We have officially been dog owners for one month now, and we thought it was time to show off our new baby. She's growing like a weed and won't be a little puppy for much longer! Similar to her parents, she has been living quite the busy life these past 4 weeks.
Here we are picking her up at the breeder on November 10th, 2010. Her life would never be the same. I think she was the lucky one as her sisters will be show dogs and her brothers will be companion dogs. She gets a life of fun being spoiled (rotten) by her new parents!
Here's our baby's favorite pose - frog legs. Starting to think we should have named her Kermit.
And ... Daddy giving her a bath for the first time. A little timid on bath number one but she's grown to love the water. It'll be fun to take her out in the boat and do a little doggie paddle in the lakes of Minnesota!
Wasting no time, at 9 weeks old we started taking Paisley to obedience classes. She is really doing well and can sit, stay, lay down, come, leave it (when she shouldn't get into something) and drop it (when we need to get something out of her mouth.) It requires diligent practice everyday, but Kyle and I have been thoroughly committed. Here she is working on her commands with Dad.
Our amazing trainer, Deborah, also hosts "puppy socials" every Sunday afternoon. Sounds cheesy, but it's a great way to get Paisley to learn how to play nice with other puppies and feel comfortable around a variety of people and breeds. She is definitely a bull in a china shop (like someone else in our family ...) and tends to bully some of the other pups with her non-stop energy. She's not real good at pacing herself - she goes a million miles a minute and then crashes hard. Here she is playing with her bff, Josey.
Speaking of crashing hard, here she is passed out in my arms. While we have been crate training her to aid in house breaking, she does like to sleep in your arms or on your feet (any warm body part will do) whenever she gets the chance.
After being away from our new baby for 8 days working up North, I came home with a new stuffed toy for her to play with - a Minnesota wolf. She loves it! Little does she know what Minnesota will soon mean to her.
Paisley got her first taste of Minnesota when Kyle and I had to drive to Minneapolis the day after Thanksgiving to look at a house (the one we are currently purchasing - more to come in a future blog!) Here are the Petersen girls scoping out the new digs!
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During that Minnesota visit, Paisley also got to experience snow for the first time. She picked up her feet real high wondering what was going on and shivered uncontrollably when I first picked her up. She did "warm" up to it after a while and by the end of the day, she was busy eating it. Good thing, because it's going to be a regular part of her life from January on.
Just like Mom and Dad, Paisley is a jet setter. She is only 3 months old and has already been to 5 states. Here she is helping Mom pack her suitcase. She just can't wait for the 16 hour car ride to Cleveland for Christmas! (As long as she sleeps the whole car ride like she did to Wisconsin, Kyle and I will be excited too!)
Paisley has settled into our family just perfectly. So much so, that I'm not even sure what we used to do without her. I had wanted a dog for years and was always wishing that I would have just taken the plunge ... now I know why I didn't ... because our dog wasn't ready until November 10th of this year. We just had to find her!
