Ellie and Macy

Ellie loves her puppy pal Macy. They have fun every weekday, chasing each other up and down the trails on Montara Mountain. Ellie's become a real teenager, with selective hearing and stubbornness, but still a sweetie that keeps us entertained. She is getting a thick winter coat, especially around the neck and shoulders. Her waggy tail and wide grin makes us smile every day.  She weighs 31 pounds.



She's had a couple of trips to the vet in the last two weeks, once for a tick and once after eating a Bird of Paradise flower. These can be very toxic to dogs (news to us), and we've got them in our yard. Time to rethink landscaping and puppy proofing! We never had to worry about it before with Duke, our previous dog. He was older and never botherered with eating flowers and odd things. Ellie's eaten or torn up: shoes, a couple of area rugs, paper napkins, a cardboard box, a kitchen sponge, and assorted puppy toys and other things.

Paul says that squeaky toy manufacturers should hire Ellie as a product tester. She has killed every squeaker in every toy we've bought for her. Some do last longer than others, especially Kong toys and Ruffians. We feel this experience qualifies her as a master squeaky toy tester. I'm sure there must be a squeaky toy company who would pay for this service.

The Ruffian rubber chicken finally passed away, after at least a month of daily chomping.  This may have been a squeaky toy record in our house.

The Kong toy definitely lasts and lasts, but the squeaker died after only a week.

She maintains a fondness for bully stix, but we try to limit those to a couple per week.  After all, she's a young lady and some appearance of propriety is in order.

Two months later ...

Wow, I can't believe it's been two months since Ellie graduated from puppy school! She's gotten bigger (30 lbs), smarter, faster, and dare I say, cuter than ever. She's become an expert at fetch, and she's mastered the art of getting the ball out from under the coffee table.  She's also grown a very thick winter coat!  Here she is, playing with her favorite toy, a red rubber chicken that squeaks.  She'll wait for me to throw it, then bring it back and drop it at my feet.  Then, when I try to grab it, she'll try to grab it first.  How entertaining!  Just watch the fingers.  I actually think she smiles when we play this game.

Aside from her talents, or maybe because of them, she's exceptionally skilled at causing all sorts of trouble. She can jump up and grab things from the top of the dryer in the garage (her outdoor toys and my gardening clogs found a new place to live). She's extremely good at darting past me, into the bedroom, to grab Paul's slipper that wasn't put away.

She also likes to pick up Paul's workout gloves from where he left them, on the floor next to the weight bench. We've tried looking stern, no tug-o-war, and saying in a loud voice, "DROP IT." This usually does the trick, but sometimes it's just an exercise for me. In the past, my discipline has been proffered in a quiet manner to whomever would receive it. Now, I find myself using my outside voice in the house -- very disconcerting.

But Ellie takes everything in stride. Even during loud fireworks after the Giants won the World Series, Ellie seemed unperturbed. Her ears perked, but no running and hiding. Very good girl!

Ellie loves her doggie pal Macy, whom she sees on her daily walks. She politely sniffs new dogs and people, and always wants to playplayplay.

Puppy School Graduate

Ellie is now a puppy school graduate. She and her puppy classmates including puppy pal Chun Li successfully completed an eight-week class. Ellie learned, sit, stay, down, come, shake, leave it (sort of) and rollover.



She impressed us by obeying a down-stay command for a total of 45 seconds! It wasn't long enough for the grand prize -- a new squeaky ball -- but terrific nonetheless.

Congratulations, Ellie!

Ellie's Brothers

It's about time for some new photos! Ellie has two brothers, George and Bear, and we recently got in touch with their families via email. These are photos of the three of them when they were first adopted.

Here's George:

Ellie:

Ellie and George:

Bear:

Left to right: George, Bear, Ellie

Amber and Jerry adopted Bear. Bear is about 20 lbs and Amber says he love love lovesss squirrels, playing and following her around the house. He also got the most outgoing award in doggie preschool!

Andi and Jeff adopted Marcus, who is now called George. George is also around 20 lbs and is very friendly, especially with kids. He comes when called, and will sit and stay and do some other tricks. Andi thinks they all look alike, too.

Ellie is definitely the big sister, at around 25 lbs. She's very playful, loves playing fetch and chewing on bully stix. She can sit, stay, rollover and shake hands. She has a charming habit of moving one ear independently of the other ear. Today is her graduation day from puppy school, so we'll be sure to take more photos.

Growing Up

I can't believe she weighs 22 lbs. Her official birthdate is April 7, 2010 on her records, but we think it might be a couple of weeks off. She was only about 12 lbs. when we got her!

(I know I said sit and she was already sitting.)

A soft bed and a chew stick ... life is good

Dad's slipper tastes pretty good, too, but that's supposedly off limits.

The blue one is yummy, but the green is tasty, too.