In response to "Gunner Day"

My blogger friend from Jessica Love Writes posted a picture of her puppy Gunner. He's adorable and I can see why she loves him so much. Her post spurred me to post some pictures of Beta. I haven't posted anything about her in a long time.
Beta is over a year old now. We have had her in our home for a year this month. I can't imagine life without her! She is smart, funny and sometimes loves to cuddle. She is always excited to see us and provides tons of puppy hugs and kisses.

Day 27 - Pet

Beta is our rescued joy! 

Day 6: A Picture of Something that Makes You Happy

Beta makes me very happy. I know there is a pets day later on in this 30 Day Challenge, but I needed to include her in this day.

We adopted her 10 months ago and I smile everytime I think of how precious she is.

She was found on a reserve with her brother and mom. We adopted her so she would have a good home and I can't thank Misty Creek Dog Rescue enough for giving us an opportunity to welcome a pet into our home and save her from whatever future she may have had.

Beta just turned 1 year old this past week. She's still very much a puppy and still has some issues with fear and trust of strangers, but she's working really hard on it and getting better.

She's a cuddly dog and sometimes thinks she's a lap dog, but for the most part she just curls up at our feet if we watch TV.

I wish humans got as excited as dogs do when they see you.

Fitness Friday: Couch to 5K

I know I've posted about the Couch to 5k training program before, but I never went anywhere with it.
By being off work, I have the time to do it and someone to jog with. She may have 4 legs and is covered in fur, but Beta is an awesome running partner. She always wants to go and never says no.

I wasn't really following the Couch to 5K until today. I've been going on walks, and last week started to job a little. The purpose wasn't for me, but to tire Beta out so I could get some study time in. After thinking about what I was doing, I realized I should probably think less of her, and think of my own training.  Keep in mind that I am NOT a runner, and I don't love it but I see the health benefits of it. My cardio sucks and I need to improve it if I'm going to start doing pole routines again. Dancing to a 3 - 4 minute song is a lot harder than you think! Thinking back to the past 2 weeks, here's my progression.

Week 1:
Jog 1 minute, walk 2 - 3 minutes. For 15 minutes.
Week 2:
Jog 1 minute, walk 2 minutes. For 20 minutes.

I'll be starting week 3 Monday and I am determined to finish this training program while I have the time.
Week 3:
Jog 90 seconds, Walk 90 seconds, Jog 3 minutes, Walk 3 minutes. Repeat

I'm not an overweight person by any means. Most people call me skinny. In my own eyes, I feel the same, except when it comes to my butt and my stomach. My butt jiggles more than it ever used to when I jog or run upstairs. This annoys me. My stomach isn't as flat as it used to be. I suppose now that I'm not 20 anymore, things start to stick where they will for the rest of time unless I do something about it.

As I mentioned above, this isn't to lose weight, although a little off the rear-end would be nice. This is to make my heart healthy and give me more energy.

Are you lazy like me? Do you want to get off the couch and start slowly?
Try the Couch to 5K program. It's pretty easy, and you can go at your own pace. It has only 3 workouts per week.

New Opportunities and a life change

Last Wednesday was a brutal day. I got laid off from my job. It was completely unexpected and I still have no idea why it happened. They aren't required to tell their reasons.  I was shocked, my family was shocked and I've heard from a few former co-workers they were shocked too.
So by 9:30 on Wednesday morning, I was on my way home.

I'm not a dwell on the past type of person. It sucks. It happened. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll never know why, and I have to learn to live with that. I need to look at what the future is going to hold for me now. I have a wonderful opportunity to figure out what I want to do with my life next. I'm in my mid-twenties, so I still have a lot of life to live.

If you've read my previous blog entires on my anxiety, you'll know that I was under a lot of stress and very unhappy. This unexpected unemployment is actually going to lead to bigger and better things. I was struggling with making a huge decision myself and was even thinking about timelines. Stress is a brutal thing that can destroy your outside world and your body. There's something to be said about stress and it's affects on the human body.

I'm sad that I don't have a job. I'm sad that I don't get to see such wonderful people every day. I'm happy that my stress levels will go down a little bit, and I'm happy that I have an opportunity to move on to something new.

I'm still not sure what I want to do yet, but I'm taking a bunch of career workshops to brush up the résumé, learn some valuable interview skills, networking skills and all sorts of other useful things you probably never think of taking classes for. I still want to remain in IT, but take a different approach to it. The IT world is so vast, I never thought of looking outside of programming. I think this will be a real eye-opener for me to see what else I can do with my degree.

As for the personal stuff, I'm excited to get some time to bond with Beta more. Since I'm home, she only really needs to go to doggy-day-care twice a week for socialization. It's one of those places that's good for her to go, but Frenchie and I can cut down the cost a little. Beta and I have been taking long walks when we're both home and it's been good to see how much she's improving.

On top of all that, I will get some more time to finish my fitness certification course. I've been struggling with it so hopefully this gives me the time I need to get it done. Time goes by so quickly! I'm running out  of it for this course and the deadline is approaching quickly.

Reading has sort of fell by the way-side. Since I'm not doing the 40 minute commute I haven't had a lot of time to read a book. Hopefully once this course is done and I have some sort of schedule I can get back into it.

To all my friends and family: Thank you for supporting me! You guys have been awesome and I'm so thankful for all you do.
To my blogger friends: Some of you already knew this, some of you didn't. Thank you for your support, it means a lot!

Manic Monday - Lazy weekend

Calgary Stampede has officially started. Lucky for me, I get an extra day off work the day the Stampede Parade rolls through downtown. Friday was parade day. Since the main roads through downtown are blocked, my company gives everyone the day off. Yes, you read that write. I get a day off because of a parade.
With that said, Friday being a day off, my sister and I went bridesmaid dress shopping. (See next Wednesday's post.)
I did a bit of shopping after I left the bridal stores and found myself a really nice long flowy skirt. It's incredibly comfortable. I need to go and pick up another one.

Saturday was another lazy day. I got my haircut in the morning, took Beta to the park in the afternoon, and then sat in the house while it poured rain all afternoon and well into the evening. It was nice to have the hot sun but I'm always thankful when it rains overnight to cool things down.

Sunday I drove to the other side of the city to my friends house. Our morning started out with Banana-Walnut waffles. They were delicious! I must remember to get the recipe from her. After breakfast we took her dog, Charlie and my puppy and headed to the dog park near her. It's much more fun to go with another person who has a dog. When the park isn't busy, at least both dogs have someone to chase and play with. they chased each other as we walked to one end of the park, they chased each other back. Then a few more dogs showed up when we were about to leave, so they chased those dogs too.  Charlie was exhausted and ready to go home. Beta wasn't all that tired. I swear puppy energy is infinite around the 7 month mark. Beta is at the point where she doesn't need a lot of naps during the day now.

After the park, I dropped Beta at home to nap (I hope she napped... she looked like she was waking up when I got home). I met my sister at another bridal shop and continued to another one in search of more dresses. (See next Wednesday's post.) We stopped for lunch after, saw the World Cup final, and then both went home.

It was a wonderful weekend. Some parts seemed to drag on, but those are mostly when I'm alone at home and am lost for things I want to do. There's a mile long list of things to always do, but sometimes you just need to sit and be bored.

Manic Monday: Golf, Soccer, 4 days...

Frenchie was home this past weekend. Unfortunately I had to work Friday (not normal), but it was only so I could take this coming Friday off. Beta and Frenchie got some wonderful bonding time on Friday without me. When I left for work, they were both passed out on the bed sleeping. So cute!

Saturday Beta graduated from Agility Foundations. This class was designed for puppies to get them started in agility. They learn how to go through tunnels, go up the A-Frame, do small jumps, and run between the weave poles.  Beta is a quick learner, and it's certainly improved her fear of strange objects. I was so proud of her!

In the afternoon, Beta went to doggy daycare, so Frenchie and I could go golfing. It was a fun tournament with a bunch of people from my work. Fun times! It would have been better if my forearm wasn't as sore as it was. My prolotherapy treatment from Friday was a little worse off than normal. I had to stop golfing around the 12th hole or I'd be in a lot more pain today than I am. We had a good time and great weather.

Sunday we spent the afternoon cleaning up the yard a bit, bbq-ing and then we headed to watch Frenchie play soccer. We brought Beta with us to get her exposed to more humans. She's fabulous with other dogs, but still skittish near people. She did fairly well and ended up just laying on a blanket with me and chewing on an old frisbee.

I have a bunch of pictures from the weekend, but forgot to load my pictures off it. I promise to post some later.

Manic Monday: City Chase and Dog Park

Calgary had an event this weekend called City Chase. It is a Canadian event that is held in several major cities across the country. I got to be a part of the Calgary leg. There were 550 teams (1100 people) that stopped at the checkpoint I was working at. That's a lot of people that left knowing pole is fitness.

Polejunkies participated in the event as a point participants could stop at for a stamp. We were responsible for teaching teams 3 moves. Once they had performed three moves, they received a shot of energy drink and off they went. It was a blast teaching people. At some points, we had 12 teams in at once, one team per pole.  I only worked 4 hours of the day event, but I was tired at the end of it. What a thrill!!

Follow this link for pictures!

On Sunday, I had a lazy day of relaxing. I needed it.  Beta and I went for a jog in the morning, which has spurred me on to take up the Couch to 5K Challenge. I'm not a horrible runner, I just can't go very far for very long. I'd rather rollerblade, bike or walk. I'm starting to realize now that with Beta, I need to learn to run. I don't trust my balance on rollerblades to take her with me yet.

After the jog, I got a phone call from Frencie's parents. They were going to stop by and take me for brunch! It was great to see them and brunch was delicious! We ended up going to see some showhomes afterwards so they could stretch their legs. It was another 6 hours home in the car for them.

When they dropped me back and the house and took off, I called up a friend for a dog park trip. She brought over her two dogs and off we went. It was so busy on a hot day. The girls ran around the large play area for quite a while and when we felt they needed a cool down, we went down to the river access. They had a good time jumping in the river cooling off. I think we ended up spending a total of an hour and half at the park. You would think Beta would be tired after that but she was awake for a good part of the evening. I took her over to the neighbours while I had a pop with them on their patio to try and tire her out some more.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We finally got some sunshine and it was finally hot out. Sadly, the forecast says rain all week :(

Manic Monday: Relaxing Weekend

I had very little to do this weekend so I spent the majority of it with Beta. While she slept, I spent my time with tea and a good book. Beta hasn't been feeling too well, so she slept a lot. (Bonus reading time!) We did go to the park and to agility class. That tires her out quickly.

It was a pretty lazy weekend and just what I needed. 
Friday night I went to the pub with a pole friend of mine. It was hilarious because as soon as we walked into the pub, we both took note of how high the ceiling was. It's habit now. Anytime I hear someone say they have 9 foot ceilings I turn a bit green with envy. That would be fantastic for a pole! After dinner we walked down the street and had dessert at Nectar Desserts. It was amazing! Very cozy place to hold up on a raining evening.

Saturday night I had dinner with my RCIA sponsor, who is really more of a friend than anything else after spending 2 years together.  We always have wonderful conversations. After a great dinner we went and had ice cream for dessert.

Sunday was a stay in the house day. I gave Beta a bath in the evening so she would be clean and smell nice for when Frenchie gets home this week. She's always so fuzzy and soft after a bath. I find it funny that most dogs dislike the bath part of the process. Beta hates the drying off part. I gave her lots of treats so hopefully she gets better the more often we do it. She's not the kind of dog that needs to have a bath often. Only once a month at most unless she gets really dirty somehow. We've had a lot of rain lately, so she was a little 'wet dog' smelling.

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Manic Monday: Victoria Day Weekend

This weekend for us Canadians is a long weekend. For Frenchie and I it turned out to be 4 days long. We both got Friday off and Monday is a national holiday. We got 4 full days together and it's been great. Today we have nothing but relaxing and going to the park on the agenda.


Friday
Friday we took me to my fourth prolotherapy treatment. See my post tomorrow for the results. I took an hour and went and got my hair trimmed and then we spent the afternoon at home with Beta.  We went to the dog park and tired her out. To our surprise she went into the river! Sadly we didn't take the camera. Today we will and hopefully she'll go in again. There was two dogs chasing a ball their owner was throwing in the water. Beta decided on her own that she wanted the ball too. It took her a couple of tries, but eventually she went into the water up to her belly. She did a couple of funky looking jumps to get out of it. She looked like she was having a blast. My only concern is the current. She's still pretty small and we're not sure if she can swim yet or not. She had her feet on the river bottom last time. I guess we'll find out!

Friday night we went to Robin Hood, review is here.

Saturday
Saturday we took Beta to agility class and trained to go through a tunnel, over small jumps and up the A-frame. She did wonderful and got over her fear of each one very quickly. I think this class is going to be great for her. It's super fun, she's tired after and I enjoy going with her. She certainly won't ever go into any competitions, but we'll take a few classes.

After the classes we dropped Beta at home and then went for a massage. A wonderful 90 minute massage. We've been trying to find new spas to go to in the city that a) aren't too expensive, b) will do a 90 minute massage, c) we enjoy and find relaxing.  The spa yesterday was called Swirl Spa. They are very holistic and natural which was very different for us. The sitting room had a couple of chairs and some books. It felt like being in someone's living room. The massage itself was amazing. They used aromatherapy oils which was very relaxing. I chose lavender and jasmine for mine. Frenchie chose a citrus combination.  I find when I get a massage I leave feeling greasy because of the amount of oil they use. This place used an oil that didn't do that. It was completely absorbed by my skin and moisturized it. At the end, they even gave us what was left to take home!

Saturday night we went over to celebrate my brother-in-laws birthday. We had pizza and Crave cupcakes. I love hanging out and playing with my nieces. They are growing so fast and amaze me at how much they can say and know. They pick up on everything!

Sunday
Sunday was Frenchies day to play sports (he's hurting today and I'm laughing at him). I pimped him out to play ball hockey with a pole friend of mine. They needed a goalie so I offered up his services. He played for about 3 hours until I ran to tell him he was going to be late for his soccer game. He came home, changed, ate a snack and then went to soccer. Today he says his quads are on fire and he hasn't been that sore since he did the P90x.

It's been a wonderfully relaxing weekend. I've really enjoyed having him home for 4 full days. I'll be sad when he goes back to work tomorrow, but luckily it's for one less day!

Manic Monday: Weekend Recap

These weekend recaps seem to be all about Beta. I may have to rename them.

Saturday I was supposed to go to an agility class with Beta. It was cancelled. I was supposed to go for dinner with a friend, she got sick. It was just me and the dog and even though I wanted to kill her at some points throughout the day, it was nice to have her. To break up the day I went to the dance studio and poled for awhile. More on that Tomorrow.

Sunday was much more eventful. My friend came over with her dog Charlie (a Beagle) for a puppy play date. Charlie turned 4 on Sunday! We let the dogs get acquainted in the backyard and then headed to the off-leash dog park. It was very busy and a lot of fun. Once we figured we'd tired the dogs out enough, we headed back to my house for a BBQ. We had burgers, fries and salad. It was nice to have someone to sit on the patio furniture with.  Once Charlie and my friend left, Beta and I sat outside. Or rather, I read and Beta slept. It was beautiful weather, I wasn't going to sit in the house. Best part of the day? Beta gave my friend a puppy hug! The last time my friend came over, Beta would not be in the same room. I think since she brought a friend for Beta to play with, she was ok to hug haha.

Manic Monday - walking to work and thinking about what I left on Friday has been causing severe anxiety and it's only 8am. I can see this is going to be a lovely day.

Happy 5 months Beta!!

Our furbaby is 5 months old!

We have had her in our little family for 3 months. I know there are somedays I wonder why we got her, but then there are those times when I can't imagine life without her.

Manic Monday: Dog Park, Pubs, and Movies

Beta
Beta took 3 trips to the dog park this weekend. She even met my coworkers dog who happened to be there.

Friday she got bowled over by a dalmation of some sort, but then a Japanese Mastiff defended her. It was really cute. The VERY large dog stook infront of her when the dalmation came running at her again.

Saturday/Sunday she played with smaller dogs, more her size. It was so great to see her playing. She would even go up to people, but of course, if they looked at her, she ran back to us. I was so impressed how close she stayed to us. Frenchie said Beta has a 20 yard radius before she comes running back. She came when we called her, she ran after the ball and brought it back when we asked her to. I'm such a proud fur-momma!

Pubs
A friend of mine had her birthday last week. So to celebrate, her and I went for pedicures. It was wonderful! My toes look like the color of the aliens in Avatar. (We joked the color should be called Ava-toe)
So to celebrate with more people, we went to a pub Saturda night. It was nice to spend the evening with great friends, Frenchie and great food. The pub we went to is called The District. They are a micro-brewery, and they smoke their own bacon. For an appetizer, we ordered a bucket of bacon. How random! But SO GOOD! It's a little bucket, probably a pint size.

Movies
Date Night - read the review here
Zombie Land - read the review here

Manic Monday: This is my "I miss you face"

I went down to the basement to check if my cd had finished burning. When I walked back up the stairs, this is what I found at the top.

Beta and I spent the weekend together. She learned 'fetch', how to walk on the leash better, and how to cross a bridge. She also met a sprinkler. One of those 'laughing' ones. At first she was freaked out by it, but then became curious. She got within 3 feet of it, which I'd say it pretty darn good. I was so proud of her!

Saturday she came with me to my sisters and was chased and played with by my nieces. They can both say her name really well so it was fun to see them playing with her. She slept the entire evening after we got home from supper.

Sunday we got up early and I braved the off-leash dog park that's near our house.  Beta didn't go off-leash but maybe this weekend when my fiancé is home we'll try it. She did very good saying hello to the other dogs. I found out she's not fond of the river, so we'll work on that. I think if I'm standing in the water with treats, she might come in.

Once she was tired from the park in the morning, I headed off to a pedicure with my friend for her birthday. It was a wonderful time following be a delicious breakfast. And I have pretty toes! The woman giving me the pedicure asked if I was an athlete of some sort. "Soccer player?" "Uh no, I pole dance. I'm always in bare feet." "Oh, that's different." Just do the feet and make them pretty will yah?

I took Beta again for a walk to the dog park, this time in the middle of the afternoon on a hot Sunday. There were a ton of dogs. She was very wary at first, but then wanted to say hi to them all. Still on the leash for this go around, but she was getting much better. We continued training with fetch back at the house and then she slept the evening away. The above picture is her telling me it's time to go to bed and why am I going downstairs... again.

Therapy Tuesday: Off the Pole

I've been feeling a lot less stressed out lately now that my week of busyness right before Easter is done, and things are back to 'normal' (can't be completely normal with my fiancé gone, but close enough). I've started taking Beta to doggy daycare every day. They were completely understanding of my situation and since she is only 4 months old, they suggested I bring her daily. She's far too young to be in the house alone all day.

Although my evenings are now very quiet because she sleeps off her days of playing, it's nice that I can enjoy some me time after a long day of work. It's been so much more relaxing and stress free! I feel like I'm missing out on a lot with Beta since she sleeps while I'm home, but we have the weekends together and those are a blast. A good chunk of bonding and training happens on the weekends.

I'm feel like loneliness is starting to settle in more than before. With Beta sleeping the evenings away, the house is eerily quiet. I sit and read, watch some tv, organize things around the house, but it's not satisfying. There's some thing, or in this case, someone missing. My fiancé left Monday again to head back to work and these first two days have been the longest yet. It's hard, and getting harder without him.

Potentially there are only 3 more shifts he has to go up north for. Potentially.... The idea is that he goes up there for 3 months, and at the end of it, they have work for him back in Calgary. I'm not holding my breath that he'll be back in June permanently. Our economy and the work for his type of job is poor right now. There aren't a lot of jobs available for him. I'm praying that it's only another 3 shifts, but in the pit of my stomach, I know it's more than that.

Things have to go up from here... right?

Yesterday my fiance left for his site job. He'll be gone for 10 days then back for 4. Since he left in the afternoon, our puppy was only home for a few hours by herself in her pen. Shouldn't have been that bad right?  Here's how my evening went. As my friend told me yesterday, things can only get better...

It took me 45 minutes to clean up the mess that she left. Beta has a parasite that causes her to have lower stomach problems. Smelly and hard to clean up. She was only alone for 4 hours and it took me 45 to somewhat clean up. It's not fully clean, but there's not much else I could have done other than taking a sponge and bucket to the floor, somehow keeping her away from the area long enough for me to clean up.

I took Beta outside to tire her out and get her some exercise since she was inside most of the day. All was good until she missed a step and hurt her foot. She yelped for a bit, but after a while she was ok and didn't seem to be injured. I think she caught her foot on a step on her rush to get down them.

I decided pasta and leftover chicken would be the easiest and quickest meal. After filling a pot with water, I noticed the handle on the kitchen tap wasn't quite sitting correctly. It seemed loose. I moved it a little to see if there was a screw I could tighten when the handle came off in my hand. I am now using a pair of pliers to turn my kitchen tap on and off. My neighbour said he would fix it saturday for me if I went and bought a new tap to put in.  After heating up my leftover chicken in the microwave, the fan continued to run for a good 30 - 45 minutes. I've now unplugged the microwave and will only use it when I absolutely need to.

I went to puppy class without Beta since she's sick and I'm a responsible dog owner, not wanting to get other puppies sick too. I arrived on time with 3 other people. We sat there for 30 minutes before the instructor came and apologized saying there were 3 more people to come. One wasn't coming, one she couldn't get a hold of, and one was so lost the instructor couldn't direct her to the building. We all went home after sitting there and we will start our session next week. That was sort of a blessing since I was home earlier than I had expected.

On top of all this, work was horrible and I didn't get any sleep. Beta of course slept through the night, which was great. I did not. I have trouble sleeping the first night I'm alone.

Life is about to change

Happy Last Day of Olympics!! (GO CANADA GO!)
I'm currently sitting in my living room, watching Canada play the USA in the gold medal game of men's hockey. It's intense!

I realized today I haven't blogged in 4 days. A lot has happened and of course, Beta has been keeping my fiance and I very busy. Here's how life is about to change....

Monday my fiance found out he will be going to site for work. Right now we both work our 9 - 5's and are home every evening today. That will all change tomorrow. He will be gone for 10 days and then back for 4. I'm very sad he will be gone. We don't spend a lot of time apart, and 10 days is a long time. He will always be home on a Thursday evening, and thankfully, I have a Friday off to match! We will get a full 3 day weekend together every other weekend.  I know I can do the time being apart. The part I'm worried about is taking care of Beta on my own.

Beta is a handful, and I am not a really patient person. She certainly knows how to test it. There have been a few times that I have sent my fiance out the door to collect her from the yard because she refuses to come inside. I guess this is where a leash will come in handy. I rely on him to help with her in the mornings since our schedules are staggered and in the evenings our times are perfect for one to play with Beta and one to cook supper. This will certainly be the biggest challenges with him gone.

I am scared of taking care of Beta alone, but I am also thankful that I will have her here to keep me company while my fiance is gone. She is funny and sweet and I am happy we have her.

GOLD!!!! WE WON GOLD!!!! (yes I sat and watched the rest of the game just so I could type that before I posted this blog post)

Weekend Recap and Surprise welcome home

I love our puppy dearly. She is hilarious, cuddly and I can't wait to get home to see her every day.

Sunday we had family over in the mid-morning. We ended up going for brunch at this little dinner down the road. It was classic restaurant, straight out of the 50's. Our waitress even had a poodle skirt on. Weird... After brunch they came back to our house and met Beta. She was shy and kind of just hung out at my feet. I felt bad for them since they came over to see her and she wouldn't let them pet her. In all honesty though, she's only been in the house for a day by this point.
Later in the evening after my fiance played hockey, he arrived home with a bum knee. He hurt it playing and it was very swelled up. I'm now caring for two babies. hahaha

Monday was interesting. Beta is a little young to be left without being taken outside during the day. My fiance left for work a little later, and then went home at lunch to play with her and let her outside. He made sure she had some water and a clean puppy pad and put her back in her pen. I got home, opened the front door and was greated by a happy puppy! It was so nice! Until I realized she should be in her pen. She had pushed the pen a foot to one side and created a small hole she could crawl from the kitchen to the sunken living room. Smart puppy... stupid parents. She had a few accidents, but nothing that can't be cleaned up.

Today we have moved the pen where she can't push it over a ledge and get out. I will see what I find when I get home today.

Welcome Home Beta

Yesterday we picked Beta up at her foster home. It was a 30 minute drive back to our house. Sadly she lasted about 20 minutes before she got sick. I don't think she's been in the car at all so that's expected. We kind of figured that would happen, so we had her crate in the car and had a towel down. No harm done! She was a little nervous when we got to our house, so we just opened her crate door and let her come out on her own.

The evening was interesting. She had two accidents. Once because I wasn't watching closely, a second time because both my fiance and I were watching the Olympics. She is really quiet so far and follows us around the house. She was very nervous and it took us a while to get her to be used to us. She came around in about an hour and now wants to cuddle on your foot while you sit on the couch. She's pretty good with her 'sit' command. If she's excited it takes her a minute or two to figure out what you want.

This morning I took her outside and we played in the snow a little. She wouldn't go in the snow last night, but now she's running and jumping through it. She also discovered that the bone she has squeaks. 

We are both so happy to be able to give her a home. I'm excited that she's been good so far and find it fascinating that she is learning so fast. I think she recognizes the sound of her name and will come fairly well when you call her. She knows "sit" and hasn't yet chewed anything but her toys, although we are watching her very carefully. I happen to like my shoes a lot.

Expect a lot of puppy posts over the next few weeks. I'm overjoyed and want to share that.

Adoption Day!

We bought all the things we needed beforehand and read a few books and numerous articles online. I'm hoping that we are at least a little bit prepared for bringing our puppy home today.

We are driving up to the foster home tonight to sign all the papers, pay the adoption fee and take Beta home with us. It will be her first car ride with us and ours with her. I am so excited to finally get her and bring her to her new home.

There will be a follow up post tonight or tomorrow with pictures!