Eva - Update.

Eva is almost a year old! So I guess this is technically the last pupdate, she'll be a full grown women on December 6th. She has lived with us for almost 10 months now and it's amazing how much our life has changed since we first brought her up. We have been so lucky, but she has been the easiest dog; I've never had to raise my voice to her, she is so good with other dogs and people, amazing on trains and when ever we stay anywhere other than our house she is so well behaved. Seriously, so lucky.

We think that she is done growing! She is a little bigger than I expected her to get but she is a pretty perfect size for me. She seems to get scruffier by the day, but for some weird reason the hair on the top of her head has suddenly got short! It makes her look like a balding old man, which I love. She has a ginger twinge in her beards and a couple of white hairs down her back. But mostly, she is still the same scruffy black pup.

The obsession with chewing wood has gone, I think! We may have lost one of our dining chair legs and a bit of a sofa leg too... and she did use to have a collection of sticks in the garden that I had to get rid of; she literally eats them. Not good at all. I found a synthetic stick that is completely safe for dogs to eat, she loves them and the furniture destruction seems to have totally stopped. Thats the only problem we've really had with her. Other than that time she crapped up the wall, but I can't really blame her for that...

She is still super obedient. We've taught her a load of tricks and she is amazing off the lead; which is so good because being able to take her on long exploring walks and trips is really important to us. SHe is grumpy on a morning. She jumps on our bed every when the alarm goes off and goes straight back to sleep between us. I can't imagine her not being there. It sounds so cliche but she is my best friend. 

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Eva - Update.

I was going to wait until 6 months to do another pupdate, but she is just over 4 months now and she has changed SO much since I last wrote about her it is insane so I thought it was worth an update. She is a real dog now.

First, physically, Eva is getting huge! Looking back at her sat in her bed when she first came home and she is about 10x too small for it, now she is spilling over the edges. Her legs are SO long. They seem to have grown inches over night. I think all her pup-teeth are gone now and new ones have grown through, it looks kind of weird; like she is wearing dentures. Her fur has gone insane recently too, it is SO scruffy. She has the best beard. I love it.

Behaviour wise, she used to be pretty shy around people but recently she has gotten so much confidence. When we'd have friends around she would just sit on Dixon or me and not move; now she loves meeting people. She is such a friendly dog! She has been great with all the other dogs she has met too, which is really important to me. My absolute favourite part of having a dog is taking her walking and the confidence she has now makes that so much easier. Having an exploring partner is the best. AND she is so obedient, I can let her off the lead in the woods or a field and I don't have to worry at all, its so much fun watching her run around.

Eva is the most stereotypically doggish dog I have ever met. She loves sticks. She loves tennis balls. She loves jumping in streams (even though she does go insane when she is soaking). She has the best bark, and goes insane when someone knocks on the door. Over all, we are the luckiest dog parents. I can't imagine her not being here.

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Eva - Update.

It's three weeks today since we brought our little pup home. Eva is still pretty young and pretty needy! But I can hardly remember what it was like before she came to live with us. She is the best. She sits on the sofa with me at night and falls asleep in my lap, and I can't believe she is ours.

Eva is turning out to be a pretty perfect pup. Obviously she has a lot of growing to do, but so far, behavior wise I think we have been lucky! She has 1 or 2 crazy moments during the day where she will run laps of the house and will bite at my feet or anything within her reach and she manages to climb places she shouldn't be climbing whenever she is left alone.... But we are getting into a pretty good routine now. House training has also gone REALLY well, she lets us know she needs to go in the garden to do her thing every time. Although she still can't quite hold it in when we leave for for an hour or so.

I know everyone says this about their pet, but she is SO smart! She is learning so quickly. She always knows how to sit, give a paw, stay, go to her bed, fetch and (sometimes) drop. We're going to take advantage of her young brain and teach her as much as we can. I have visions of her mastering hundreds of tricks. I did a bit of a search on ways to keep pups entertained and found someone who suggested putting treats under cups and letter them figure out how to get it... She didn't get it. At all. Ha.

She is almost 11 weeks old now, and after our visit to the vet we found out she weighs around 2.6kg which is pretty perfect. I was worried she was skinny. We also found out she has a slight under-bite, we wont know what problems it may cause until she has her adult teeth but fingers crossed it wont cause any complicated (it does give her the funniest smile sometimes). Taking her to the vets also made me realised that she is pretty shy of other people, but that's as she hasn't met many people yet! She is halfway through her vaccinations (her second jab is on Monday) so once that is out of the way we can start taking her out and getting her confidence up! I am desperate to take her out and introduce her to our friends. I already have plans for places we're going to explore first and weekends away to the beach further in the future. Taking her out is definitely the part I am most excited about!

I am looking forward to seeing her grow up and many many more dog days.

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Scruffy Pup.

If you know me in real life, you'll know I am crazy about dogs. I fall in love with every single one I see. I'm terrible at pointing out every dog I walk past to anyone I am with. I rode a bike into a bench last year because I saw a boxer puppy. I think they're the best things on the planet.

When we moved into our new house, with a secure yard I had the landlord write a 'dog claus' into our contract hoping that at some point I could convince Dixon we should bring a dog home. I really wanted to adopt, so after a little convincing we went to a local rescue centre and met a 7-8 year old dog named Hector. He was awesome. We went back and walked him a couple of times and it all seemed set. But, after the shelter owner went through some of his issues we had doubts. Hector had had a really shitty time when he was younger (they think he was used in dog fighting and had scars to show it) and it had caused him to not be a fan of other dogs or strangers. And, he was known to freak out when in the dark too. I still thought we could help him, dedicate some time to him and give him a forever home, but Dixon was more realistic. Hector is a powerful dog and I couldn't bare the idea of him hurting someone under our time and having to be put town. So, even though it broke my heart, we decided to not go ahead with the adoption. It sucked.

I pretty much wrote off the idea of getting a dog after that. But, after a few months we decided to start looking again. This time for a puppy, of a smaller breed. We went to meet a family a week or two ago and one little guy came straight over to us. She was so playful and confident we had to have her. And now, she is home with us!

Her name is Eva and she is pretty amazing. She is completely black, from head to claw and is a little scruffy. She is almost 8 weeks old. Eva is the fastest runner in the world and has absolutely no spacial awareness at all. On her first day here she summersaulted out of her bed and into her water bowl soaking herself, her bed and her toys. She keeps running under the table and hitter her  head too, but she doesn't seem to mind at all.

It has been a long time since I have had a puppy and I was so worried that she would be sad the first few days we had her home after leaving her sisters, but she seems to be pretty independent! And very happy. Which is a huge relief. She did a little bit of a cry last night when we put her to bed. Other than that though, she has been fine! Eating playing and sleeping perfectly. 

Its going to be a lot of work bringing her up by ourselves, but I am so excited to see her grow! She is going to be the best company on the weekends that Dixon is away, and I'm pretty sure once all the puppy shots are out of the way I am going to have the best exploring buddy there is. I really can't wait to take her out for the first time.

ps. My instagram is going to turn into a bit of a puppy fest so give me a follow: chlough !

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