Christmas and the New Year

Layla started the New Year off with a bang by having a snow day! She had lots of fun chasing snowballs even though she could never figure out why they fell apart when they hit the ground.

Layla celebrated her first Christmas this year. Santa brought her a big tennis ball, a rope toy, a new rubber soccer ball and a bone.

A Day at the Park

Today we took Layla out to the local park and let her run and play in the freezing cold ponds and connecting streams. What could be more fun than fetching a pink tennis ball, pulling sticks out of the creek and scaring off massive trout and northern pike.

This will be Layla's final outing before going to the vet to get fixed. Once Layla has her operation she will have to lay low and out of the water for several weeks. Not to mention she's a "licker" so a lamp shade to put on her neck has been ordered, we'll post the pictures.

As we ventured from pond to pond letting Layla play in the freezing water along the way, she made a cautious discovery.

Not sure what to think, Layla was still very curious and decided to go back for a closer look.

She was so nervous about this random teddy bear at the park, that the hair on her back stood straight up like a mohawk.

Notice she tries to bark after cowardly running away. What a big baby!

Cheers,

Jennifer and Nate

She's getting fixed!

Good news - Layla is getting fixed next week!

We put our name on the waiting list three or four months ago and our name finally came up. I took her in for her pre-surgery appointment today and everything looks good. At least from a medical perspective.

However, from a behavioral perspective, things are definitely looking south. Unfortunately, it seems Layla does not perceive me as the Alpha dog. No, she prefers to be submissive to male chihuahuas and terriers...Listen to me? Why on earth would she do that? I'm only twice her size (sort of) and control her meals. No,no, it makes much more sense to submit to a teacup dog.

So you can imagine our experience in the waiting room. As soon as we walk in she makes a beeline for a mom and son with their poodle-esqe looking dog. She was just shy of jumping on their lap when I managed to reel her back in. Then she proceeds to pull toward them while I "check in", which ultimately consisted of a partially sympathetic front desk clerk who said I could just sit down. Layla seems to make an impression with everyone.

Excellent.

So we sit down and another person comes in. It's a young mom with her even smaller daughter and a huge brown dog, who, as it turns out, is 8 years old. It's a shame because older dogs tend to not like Layla. She's too overwhelming. So we sat there for another 20 minutes while Layla struggled to get to the dog, got growled out, was yanked back to my side of the room, would sit for approximately 30 seconds and would then cry.

Repeat.

Oh and in the meantime, my commander's wife shows up with their terrier.

Awesome.

Layla proceeds to "make friends" and shortly thereafter is trying to tackle the small dog.

I'm not expecting play date invitations any time soon.

Finally we get back to the exam room for her screening (half an hour late, I might add). The vet was very nice and all of Layla's vitals checked out. Then they took her to another room to draw blood. I heard her cry out a few times, which makes me wonder why they had to take her to another room...

Eventually they brought out samples of her blood and told me to stick it in the German mailbox.

Wait, what?

Yep, we had to buy German postage so we could stick our dog's blood sample in a German mailbox. Apparently, they don't have a box on post so they put the responsibility to the owner. It wouldn't be so bad if neither of us worked, but these errands always turn into another 30 minutes to an hour.

Much to my relief, I was able to drop Layla off at work with Nate and he took over the mailing issue. Now all we have to do is gear up for her surgery next week.

And after she recovers? Training.

It's time to get serious.

Cheers,

Jen & Nate

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