WHOA lansi

As I type this, Odin is snuggled against my legs on the couch. He’s becoming so much more cuddly lately & we are enjoying it so much. There’s nothing better than settling in to relax for the evening & having him join us. I just love it.

I had thought his growth had totally slowed, but I saw a few recent photos of him in my arms & he’s definitely still growing. I’m so curious how big he’ll end up being. This month, he’s almost spent more time with my parents. He’s behaved himself so well, which they attribute to how hard we’ve been working on his training. I think we’ve also gotten really lucky with his personality. He’s a pretty chill guy after he says his hellos (I mean, for a puppy). He’s also so friendly & happy. It’s so great.

Odin & Mommy

Playing with a new toy

We’re still working on him going full days on his own. It’s been hard to completely doggy proof his area of the house, so even though we have a doggy gate, he hangs out in his ex pen when we’re away. I know we have to pull the trigger eventually, but he’s been going through a bit of a digging phase lately. He also chews his soft toys to death so I’m curious if he’d go for other things when we’re away. I’m going to start trying to leave him in the back of the house for short periods this week. We’re hoping he’ll have an easier time being alone if he has a little more space. Fingers crossed.

Car Rides

Playing with friends

New furrrrniture

with Daddy’s shoes, for scale.

Right now Odin loves snuggles, his family, playing with friends, digging up paving stones, chewing the faces off squishy toys, canned dog food, shoe laces, kisses, belly rubs, & long walks.

Odin doesn’t like when mommy leaves for the day, when daddy has to go back to work, jumping into the car, having his teeth brushed, the blender, & the vacuum.

Odin & Garth, best buddies

Once again, I have a little video compilation from his last month. I love looking back on these so much. I’m a little late with this seven month check in, but I know I’ll enjoy looking back on these as he continues to grow.

We love you, Odin!

Love,

Mom & Dad

Happy Half Birthday, Odin! Our little buddy officially reached the six month milestone on Saturday. I’ve been looking back at photos & it’s so unreal how much he’s grown & changed since we first brought him home in May. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still very much a puppy, but he’s calmed significantly & learned so much. He’s also grown substantially. I mean, look at this progression here:

8 wks, 16 wks, & 26 weeks

16 wks & 26 wks

He reliably sits, shakes, & lays down for us now, so I think I’ll be able to more easily get photos that show his growth better. For a while, I was just happy to get one without him moving! The most recent photos in that little collage were taken last week, & he’s so shaggy right now. We’re getting him groomed this week since he can barely see at this point. It’s adorable, but he’s run into N’s legs a couple times. They play pretty intensely.

Loves his Kong & his mat

Belly rubs

Cuddles after a trip. This lasted like three seconds.

Cuddles generally last under 5 minutes

Really, really into paper

Bye bye baby teeth!

Cuddles with daddy

Cuddles & crazy eyes

He’s still not that into cuddles, but he’s started to seek them out from time to time. It’s generally short lived, but I’m totally relishing it.  He’s also really into paper & destroyed a whole bunch of bills one day. I’m not sure how he managed to get to them, but hasn’t jumped out of his pen, but I won’t complain. We just can’t leave any paper around him. He even ate the label off the front of his kennel! He seems to have lost most, if not all, of his baby teeth at this point. He seemed to have a rough go of teething, so we’re pretty stoked to be out of that phase & back to eating normally.

He’s been such a gem around kids too. I’m so glad to have some friends with toddlers so he could be exposed to them early. He’s always been really gentle. I took him to some Beakerhead stuff & there were so many kids. He never got rough with them & let them manhandle him without complaint. I was so impressed. He was also great with my coworker’s young son when I brought him in to the office. It’s such a relief to not have to worry about him around kids, especially as more of our friends start having them!

Leading the way through a maze of bottles!

He was a bigger hit than the bunnies at nibbles!

A fuzzy pup in a fuzzy car! (Taste of That Thing in the Desert)

Sharing her pumpkins with O

Charming the Beakerhead volunteers

A very tired doodle after a night at Taste of That Thing in the Desert. I belted him in to stop my passenger warning from beeping.

& being his charming self with my coworkers

N is still working a lot up North, so I took him out the BC on my own for September long. The weather wasn’t amazing, but we made lots of time for some nice walks. I think he really loves being out there. There’s so much for him to explore. He can’t quite go on hikes yet, but we’ve been taking him on longer & longer walks when we have the time. I love taking him down to the river & exploring around St Patrick’s Island or Prince’s Island Park.

“Hikes” at the lake

Just the sweetest little face

Not such a little guy anymore

Snuggly

Working on being a water dog!

My boys!

Once again, I’ve overloaded this post with photos. I really can’t help it though – he’s so darned cute! We love him so much! I also put together a little video for YouTube. It’s pretty low quality, but I still really enjoy documenting his growth on video.

& is anyone really gonna complain about puppy videos? I didn’t think so.

We love you Odin!

xx,

Mom (& Dad)

I’m a little bit behind on this month’s post, & honestly, it’s mostly going to be photos. I figure that probably isn’t an issue though. Who doesn’t like puppy photos?!

Stampede Puppy Party

Penny & Odin, BFFs

This month was a busy one for us, & Odin spent some time with his “cousin”, Penny. Those two can play for hours. Penny really holds her own too, even though she’s a fraction of the size. Developmentally, I’m noticing the biggest leaps in the way Odin plays with others. At 16 weeks, he was much more aloof & didn’t really know how to mouth them gently. He is still nippier than an older dog, but he’s learning!

Puppy Party

Adorable bandana from Bark YYC. Thanks Jan!!

He also had a couple opportunities to play with Willow, my friend D’s three-legged rescue. She’s an incredible dog, but the first time they played, Odin was so young & had no idea how to handle her play style. Now they chase each other around & roll & jump. It’s so fun to watch him figure it out. She has this absolutely lovely backyard right behind Nosehill park that I suspect we’ll be frequenting pretty often for puppy playdates.

Reppin’ FFPK

new mat

He also did some swimming this month. First in a pool at daycare & then in the lake. I wish I had saved the snapchat videos I made, but I totally dropped the ball on that one. I do have some pretty cute photos of him in the water with me though. We managed to get him to jump off the back of the boat twice on his own before he got scared. To be fair, it did seem pretty high for him, so I’m quite proud of him for being so brave! (I tried to group all the little swimming photos together, cuz I can’t choose which to post!) He was a total gem out at the lake & we had a great weekend with my parents!

Swimming Lessons

Doggy Paddlin’

Always watching us in the water

My Boys

Snuggles

Tired, wet pup

Odin still doesn’t love being left alone, but he deals with it much better. A couple weeks ago, I decided to take away his puppy pad since he was just eating them & the idea of him ingesting the weird absorbent goo bothered me, & he’s had relatively few “accidents”. I still bike him every day at lunch to let him out & give him some lunch, but he’s doing a great job at making it for four hours.

Odin & Adam

Watch Dawg

On our mats! 😉

We still tend to go through a rough patch after N leaves. I think his schedule really confuses Odin. It’s tough going from having your buddy home all day to never seeing him. Poor guy is probably so confused. That rough patch seems so far behind us now though. We’ve moved on to a new one: eating. At first, I thought he was just teething, but we went to the vet & he might actually have some worms. We’ve got some antibiotics so he should be on the mend now. I’m hoping that’s the solution. I miss my happy little eater!

Our friends got N a lovely little gift!

Odin & Vi are the sweetest together!

Spooning Garth

I’ve tried to narrow down the photos on this post. When I first uploaded them, there were 75. It’s tough though with an adorable mug like Odin’s. Everyone thinks their pup is the cutest, & I am certainly no exception.

Happy 5 month birthday, Odin! You’re almost half a year. I love watching you grow & going on adventures. I can’t wait for everything in store in the coming months!

xoxo

Mom (& Dad)

Our little buddy reached the four-month mark last week! It’s really cool watching him grow & seeing more of his personality coming out. Since I last updated, he’s gotten a haircut & is almost finished his 6 weeks at puppy school.

He’s been spending some time with my in-laws lately. They also have a new puppy, Penny, & they are getting along so well! She’s a teeny tiny Bichon Yorkie, but she totally holds her own with him. It’s really cute watching them interact together.

Sit!

So tired after playing in the water!

Meeting Penny for the first time!

Can you even see, Odin?

He’s definitely grown a lot since we first got him, but it’s even more apparent since his first haircut. All of a sudden he looks a lot more like a lanky teenager than a tiny fluffy puppy. He’s lost a couple of teeth in the last week so we’re gearing up for some fun teething times. He’s also had a little bit more teenage attitude lately, but we’re working through it with time outs.

After his adorable little haircut!

Chillin’ with Garth

This little face! <3

Odin loves any toy with a squeaker (Snakey Snake, Garth, & Ned), Beef Liver Treats, long walks, cuddles on the couch when he’s really tired, his kennel, the spot beside the couch (he’s a little too big for under it now), & pretty much any person he meets.

Odin doesn’t like to do anything he doesn’t want to do, being left alone for too long, antibiotics, having his feet wiped after a pee, & saying goodbye to Penny before he’s ready.

Sitting like a good pup

Once again, I’ve got a little video on YouTube. It’s mostly a compilation from Snapchat & not the greatest quality, but it’s fun to make these little videos & look back Odas he grows. He’s changing so much every month!

We love you so much, little lion! xo

Our little guy is 3 months old this week! I can’t believe we’ve already had him home for a month. He’s such an amazing addition to our home & we love him so much.

Still loves this position

He’s growing like a weed & getting into everything. While he’s more work than I ever imagined, I also love him more than I thought possible. I guess it’s an ok trade off.

This week N is back in town. I can’t wait to see these two bond some more over the next week. He’s pretty attached to me so I think it’ll be good for him to get some one on one time with N, & I’m looking forward to the break from biking home every lunch hour. Trying to manage his needs while working full time is a definite challenge.

At 12 weeks, Odin:

-loves to chew everything.

Odin & Snakey Snake

-doesn’t like to be left alone for too long.

-has recently been introduced to peanut butter, & is a HUGE fan. Like huge.

Peanut Butter in his Puppy Kong

-will reliably sit for treats.

-is learning to “leave it” & get “off”, for treats, of course.

-rings his bell to go potty outside more consistently every day.

-tolerates late-night snuggles.

-loves his kibble.

-loves the yellow pillows & white blanket on the couch (probably cuz they’re off limits).

Running for a blanket attack

-adores people of all shapes & sizes (kids too!).

Meeting baby Sophia

Kisses for Soph

-is starting to like other dogs. He had his first socialization class & it went pretty well.

He’s so playful, loving, & smart. I’m continually impressed by how quickly he manages to pick up things. We’re currently working on bite inhibition & hoping his puppy classes help with that. Everything is delicious to a puppy though!

In honour of this little milestone, I’ve compiled some of my videos of this little guy. It’s not great quality, but I’ll share it here anyway!

Happy 3 month Birthday to my little lion. We love you, Odin!

Puppy update! We’ve had Odin a full week now & we’re all slowly adjusting to one another. I know he’s going to grow & change so quickly, so I want to document it a little bit on here. I promise I will blog about other things still too though. Our lives have mostly revolved around him though lately.

My brother got him this huge monkey we’ve named Garth & he absolutely loves it. I’ve already had to sew its arm back on since it was partially ripping off. He gets pretty intense with it. It’s really cute.

Odin also loves hiding under the couch. He loves almost any tight, den-like space, but our couch is his favourite. Since the first night we brought him home, he’s gotten really comfortable with his kennel. He sleeps in it every night, which is great. I love that he has a place he feels really safe. We’re still getting up a couple times a night to let him out to pee since he has such a tiny bladder, but he’s really quick & goes straight back to sleep after. I’m really looking forward to when he can sleep through the night though.

Snakey Snake

Garth & Odin

He’s been getting used to all his chew toys. He has quite a few now: a kong, a soft wool bone, Garth the monkey, Ned the anteater, Snakey snake, & a tug of war rope. Our friends have been making the rounds to meet him. He’s winning everyone over with his playful demeanour, soft fur,  & adorable teddy bear face.

Sleepy puppy

Tuckered out from a long day

We’ve been working on housetraining & getting him used to being alone since he’ll have to spend at least half the day on his own. We’ve had some accidents, & I’m sure we’re making a million mistakes, but I think he’s moving in the right direction. Fingers crossed, anyway.  

One of his favourite sleeping positions is still having both back legs stretched out behind him. Sometimes, he even stretches the front ones out too. I think it’s pretty hilarious.

So that’s Odin at 9 weeks. He’s a definite handful, but we love him so much & can’t wait to see how he grows & changes as the weeks progress.

If you’ve been following me on twitter, you’re probably aware that we got a puppy. I’m out in BC picking up this adorable little addition to our family. He is seriously such a sweetheart. He’s already won me over & I’ve only really known him for part of a day.

Meeting Odin

Mom & Odin

Mom & I drove out to Sorrento this morning to meet our little man. We’d heard about Notch Hill Labradoodles through friends of ours & so far we couldn’t be happier with our choice. We’re staying with my grandma out in Vernon for the first couple nights to get him used to being without his mom & siblings before making the drive back home.

Odin in his crate

I’m a little bit nervous about our first night together – it’s been a bit of an overwhelming day for all of us, but hopefully it goes relatively well tonight. So far, our little pup loves small spaces & lots of cuddles. He’s got lots of energy & is figuring out the whole collar & leash thing. His name with the breeder was no collar boy, so I think it was a pretty tough adjustment to suddenly have something around his neck.

He even wanted to jump into this bag! Silly boy!

Welcome to the family, little Odin! We love you so much already!