Happy Halloween

Layla wasn't sure what to think of the pumpkin at first...

But she got over it pretty quickly. By the end of the evening she was eating pieces of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. Even now when we go outside she has to stop for a few licks of our jack o lantern.

I don't know what to say about this...

Cheers,

Nate and Jen

Recent pics of Layla

Updates: Layla is about 7 months old, 60 pounds and full of energy.

Layla gets friendly with Cat in the backseat.

Layla lifts up the couch cushions and gets comfortable.

What happens any time I get out of bed for more than 30 seconds.

Posing for the camera

Messing with the couch cushions...again...

Getting settled in for a good movie.

Cheers,

Jen and Nate

Layla updates!

A lot has happened since Layla ate our computer charger.

Yes, that's right, she chewed through an electrical wire. Fortunately, she didn't injure herself or anyone else. Although I think there were a few sparks when Nate tried to plug it in...

Since then we've gotten a new charger and some plastic tubing to protect it, but it prevented us from doing any updates for a few weeks.

Where to begin...

We started taking Layla to obedience school twice a week. So far, we've only gone twice due to long work hours and other commitments and I have to say I'm still not sold on the whole process.

I expected Layla to be learning commands - sit, stay, down, roll over - but instead the trainer (we'll call her Olga to protect her identity) has her doing agility training. You know, running in between sticks, traversing over a three foot ramp all for little bits of doggie treats. Layla seems to have a good time doing it, but it's not really what I expected.

Then at the end of class, Olga gives us homework like work on the command "down". This is where Nate and I run into problems. I mean, if we had the time, patience and discipline to work on commands at home we wouldn't be taking Layla to obedience classes.

I'm just saying...

Plus, the first time we took her to class we had an "incident". I call it an incident because we were shamed into leaving, but really it was just nature taking its course. So I'll just come out and say it -

Layla pooped in the middle of the training field.

There I said it - nothing earth shattering. Last I checked, we wanted her to go to the bathroom outside. Normally, we praise her. But this time it was different.

Every person - and dog - in the class watched Layla do her business in the middle of the field. Oh the horror! After that, everyone sent "shame" vibes our way. Olga was even shaking her head back and forth and started speaking to her friend about us in German. We're still not sure what happened. I mean, it was on a grass field and to his credit, Nate picked it up and threw it away.

Weird, right?

So anyway, the jury is still out on obedience school. I'm sure we'll go back to class next week, but we want to make sure Layla is feeling up to snuff before we expose her to other dogs again.

Unfortunately, Layla stayed in the kennel for a couple of days (Olga runs one out of her house) and she caught a doggy cold going around. She's been to the vet twice since she got home, had to get shots and is now on antibiotic tablets. The meds seem to be working since she's been a lot more active the past couple of days and is back to her ornery ways. Apparently, the cold has hit this part of Germany pretty hard and lots of dogs are sick. I wonder if this could be H1N1. Just kidding.

Other than that, Layla is doing well. She's up to about 50 pounds and doesn't realize how much power she has in her compact little body. She has a habit of running and jumping on you while you're sitting on the couch and it feels like a wrecking ball hitting your lap. Her tail is also fairly thick and she's now tall enough to knock things off the table with her tail. Earlier today she knocked a glass over, which somehow managed not to shatter and fortunately was empty at the time.

Layla has also managed to find a permanent spot in the bed. Despite having initially declared that she would never sleep in the bed, it seems to have become a regular practice. In fact, I am officially giving up. At this point, if I can keep her at the foot of the bed I'll be happy. However, I think this too will take some training. Currently, she prefers to sleep like a human with her head on the pillow and her body sprawled all over the bed. This results in her taking up 50 percent of the bed and the majority of the pillows. And if you try to move her she'll just move farther up the bed so that she's laying on all of the pillows. She likes to put her paws on your shoulders and rest her head on top of your head. Usually I wake up because she's trying to eat my hair. At which point, her taking up half the bed doesn't seem so bad anymore...

Ah and finally, Layla has most of her big girl teeth now. She shreds her toys like they're paper. We find miscellaneous feet and wings all over the floor. Not to mention, stuffing. These poor stuffed animals have their necks broken and their insides gutted. She shows no mercy.

Cheers,

Jen and Nate

34 pounds of chocolately fun!

Today, Nate and I weighed Layla for the first time in a week or so and were NOT surprised to learn that she weighs 34 pounds. I can definitely tell the difference when I pick her up. I'm also starting to realize that being able to pick her up will not be an option much longer.

At least, not if we keep feeding her...

Layla's big girl teeth are also starting to develop and they're razor sharp. She "accidentally" bit my thumb while we were playing today and she took a chunk of skin with her. Nate and I are starting to look like battered parents.

Nate also noticed that her baby teeth are falling out. She has a little hole near the front of her mouth where a tooth used to be. It was cool to see, but it makes me wonder...

Where the heck is her tooth?

Did she eat it? Am I going to step on it on the floor? Do puppies have tooth fairies?

My money is on option number two.

Also, Layla is biting anything and everything to help cope with her teething. This includes our wall, pieces of furniture, shoes, socks, dryer sheets, my hair and a special love for flip-flops. Oh and anything that moves - including us.

It seems like when we take her to the park now she's more interested in pulling on our pant legs or biting our ankles than actually walking. No joke, the other day she grabbed by pants at just the right spot and nearly de-pantsed me in the middle of the park. Now I wear pants with drawstrings and try to keep her on a short leash. We'll see if this improves with some time.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick update to let you know Layla is doing well. She's even transitioned to her new dog food pretty well. Although, she also does try to eat litter off the ground so there really wasn't any reason to be concerned with her not liking the taste...

Cheers,

Jen and Nate

Layla's personality starts to shine

I like to think pets are like humans in the sense that they each have their own personality. Layla is already starting to show her personality, flaws included.

She's still a big sleeper and likes to be lazy after a long walk or a big meal. You can often find her lounging on "her" blanket on the floor in front of the couch.

She's also becoming more and more social, which is fairly characteristic of a lab. She LOVES people. If we're out walking she has to stop so people can pet her. Or if she's off the leash, she'll run up to people so they notice her. Same thing when we go out to eat. Here in Germany you can bring your dog into the restaurant with you. We've been trying to socialize Layla in this setting, but I think it will be an uphill battle. The entire time you're eating, she's trying to get to a neighboring table so she can mingle!

She's also starting to pout. She's got it down to a routine now. When you tell her no the first time, she barks. The second time, it's a smaller bark. The third time, it's a whimper or a whine. And the fourth time, she hangs her head and walks off to pout.

She's clever. If Nate tells her no, she comes to me. If I push her off the bed, she walks over to Nate to see if he'll let her up. She's just like a child.

She likes to be close. At first, she wasn't much of a snuggle puppy, but now she likes to be near you. If you're on the couch, she wants to lay on the pillow by your head. If you're in bed, she wants to lay on your legs. If you're getting out of the shower, she wants to lick your legs. And if you're watching TV, she'll lay next to you and watch too.

It should be interesting to see how much her personality changes as she gets older. I can hardly wait!

Cheers,

Jen and Nate

Happy Father's Day!

Dad -

Thanks for always taking me outside in the middle of the night, playing with me in the park and feeding me extra treats.

Love,

Layla

The Vet and a Medieval town? Now that's what I call a Saturday!

Ah the joys of parenting. 

Today, Nate and I took Layla to her first vet appointment. She behaved exactly as we expected. 

Sort of.

We didn't have any problems in the waiting room, which was great. Although I think it was probably because the only other animal was a cat who was snoozing in its carrier. She even got on the scale in the waiting room after some slight nudging - or being carried (details, details) - and stayed still so that we could all see that she weighs...

24 pounds.

What the heck has she been eating? It didn't help that her stomach looked a little bloated...Or the fact that later we saw a puppy four times her size (granted, it had fluffy hair) who only weighed 23 pounds. One thing is for sure, Layla is solid. Muscle, fat, whatever - she's thick.

So we get back in the room and the vet asks us all the standard questions. We were actually only there for a shot, but ended up with a toe nail trim as well. She showed us exactly where to cut, which was nice because the last thing I want to do is cut her nails to short and hurt her. 

Especially since she already doesn't like it.

Poor thing. At one point, Nate had her pinned down and then the vet had her pinned and then I had one of her legs. I think the vet mentioned something about obedience training, but I tried to tune it out. She's only 11 weeks for crying out loud!

And of course, things just got worse. The vet noted her bloated stomach - oops - but agreed that we were feeding her the right amount (although she did recommend we cut back a bit). She also suggested that Layla has worms.

Say what?!

Now, our breeder told us that she had been de-wormed before we brought her home (apparently, all puppies are born with worms), but the vet said her bloated belly was a strong indication of worms. So she recommended we give her the de-worming meds. She said it wouldn't hurt her if she'd already been de-wormed and if she hadn't, it would take care of the problem.

Being the caring parents that we are, we agreed.

Of course, the vet said oh puppies and kittens LOVE this stuff. It's got a vanilla flavor to it and she'll just suck it right from the syringe. 

Uh huh.

Right.

Our darling puppy takes one lick and starts squirming like a wild beast. She does NOT like it. So the vet says too bad, yanks her mouth open and squirts the stuff in. It's all over Layla's face and later in the afternoon she had a yellow crust around her nose. It looked like she had gotten into a cup of yogurt.

But wait, that's not all folks!

She also needed the second of three booster shots. The vet asks us to hold the front end while she pokes her in the side.

Uh huh.

Right.

Haven't we learned our lesson by now?

So she sticks her once and Layla pulls away. She sticks her twice and Layla again pulls away. She sticks her three times and AGAIN she pulls away. This time was especially bad because when the vet pulled it out, it squirted on Nate's leg. We're lucky she didn't stick Nate! Finally, she got all of the meds into Layla.

Oh and the icing on the cake?

Layla starts licking the floor where the meds spilled and the vet says, "Oh look she's licking up the vaccine off the floor - see she'll be just fine"

Needless to say, by the time we got in the car I was ready for some hand sanitizer. 

A lot of hand sanitizer.

Her next vet appointment is July 20. The vet said she hopes she's better prepared for her shots. Right, like we're going to practice sticking our dog with needles. Who is this lady?

To treat ourselves after that experience we decided to go to Rothenburg, the medieval town about an hour and a half away.

We strapped Layla into her harness. Side note: We bought her a doggy harness so she has a seatbelt in the car. HAHAHA. See below. Believe it or not, she actually likes it and stays calm while you put it on her. For a dog who doesn't like a leash, she sure loves a harness.

We get to the town and decide to walk along the main area with the shops and restaurants where all of the tourists are. Now we know that Layla is adorable. She just is. But we didn't expect the overwhelming German/American tourist love that she got.

It just goes to show you, people love dogs.

We were stopped - no joke - about every five minutes. EVERY five minutes. It would start with one person and turn into a family and then turn into a tour group. 

Everyone wanted to pet Layla. They all wanted to know how old she is. They all wanted to take pictures. Yes, that's right, there were tourists actually taking pictures of our puppy on their vacation. We're going to have our puppy in someone's European Vacation 2009 scrapbook.

Our dog has paparazzi.

Some of my favorite lines heard from people who stopped to pet her:

"Thanks for letting me pet her. You just made my holiday."

"Oh she looks just like her mom" - Okay, WHAT?! I didn't get this once - I got it TWICE. I know I was wearing brown too, but really?

"Mom, can I have a puppy?" -- Oops!

"You bought her here? How will you get her home?"

"I love you."

It's too bad I don't trust some of Nate's single friends to watch Layla for extended periods of time. They could walk her down a busy street and have dates for the next two weeks.

Now, Nate is much better at this than I am. We were there for almost three hours and by two, two and a half, my patience was wearing thin. People were constantly stopping us, she was scrounging for food on the ground (with her bloated belly!) and she would often just stop and wait for people to come up to her to give her attention - she is a ham.

She's cute and she knows it.

Lord help us all.

Side note: I now feel a little more empathy for celebrities who are constantly stopped in the street. The whole time we were there I felt like people were watching us and sure enough, they were. Young, old, male, female - it didn't matter. Even babies were hanging out of their strollers to look at Layla. Good thing I wasn't in sweat pants and a hoodie with my Starbucks - People magazine photogs may have snapped my pic! 

Eventually, we made it back to the car in one piece. We strapped Layla in and drove home. She slept the whole way home and hasn't stopped. Apparently, being the center of attention is exhausting.

Speaking of which, I'm on my last leg. Time to join the rest of the family for some much needed Zzzzz's.

Cheers,

Jen & Nate