Puppies

I thought I should post a bit of a puppy update. Uma is just about 9 months now and is close to Kali's height and length, but defintely a lot scrawnier... and has a smaller head. She's a mostly well-behaved puppy but has gotten into a bit of mischief lately when she's bored... for example she's chewed a few pens on the carpet, destroyed Tom's hat, and very recently dug out and eaten carrots from my garden (who taught her carrots were yummy?!). We're doing our best to exercise the mischief out of her and Tom has even taken the girls to work on occasion (he's building mountain bike trails so they get to play in the forest). She's a super snuggly puppy and I love her a ton, but Kali definitely had us spoiled for what to expect from a Ridgeback puppy! Kali is doing quite well and enjoys tackling Uma in the long grass at the park. Her elbow doesn't seem to be bothering her too much.

Uma's first trips to the dog park

Tom has told me that I've got a ridiculous number of puppy pictures on the blog now, but whatever, they're cute... and here's a few more. Uma is now officially allowed to go to dog parks - all up to date on her vaccines. We took them to Nose Hill park for the first visit because there's not usually too many dogs there so she can work up to larger groups... but that also means she's fair game for Kali. Uma started the wrestling but there wasn't really anywhere to hide so Kali chased her down and rolled her... and Uma came running to us for protection since she's not quite fast enough yet. Kali doesn't hurt her or anything... just pins her to the ground and won't let her up.

Of course after all that playing puppies definitely need some snuggling in the sunbeam time... whether Kali wants the snuggle part or not...

Who knows? Maybe she does... Uma is pretty warm and a perfect pillow size...

This morning we took them to Bowmont Park because there's a combination of fenced in puppy areas and nice walking areas. Here they are sporting the new collars my sister made for them - very styling and we got a few people asking where we got them and saying she should go into business making them...

There were actually quite a few dogs around and Uma started making some friends... although I'm pretty sure she was expecting them all to want to pin her like Kali does. We'll be taking Uma for a few solo trips too... and pretty soon puppy school.

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Puppy shots & new puppy bed!

It was gorgeous yesterday and we knew the snow was coming again so we took Kali & Uma to a nearby, relatively secluded park where we could play and do some training. Tom decided to chill out in the sun for a bit but Uma took it as an invitation to try to jump on him...

Uma's still growing of course... up to 25 lbs now. She still wants to snuggle with Kali but they're running out of room on Kali's bed. I picked up some more upholstery foam so I can make a bigger bed...

Napping in the sun...

Something wrong here... while I've been working on making a cover the two foams were individually covered with old bed covers but whenever the girls wrestle the beds end up flying all over the place. This time the beds somehow ended up stacked with Uma victoriously hanging out on top... probably one of her few victories...

This morning I finally found time to work on the bed cover. The girls were a hassle of course, trying to help with the pinning, climbing under the table where the pedal is (Uma at least), and just generally hanging around.

Here are the girls snuggled up on the new king-sized puppy bed. One of the foams was a bit smaller than the other so I might stuff the bed to make up for it. It's a thick, smooth, soft fleece on one side and the grey side is a fuzzy, woolier fleece.

Mooks has been feeling like a bit of a neglectarino on this site so I thought I'd slip in a cute shot I took of her... She's still ruling the roost of course, but Uma likes to push it.

Another Puppy Update... wow, 12 weeks old already!

It's kind of hard to believe Uma is already 12 weeks old, but she's growing like a week. She's close to 25 lbs now - 10 lbs more than when we got her a month ago! Some days it seems like I go to work and a she's scrawny, and by the time I come home she's visibly grown... Last monday we took her in to get her second round of boosters - only 1 more during the first week of April and then we can finally start taking her to fun places like puppy parks. She's still not quite sleeping through the whole night, usually waking up around 4am. Tom suspects that might be when the buses start going by and wakes them up because it certainly isn't my alarm clock or when they get fed. She had a bit of a relapse with the house-training during a cold snap we had last weekend but seems to be back on track now that it's nice and warm again (+7ish the last couple of days!). Uma's also doing quite well with walking now... we've had her out for a few 1 hour walks around the neighbourhood. Fortunately she loves copying Kali so leash training has been mostly a breeze although if Tom & I walk them together (1 dog each) there's a bit of pulling going on because Uma wants to walk beside Kali or hassle her.

Tom chilling with the girls:

When we had the cold snap I bought some fleece to make Uma a little puppy coat so she'd go out easier/longer... I got a bit lazy (and I needed it fast) so I only threw in a few stitches and ended up making a puppy cape (she'll out-grow it soon anyway). Meet Super-Uma!

I love this picture because it's hilarious. Mookie was sauntering by, considering snuggling Kali and I caught her mid-yawn. I love it because it looks like she's attacking them...

Zoom back to previous posts to check out the comparison of this shot with when we first got Uma to see how much she's grown. I'm sure they're wondering why we're always snapping pictures of them... especially when they're sleeping...

Uma's big enough that she's having trouble fitting onto Kali's bed. I picked up some more upholstery foam and fabric and I'm working on extending Kali's bed into a double-puppy bed so she can sleep without having Uma on top of her...

Tom and Mooks snuggling, also wondering why I keep harassing everyone with the camera...

Puppy Update

We've had Uma for a week now. Uma's been busy getting used to the house and learning all kinds of things. By the second day she had picked up on her name and started getting used to going outside instead of peeing on the floor... although we still had trouble getting the timing and signals down... and she had trouble navigating the steps to the door. This weekend she's big enough to get down the stairs on her own and I think she'll be pretty much house-broken from now on. She also had to get used to being in her happy-fun place (a.k.a. crate). She had trouble sleeping through the night most of the week and often woke up at 4:30 (fortunately Tom was sweet enough to take care of the middle of the night problems). Since about Thursday though she's been sleeping in until 5:30/6ish when I get up for work anyway.

Kali spent the first few days trying to avoid Uma, but Uma's persistence has paid off. They now nap together frequently...

... and they've become great friends play together all the time!

Mookie's been doing well too. Uma has been a bit hesitant about approaching Mooks, but they've had a few encounters where Uma got put in her place. The only problem we've had is that Kali's decided to try to push the pecking order too and has been trying to gang up on Mooks whenever Uma tries to check her out. Overall they're all getting along and Mooks can go wherever she wants mostly un-harassed.

... and sometimes all four of us get to hang out together.

More puppy pictures

Well, we brought Uma home on Friday. Kali wasn't so sure of her and mostly just ran away from her and growled when Uma got too close. Of course, Uma was fascinated by having another Ridgeback and just wanted to play and cuddle. Uma & Mooks haven't interacted too much yet. Uma's watched Mooks from a distance and wandered after her once, but no face to face. Mooks has been only slightly more scarce than usual.

When we went to pick up puppy stuff we saw a little bunny that matched the one that Kali had so we had to pick it up for Uma... but when Uma got home she ended up romping around with the big one and Kali was checking out the little one... I'm pretty sure in this shot Kali's saying "Why am I stuck with the little one?".

This morning they were on a bit better terms with Kali growling a bit less and letting Uma get closer. Uma keeps trying to crawl into Kali's bed, but she's not having any of that quite yet (although Uma will probably wear her down). Apparently it's okay for them to sleep near each other with a "mom barrier"....

And once they were settled for a while I was able to sneak out and leave them on their own beds next to each other.

Meet Uma

We picked out our puppy this weekend! We decided on the little ridgeless girl. Meet Uma Makena (or just Uma). She was born on Dec. 16, 2008 and gets to come home with us on Feb. 13. She was a lot more active this time, in fact all of the puppies were. When we showed up we were swarmed by 11 litttle puppies all trying to jump up for snuggles and nibbles.

We were initially deciding between the ridgeless male (left) and Uma (right). They're both adorable, but Uma ended up having some traits that we decided we liked better... besides looking exactly like Kali did as an 8 week old puppy.

For example, we got to take both of them out individually from the pack. The little male went right for our shoes and started trying to chew them... Uma on the other hand went off exploring, figured out how to navigate the couple of stairs by herself, and entertained herself by playing with the pillows and an empty plastic water bottle.

The top two puppies are Uma and her ridgeless brother playing outside.

Anyway... should be interesting getting Uma home and introducing her to Mooks and Kali. We've tried telling them that she's coming, but I don't think they believe us yet. We'll post more pictures next weekend!

Birthday Puppy

Tom decided to get me a puppy for my birthday this year now that we've got our own house. It's going to be another Rhodesian Ridgeback of course... ridgeless again even. The breeder is Kariba Ridge and they have two ridgeless puppies for us to choose from (out of a litter of 11) - one boy and one girl, but we're not sure yet which we will choose.

The little puppy on top in the red collar is the female. She's really sweet and shy, but got a bit rambunctious once the other puppies all went back to bed. She reminded us a lot of Kali in her looks and temperament.

Close-up of the girl:

This little guy was a bit more out-going and feisty than the girl... probably will be a bit of a trouble maker, but then he crashed hard and became a cuddler (definitely a big selling point if you know me!). When I tried to put him down to go he crawled right back into my lap.

Any votes on which one we should choose? The girl is very mellow and sweet, just like Kali. The boy is a rambunctious cuddler, and may possibly develop some minor attitude, but nothing we wouldn't be able to handle.

Kali's Backpack

I just bought Kali this backpack... perfect for her to carrying her own food and water on camping trips... and poo bags. The tag is still on it in this picture... I thought i'd take her out for a little bit to see if she'd like it... no problems of course - she's such a good puppy... but we ended up getting mud all over it so we're definitely keeping now. It's a large meant for dogs 50-79 lbs and she on all the smallest settings so I was thinking she might have needed a medium... I guess large will do though!

These shots are at Nose Hill Park ... with downtown Calgary to the south.

... and the mountains to the west (sorry they don't show up in this picture very well... they're a lot better in person.