I love this photo

Todd and I were watching t.v. on the couch one night and Lulu, who just has to know what's going on outside, ran to the window to see why the neighbor dog was barking.

We had already shut the door for the night, otherwise she would have tore outside to be on neighborhood watch.  

She looked SO DARN CUTE sitting there like that.  I had Todd snap a picture with his phone. 

The thing you can't see very well is her one ear flipped back in just the way that makes me want to pin it there with a barrette.  Trademark Lulu.

P.S. The painting of a black lab on the chair is of Rigby, painted by Todd's Aunt Barbara.  

Sweet spot

The heat has been off in our house due to renovations in the upstairs bathroom.
It's been mostly ok, but with the chill spring weather the house hasn't exactly been...cozy.  We have space heaters set up to take the edge off.

Even with a winter coat on little Lulu has discovered the comforts of a spot in front of the heater.

"I got a ouchie."

A couple days ago, I was reading a magazine when Lulu came over and put her paw up on my knee.
I glanced down and saw a small gash on the top of her paw.  Neither Todd or I had seen it earlier and had no idea where it came from.  Poor puppy.  I swear it was like she was trying to say, "Mama...I got a ouchie."

Todd cleaned it out and fixed her up with some tape to seal it and keep her from licking on it.

She looked so cute with her little white "boot".  I've taken to calling her Boots Magee and I have no idea where it comes from...

She didn't quite know how to step on it.  She kind of threw her paw out and slapped it on the floor. And she was remarkably good about not chewing on it. 

"I need extra love, daddy.  I'm hurt and a princess..."

"How bad is it really, brother...?"

"I'm so cute..."

"And SO stoic!  Somehow, I'll live..."

Poster child

We call Lulu our poster child for puppy nutrition.
She loves getting her teeth brushed.

She loves getting a bath.  (Until recently.  She was very hesitant of the shower the last time.)

And she loves, as in, begs for and wolfs down any kind of fruit or vegetable you'll hand her.

Any kind.

It started several months ago when she was a lil' pup.  I was eating an orange and she was sitting at my feet trying as hard as she could to sniff and lick it.  I thought, "How funny, a dog that wants an orange.  Yeah...we'll see how she really likes it," and gave her a half a slice.

She snarfed it and begged for more. 

Huh.

I gave her the other half.

Gone.

Then it became a game for us.  The "Let's See What Our Dog Will Eat" game! 

Turns out it includes: strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apples, pears, peaches, raspberries, she's licked horseradish - HORSERADISH - off of Todd's hands and begged for more!  If I drop a tomato chunk on the floor it's gone.  Same with a flying piece of onion or garlic - I can hardly beat her to it. (Though we have to be careful with that because onions and grapes can apparently cause renal failure in dogs, according to the American Kennel Club.)  I'm a messy cook. 

The list keeps going.  If you have a fruit in hand she will be there begging.  Rigby, on the other hand, won't touch them with a 10 foot pole.

One of the most surprising discoveries was Lulu's love of GRAPEFRUIT.  Yep, she loves them too.

A demonstration:

Eating the grapefruit...

Begging for more...

Purina should be knocking our door down for commercial contracts!

Digging her own grave

Lulu is digging her own grave - quite literally, I'm afraid.

Over the past week or so we've had issues with her and this little plot of dirt in front of our porch...

There's a nice clematis there we're trying to coax into filling out.  But curiously, we keep finding puppy tracks in the dirt...

And annoyingly, we keep finding holes at the base of the vine. Big holes.  Not scoot-the-dirt-around-while-something-was-sniffing holes.

Little clues such as this...

And these dirty dog prints across my somewhat clean floor have tipped us off to a fresh digging...

Consequently, we've been on hole patrol any time she goes outside.

Todd has repeatedly filled the holes and repeatedly rubbed her face in the dirt while sternly telling her "no!"  The digging has subsided some, but today, after a particularly loud punishment yesterday, we saw two little holes...

These holes are nothing compared to some of the others we've found.  Whole root systems have been exposed by holes ironically large enough to fit a small dog.

If I were Lulu I'd be cautious of a guy with a shovel standing over an empty hole...

Rigby & Lulu - an average morning in the yard

Here's Rigby.  Handsome lil' puppy, isn't he...?

Here's Lulu.  Cute lil' girl who really seems to love herself some water.  Here she's wallowing in the wet grass as the sprinklers run...

She hadn't seen the sprinklers on before and thought they were her drinking fountain, popping up just to bring her water...

She couldn't get enough.  She's been that way since we've had her: a water drinking addict...

Still drinking.  Actually, I think she tried to bite it here...

Check out that tongue!  Slurp, slurp...

Rigby doesn't understand this behavior.  He'll immerse himself in a river past his armpits just to get a drink of water, but he doesn't like sprinklers, or hoses, or showers...

Lulu is fascinated with water...

More Rigby...

Lulu joining her big brother.  She likes to be next to him all. the. time...

What's that...?

And that...?

Ah, typical.  Mr. Calm and Steady and Miss All Over the Place...

Chew toys

This...

This...

And a gold pair of heels that fortunately weren't expensive, but were still one of my most favorite pairs of heels that I have worn forever...

All have fallen victim to our teething puppy.

Let this be over soon.

Junior game warden and wardenette

Rigby has been a junior game warden for a while.

He loves going out with Todd in the work truck.  He sits so proudly on the front seat, watching for animals and helping Todd spot bad guys.

Todd has pinned him a junior game warden, a title Rigby takes very seriously.

Last weekend, Lulu went out for half a day on her very first trip as a junior game wardenette.

It was so cute to see Todd loading all his helpers in the truck...

Rigby actually doesn't need loaded.  He just jumps right in and gets settled into his seat...

All loaded up!  Lulu is checking out her new assigned seat.  I asked Todd if that console folds up so Lulu had didn't slide around and he said yes, but then she couldn't see.  Oh...

Here they are!  Ready to roll out for a very early morning (I think this was around 5:45 a.m.) of sage grouse counting and checking fisherman on Pathfinder Reservoir...

I joined them for a picnic lunch that afternoon and got the report that Lulu did great on her first outing.

She's a natural.

Real meaning

We've been having potty training issues with the new girl, Lulu.

Now, she's just over seven weeks old and I certainly don't expect her to be perfectly trained overnight, but we've missed the door and hit the floor on almost every single attempt today.

Including two number twos.

There's something about our torn up entryway that makes Lulu want to use it as a toilet.  Todd and I think it's because it kind of resembles those puppy training pads - absorbent squares that are stuck to the floor and give puppies a consistent place to go.

This morning, I saw her sniffing around in the entryway - an indication she may need to go.  I jumped up, scrambling for her treats, but it was too late.  She was squatting.

I scooped her up and ran her to the front yard to finish.

When we came back in the entryway I noticed a little poop pile on the floor.  Then another.  Then another...

Uuuuuggggghhhhh.

I got the cleaning supplies and went to work, but the smell still lingered.

A quick investigation revealed poop on the top of one of my cowboy boots and dripped on the sole inside.

They're not called "shit kickers" for nothing.

Introducing...

Tallulah Alcova Kittel or...LULU!

The cute little addition to our family...

We had to give her a "formal" name for her papers, so we used the name of the town/lake where she was born as a middle name.  Since we don't want Rigby to feel left out we've decided to do the same for him - assign him a middle name based on where he's from.  He is now Rigby Hermann Kittel!  haha

We've had her two nights now and aside from a few run ins and several potty training accidents...so far so good!

Here we are picking her up...

Rigby didn't really like this whole new puppy business...

There was an "altercation" on the car ride home regarding a twig.  And as you can see, Rigby wanted as far away from the puppy as possible...

But then we had a moment.  Ok, it was completely accidental, but it made a cute photo that I thought would represent their future bond.  If there is one...

They did have a breakthrough in the yard during bathroom time.  They played quite a lot and Lulu loved pouncing on Rigby from the bushes.  But don't be fooled - this photo was totally posed...  Todd tried to get them to snuggle together in hopes of fostering some love...

Here's where she's sleeping.  Rigby has a bed on the other side too.  The family we got Lulu from told us she would need let out every two hours and that they'd heard from the other new puppy owners they cried all the first night.  We lucked out!  She went down at 11 p.m. and didn't wake up again until 5 a.m.  And not a peep all night...

This is the start of her first walk on the first morning we had her.  I love this photo...

She wants to run with her big brother.  She can't take being behind him and tries really hard to keep up.  In fact, she tries to keep up with everything he does.  She really watches Rigby and follows him everywhere.  We think she couldn't have a better role model...!

This picture cracks me up!  This is what walking with Rigby is like - stopping to sniff evvvverrryyyy where.  Now her too...

Getting ready to be let loose at the park...!

Today, the puppies got baths.  Rigby needed one because it had been awhile, and Lulu needed one because she has never had one.  Rigby was SO good in the shower today!  Normally, he freaks out, but he just stood there and let the water flow over him.  Doesn't he look cute...?

Next...Lulu.  She really did very well too.  There was some squeaking going on, but no freaking out.  And once she realized it was water on her she didn't seem to mind at all...

We had another breakthrough this afternoon - they played HARD in the house.  There was pouncing, sliding, ambushing, tug-o-warring... and after bath time they went at it again!  That's why she's sleeping so hard here...

Nap time at the Kittel homestead...

And for fun, a picture of Lulu I messed with on Photoshop...

She loves that stuffed pheasant just as much as Rigby does!

They must be long lost family!