was born on a Friday, so Fridays are his birthdays. :-/ Oops! Anyway, he's 15 weeks exactly today. Tomorrow we're going to get him on a scale at Grandma & Grandpa's for a weight check, and then he gets a play-date with Lupa. Since he's close to half her size now, I think he's ready for a rematch. :-)

So according to the paperwork, Ruff's official name is "Raufbold von der Kleinsmit". :-) Might be a little big for him now, but he'll grow into it, I'm sure. He's not even 4 months yet and he's over 40lbs! (Weight correction: after putting him on a pet scale, we discovered he's actually around 33lbs right as of 15 weeks old.) We're currently working through a bit of a rebellious phase, but he's still fairly obedient when we get serious.

February 2, 2011

14 Weeks.

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!!