Almost 15 Weeks Old!

(Sorry the pic isn't very good, I took it on my phone)

I haven't updated at all about Carley since we figured out the whole gender thing! I'm sorry for neglecting this blog...As Sammy said, poor Carley is suffering from "third child syndrome." :)

Carley is coming along *very* well...She is just so darn smart and loving, I kinda feel like I'm cheating. (Ya know what I mean?? Haha) She is so sweet and always willing to please. It's kinda funny, because when we go for walks I'll look down and she'll be staring straight up at me like "Am I walking good, momma??"

I do have one thing that we will *definitely* be working on, and I'm going to be contacting Yvonne about it if I ever see it happen again. She is a very dominant/dog agressive puppy, especially for her age. The first time I let her play with dogs her age I saw the dominance, but it didn't flare up at all so I just watched her carefully. Then, at the Sylmar pool party, she got in a "fight" with her sister. I, being accostomed to the sweet and gentle puppies we turn into guide dogs, am not experienced with this. For now, Karen told me to just take her away from play ever time I see her even start to get too dominant. So far, so good, and I think it should pass. :)

As for socialization, we obviously (because of her age) haven't done too much, mostly just the typical errands, dinner, movies etc. But a couple days ago we went to Santa Barbara for a few things, and while there we went to the Natural History museum. I decided Carley was OK going, and turns out she was fantastic! There wasn't *too* much stimulation, just a whole lot of walking, and she got really tired out. :) That night, my Cousin and I decided to go to a movie, and when we got out of the car at the Theater Carley (I swear) *glared* at me for taking her yet another place. :) She's absolutely adorable.

These next few weeks, I'm sad to say, I will be Carley-less. I'm going on our annual-family-vacation, and she's too young to go. (Not so much each individual thing, it's just too much combined for her little mind. :)) Instead, I will be swapping Carley for Mark, a 9 month old and GINORMOUS black lab. I had him a lot when he was little, and know that he has a fantastic personality. I hate leaving Carley now...I left Blitz at this age for this long, and he was *huge* when I got back! She's just starting that huge growth spurt that gets them into the gangly-stage, and I'll miss it. :( Oh well...

So, next update won't be for 3 weeks. Talk to ya all then!!

As I spend more time with Carley, I have realized that she's kinda three colors; Black, red, and white. (Hence the circle trilogy above. :))

She is, obviously, a black lab. She also has a reddish-tint when she's in the sun; at first I thought she might be a chocolate. But she's much too dark, and is definitely also black. So, there's the red. The white is on the bottom of her front two paws.

Just something else to learn about my new puppy. :)

Surprise!!!

Introducing; My New Puppy!!! ^^

But wait...Is it not a boy?? What's it doing with a pink collar and leash, you may ask?

There has been a bit of a mix-up. I was all ready with the name Crusoe and everything. I went to pick up my baby boy puppy; they brought him out, and I was ecstatic. He was soo sweet and cuddly but also clearly independent, wanting to play with his brothers and sisters. I pretty much fell in love right away. We snapped a few pics, tried to busy, (he didn't have to go.) then went home.

I was holding him in the car on the way home, and my cousin (who drove me) asked, sarcastically, "I wonder why even boy dogs have nipples." (My cousin is weird. :) I laughed and turned him over; but something was missing. That's right..."he" was a "she."

This presented a few questions/dilemma's. Would I keep her? Where was Crusoe? Who was *this* puppy? Was there someone who had a boy who was supposed to get a girl? Could I keep her? If I did keep her, I would have to change the name, right? What about all that paperwork I had that said Crusoe? What about the collar with his information on it? What should I be calling her for now?

We agonized over these questions and the possible answers all night, meanwhile crate training/potty training the pup. My cousin and I felt bad for calling the poor thing a boy all day, so we went out and bought her a pink collar and leash to make up for that mistake. :) The next day I called Louise again, and this time she answered. She hadn't gotten my message, and when I told her the news, there was a pause...Then some laughter...Then "Are you kidding?"

She called around, had me check the puppies shave mark, then called me back. She told me I could keep her but that I would have to change her name. No problem; we'd already thought about that. We went with Carley. :) Turns out, there was a Carley who was dropped like, the day before. Perfect timing for a perfect name. (That name SOOO suits this puppy. :)

For all that, I have one TERRIFIC puppy. She's amazing. She woke up once last night, and was quiet the rest of the time. She seems to like her crate. She's always a little wary at first when getting new situations, (when I first got her, I was like..."oh no, a shy one.") but she livens right back up and can get quite boisterous when she's accustomed. Is taking VERY well with the potty training; it may be my imagination, but I think she may kinda understand what "get busy" means. She makes the *cutest* little noises ever; she sounds like a baby pig or something. :) Oh! And she responds VERY well to tone of voice. She was chewing on a toy, then moved to a shoe. I sternly said "leave it," without any physical intervention, and she went back to her toy. When I said "good girl!" to that she wiggled her little butt really fast. :) After a while, she seemed to be thinking. (Maybe it's my imagination again, but I swear she was testing a hypothesis.) She kinda looked at me, looked at the shoe, and then barely put her mouth on it. Again, I vocally corrected her. She went back to her toy, contented. I think I have a smart cookie on my hands. :)

Anyway, enough jabber...Here's what you really want. Pictures! Updates to come when we get more active. I'll probably update tomorrow though, because her brother Colby is coming over to play while his raisers are at the Open House!

Name...Again!

The name isn't Cameron anymore...That's taken. :) So is Chandler. :)

So, I was thinking for FOREVER what another good name was...We actually went through the dictionary. We came up with Carter, Carson, Cohoe, Crusoe, Cade, Coal and Cayden.

Carter, Carson and Coal were taken....And so I chose *drumroll please*









































































































































































































Crusoe!!!!!


A bit, adventuristic, no?

Name

So, Louise emailed back and said that, in order to have the name Camano pronounced correctly, I would have to spell it Camaino. I really dislike that, so I told her I would rather have the name Cameron. So I guess that's gonna be my puppies name!! I still really like that one, just not as much as Camano.

Welcome home (in two weeks) C puppy!!

Louise called today!! She asked "Are you ready for your puppy??" I said "HECK ya!!" (Ok, so maybe I didn't say that, but I was certainly enthusiastic.)

She told me she had a female and a male black lab, both from the C litter and that I could pick whichever one I wanted. I chose the male. I really have absolutely NO preference, but I figured I'd take the male because of two really lame reasons; 1, I'd already had a female black lab, and 2, I had a cute name for a male!! Again, two lame reasons, but seeing as before that reasoning both were equal, I chose the male.

So, yes, on June 11th, 2 weeks from tomorrow, I will be welcoming home Mr. Camano/Chandler/Cameron. Hopefully Camano, but Louise still needs to get back to me on whether that's OK or not.

(Back story on the name; I grew up on Camano Island, in Washington State. It's a BEAUTIFUL island and I will always love it!)

LOOONG overdue update

So, some of you have been asking me to update my blog...so here it is!!

I actually didn't want to update until I had a letter/pick up date for my new puppy, but it's been too long. As it stands, I do NOT know when/what puppy I get, but it won't have been 2 months since Louise said 2-3 months until tomorrow, so I guess I shouldn't be TOO impatient. :) (If that made any sense at all!)

On the plus side, I saw Blitz on Thursday!! It was so amazing to see him, and, if I do say so myself, he got VERY excited. I'll post pictures ASAP, I'm on the computer at the college right now so can't access them. The people who have him live RIGHT down the street, (less than two miles!) and say I can visit as often as I want! They even said I could "borrow" him for a couple hours if I ever want to. I'm trying to give it some time, but I think I'm going to ask if I can borrow him sometime this week, and go for a looong walk with him and just spend some quality time with him! They think that he has a thyroid problem, which would explain why he was always so lazy even as a young puppy. This also explains the weird eating habits and why he was ALWAYS so ravenous. I guess I always thought it was a part of his character. They had him checked out by the vet at GDA on Saturday, and once I hear of the results, I'll post about them.

Another plus; I get to have Mark again on Thursday! I love Mark...He's a BIG sweetie, and I'm very excited to have him stay with us for a few days!

Another, non-puppy related thing that happened since I last updated. I read Twilight. :) I actually started it because I thought it would be stupid and didn't feel like I could express that opinion until I read it...But I LOVED it. Every once in a while I would be caught up in the story, then take a step back and realize how weird the plot sounded when you weren't reading it, and now realize why people who HAVEN'T read it are so critical. But it's VERY good, and I loved it.

Anyway, yes, pictures are to come!