Morning Antics

Ellie and Gretel keep me busy in the morning. I change their water, fill up their food dishes, clean up their toys and bedding.  But the most fun thing I do with them in the morning is play!  Playplayplay. They have endless energy, and they play nicely together.  I'm so happy they're friends.

The Ellie and Gretel Show

Gretel knows how to get what she wants.  She jumps on Ellie's bed, and then her own. She doesn't like to give up her space -- and she pushes Ellie's buttons, just to see what will happen.  You can see what I mean in this clip.  The end is entirely worth waiting for -- one and a half minutes.



(I like how Ellie pauses to look at me for minute, before deciding what she'll do.)

Riley in his New Home

Riley is Gretel's brother who lives in San Mateo.  They arrived together from Taiwan about three weeks ago. They are due for their last vaccinations at the end of April, and we hope to get our families together for a play date after that. Riley is warming up to his new family and surroundings very well, and he's really cute!

Some of his expressions are just like Gretel's -- there's definitely a family resemblance. Riley is mainly black with a white patch on his chest and white socks, similar to Gretel's socks. They both have black and pink spots on the pads of their paws.

Both our vet and Riley's vet believe that Gretel and Riley are a bit younger than originally thought by the rescue group.  They both have all of their baby teeth, and look younger than 16 weeks.  We are estimating age this week of about 13 weeks.  (Since we don't know their exact birthdate, we've chosen January 7 for Gretel.)

Here are some photos of Riley during his first week in his new home.

New Pup in Town



Gretel

Gretel is the new addition to our family.  She arrived from Taiwan three weeks ago, along with her brother Hansel (now Riley), both Formosan Mountain Dogs/Shepherds -- although it's hard to be certain of their breed. Some people have mentioned they see some Basenji in her.  Who knows?

Ellie met Gretel at the foster's home in Danville. At first Gretel was shy and hid behind bushes and trees to stay out of Ellie's path. Soon, they were meeting nose-to-nose and finding that they were meant to be pals. 

Gretel and her brother Riley were street puppies who got a second chance for a happy life because they were rescued.  Some people have asked why we didn't adopt from a shelter.  It's simple, really.  Gretel, like so many Taiwan dogs, was a foundling. Dogs in Taiwan are left to starve or to be injured. People lay bear traps for them, mutilate and kill them for sport or food. We are happy to have the opportunity to save Gretel from a bleak future. Dogs from the streets of Taiwan need to be saved, and dogs from the streets of San Francisco need to be saved -- take your pick and save one!  It doesn't matter where they are from.  Just do it!

We believe in the Pound Puppy Rescue model. They are very thorough in checking out families who want to adopt. Both of our dogs are PPR dogs.  We adopted Ellie first who came from a shelter in central California, and she has been a wonderful family member from day one.  Our experience the first time around was great, and we trust PPR to examine the pups and represent them well. They also provide training, spaying/neutering, initial shots, and follow-up for all adopting families.  Riley's puppy parents are staying in touch, and we expect Gretel to meet up with her brother for a play date some time in the future.  I would recommend PPR to anyone seeking a reputable, safe and sane puppy adoption.

With that part of her story behind her, Gretel has acclimated quickly to her new surroundings.  We've puppy-proofed the yard as much as possible, and we have two very responsible people checking in on her during the day while we're at work.

It was a little scary for us, wondering if Ellie would pounce on little Gretel, who only weighs eight pounds.  But Gretel has been fearless, jumping on Ellie, licking her, playing ball, and running around the yard, as if they'd always known each other.  Last night, after a particularly fun play session in the living room with Gretel, Ellie walked over to me with her tongue hanging out, breathing heavily, and showed me her biggest happy-dog smile!  I could see that she was glad to have a new friend.

Here are a few photos of our two pups, Ellie (the big one) and Gretel (the little one).




Gretel on Ellie's pad in the backyard



Sharing is good



End of a long day



Gretel and her brother Riley

Ellie loves Edgemar Park

Ellie and Bear

Brother and sister reunited for a fun romp in the snow at Christmas 2011.

Ellie and Tule on the Trail

They should be mush dogs -- MUSH!

Ellie is 11.5 Months Old

Ellie is almost a year old.  Her birthday is April 7.  Right now, she weighs a solid 35 lbs.  She's a strong, playful girl.  Her favorite activities are chasing balls, squirrels, bugs and anything else that moves.  Birds are particularly attractive.  She barks at black crows and will chase them at the beach.

We've been working on fetch, and she's a superstar.  She always brings her favorite red ball back to us.  Sometimes, she wants to play tug-o-war with it, but most of the time, she drops the ball at our feet and waits for us to throw it again.

Ellie loves her grain-free salmon Canidae dog food.  She's also fond of her organic chicken/veggie dog treats.  I haven't made her any dog biscuits lately, but I'd like to try out some new recipes.  Other than dog food, she still likes to chew on Paul's socks when she finds one on the floor.

She's still a puppy at heart and loves to play, play, play.  Some of my favorite recent photos of the last couple of months are below.

Ellie and her favorite red ball

Ellie at Sharp Park Beach

Naughty puppy

All fluffy after her bath

What's that you say?

Hey, what's up?

Sporting a snazzy sweater

After chewing on a throw rug, this makes a good hiding place

If I stand here a while, will you give me a cookie?

Ellie, Princess of Montara Mountain

Ellie Catches Balls Flying Through the Air

This is a new phenomenon.  Ellie has always been a ball chasing fanatic.  She loves playing ball relay; when I throw a ball, she retrieves it and drops it at my feet, and then I throw another ball.  Repeat, repeat, repeat, forever.  Now, she suddenly has begun catching the ball in the air.  This appears to be something she's been practicing in private.  I'm duly amazed by her special talent.

Ellie, Macy and Sadie on Montara Mountain

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.

Sits Before Crossing Streets and Thresholds

Will Sit for Biscuits

Have you seen my lost kibble?

I know it's around here somewhere ...