I found a warm spot

6
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

Tasha's new favorite place in the house in the door mat on the front room where the warm sun from the sunroof shines in. She will bring all of her toys to that spot and play with them and often nap there when she is not feeling like napping on the sofa or in her kennel.

She's eating again

3
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

It seems as though her reluctance to eat has subsided. She's now getting to be about 10 pounds and she is solidly eating most of hear meals. Sometimes though she likes to play in the middle of her meal. She also will often put her paw in the food bowl and knock the food around the floor like it's something she needs to chase. She's obviously having fun.

I'm cold... let me in!

0
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

Tasha had difficulty finding scents and ended up peeing all over the backyard instead of her place since she couldn't find where she had marked before.

Of course, each time she had to play around in the snow and chase it. Debbie built a snowman in the back yard and we made snowballs for Tasha to chase around. She seemed to love it, always wanting to go back out into the snow just to have a good time.

And the snows came...

1
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

So the DC area got a lot of snow the weekend after the inauguration. Tasha was very funny in the snow, trying to find the scents in the back yard that she was used to, and chasing the snow around since it kept running away from her. She kept putting her face into the snow and came out looking quite the abominable snow-pup.

Tasha is not eating very much

For the past several days, Tasha has not been eating very much of her
meals. She is supposed to eat between 1-3/4 and 2-1/2 cups of dry food
each day split over three meals. We have been regular about the time and
conditions of her meals, but she is only eating about half of what is in
her bowl or less. I wonder if we need to go back to the mixture that the
breeder gave us, including some of the breeders food in the Iams puppy
food. Also I wonder if we should go back to moistening the kibble as
well. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

Tasha makes a new friend...maybe?

Last night Tasha slept through the night completely for the second night in a row. Yeah! But, I did not, since I kept hearing the barking of a neighbor's dog. I guess I was so attuned to Tasha needing to go out in the night that I was listening for it in my sleep. Well it turns out that our next door neighbors adopted an 8-week old black lab puppy named George.

We introduced Tasha and George together and they were not quite sure of each other at first, but then they started playing. Since this was only George's second full day away from his litter, we were thinking George was a bit out of sorts anyway. Tasha was very much the dominant one, but then George got lively. Their play was very rambunctious, with lots of growling and biting and barking at each other. It seemed as though they were having a good time with each other though. No one got hurt, but they never really calmed down from the wrestling and biting play. We think they were on good terms with each other when we left, but what do I know. Hopefully Tasha did not inflict too much psychological damage and we are invited back.

Update on the asthma

As I mentioned earlier, I was premedicating in case of an asthmatic reaction by taking Singulair before we got Tasha. After about three days with her, I stopped taking Singulair, and since then I am thrilled to report that I have had no issues with my asthma at all. I even did a nebulizer test while at the allergist and they said that everything looked clear and clean. Hopefully this will stick!

Her first vet visit

Tasha was great at the vet. She walked to the vet from our house (4 blocks) very well on the leash. Actually it was her second time on the leash and she was doing great. We are not yet trying to train her to heel but she doesn't pull at the leash or roam anyplace away from us.

Dr. Ortiz at the Del Ray Animal Hospital examined Tasha and said that she was in great shape, administered a distemper vaccine and a heartworm blocker, and announced that Tasha was 7 pounds 12 ounces. Wow is she growing fast. Tasha hardly even flinched at the shot and didn't even bark once. Couldn't say that about the rest of the dogs at the vet. This probably will be the only time.

Tasha's favorite place in the house...

P1150024
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

is certainly not her crate or her food bowl. It is on the down pillows of the sofa in the living room. One afternoon, Tasha lept up onto the sofa with no help from either of us. Mind you, she has not been able to do it since, but she tries over and over again each day. If she had a choice about where she would lounge away the days, she would be on this couch with her chewy bone that she is so carefully guarding in this shot.

Now I don't blame her one bit. It is one of the most comfortable sofas I've ever been on. I must admit it is a great place for a nap. I'm just surprised that she learned so quickly.

Her favorite toy

Jay and Beth got her a stuffed hedgehog that makes grunting sounds when it is squeezed. She loves it! she will always attack it and pounce on it chewing to her heart's delight.

So how about the allergies?

It seems as though my allergies are really tolerating Tasha quite well. All I have really noticed is some itchy eyes and some breaking out on my hands in the evenings, but otherwise I have not suffered from my usual sniffling or shortness of breath or anything.

Granted I was premedicating as a precaution with Singulair, Astelin, and Clarinex. But through the week, I have stopped the Astelin with no problem and may also stop the Singulair this week. We'll see, maybe I can even stop the Clarinex after a while.

I spoke with the allergist again, and he said that he was going to increase the dog antigens in my allergy shot serum. Maybe that will help overall as well.

P.S. The doc was so excited that he was interested in Gleneden. Apparently he wants to get a labradoodle for his son.

First week without sleep

Well, the first week was certainly a learning experience, and not one with much sleep for me at least. The first few nights we decided that we should keep her in her crate at the side of our bed. That way I could reach my arm down and she would know that we were near her. Each night though she was up at regular 2-3 hour intervals needing to be let outside. The third night we figured that we should try to have her downstairs. Well I was so tired from the first few nights that I slept through her barking to be let out. While she did not mess her crate she did puke everywhere. Everyone seemed to think it was puppy anxiety puke, rather than go through that again, we (I) decided back to the bedrom with her for bedtime. We have since moved her further away from the bed itself, and last night she slept through the night completely for the first time. Yippee!!!

Exploring the yard

P1080008
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

So we let her loose in the back yard, letting her figure out where she was and that this was her space. Immediately she ran under the holly bushes and decided to hang there a while. She must've known that that was the perfect place to go hide since nothing would bother her there. At least until one of us decided we had to go in and get her.

We got Tasha to explore other parts of the yard and she already found some favorite places to roll around and get dirty. Namely the mum beds. I wonder what she'll do when those plants start coming up in the spring?

She was still quite unsure of herself, tentative about everything... but what would you expect from the first day away from her siblings.

Oh, by the way, we learned that Tasha is one of a litter of 10 (!!) and both of her parents are lighter than 50 pounds so the breeder in thinking that she will only grow to about 40 pounds. Perfect!

Once all the papers were signed...

P1080005
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

Once we decided that we had to take Tasha home and had all the papers signed, we thought that we should have her try to relieve herself before we left. Boy, did this turn into a comedy of errors since she immediately went under the car and it took us 10 minutes to coax her out. I gether she was still pretty frightened from the whole experience, but after Debbie and I were rolling around on the ground from one end of the car to the other, she finally had enough of our game and came out. We put her in her crate and were finally off.

She was pretty nervous most all of the drive home and a bit motion sick as well, but she did great for the first hour of the ride (and equally as well once she was sick). We got her home and then the real adventures began.

Aren't I the cutest ever?

Tasha is so cuddly!
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

Saturday morning, we woke up early to head to the far reaches of Virginia and the Gleneden breeder. Berryville is a good 90 minutes from Alexandria, but deep into Virginia horse country.

Gleneden is an extremely impressive operation; they raise horses, corghis (?), and labradoodles all on a wide expansive farm that seemed to go on forever. Judy Hahn leads the operation and was so friendly and helpful, letting us play with the puppy in our car before deciding whether I could withstand the pup with my allergies.

Tasha in the car with Debbie
Originally uploaded by TauDelt.

Well I must say it was love at first sight. She was so adorable and cuddly. Granted she was just bathed and blown dry, but she still was so affectionate. And as soon as she licked my nose, we just had to take her home.

Tasha is only 8 weeks old, born on November 7, 2004, and weighs in at 6 pounds.