WHOA lansi

Sometimes it seems like we’ve had Odin for such a long time now – he’s become such a big part of our lives. Other times, it seems like he was a teeny pup just yesterday.

Christmas out at the lake was fantastic, as expected. We went on lots of long walks, played in the snow, & spoiled Odin completely. I’m not sure he understood why he got to open a bunch of fun new toys, but he did figure out how to open them all.

He loved his little namesake ornament

Odin’s favourite couch cushion when he escapes his pen

January started out tough for Odin with both of us back at work full time. He managed to finally figure out how to escape his 3 foot pen, while we were at a movie. We replaced it with a 4 foot pen. It lasted a week before he also found a way out of that one. His favourite thing to do when he escapes? Unzip a couch cushion & chew its insides. Now we’re keeping him in his travel kennel during the day.

This month we took him to Southland off-leash dog park for the first time & I think we’re hooked now. Odin is so good at circling back & checking in with us & plays so nice with the other dogs. We’re working up to 6 km in preparation for a birthday hike in April.

Speaking of Birthdays, we also hosted my sister in law’s this month. Odin’s always so good when we host parties, & this time was no exception. As usual, he put himself to bed when he got tired around 11 pm. Smart pup, we were up significantly later.

Sarah’s Birthday Party

Kisses for the pup

<3

As usual, I have a little video to recap his 10th month. I didn’t remember to save as many videos off snapchat this time around, so it’s a little shorter. Enjoy!

Love you, little guy! xx

I’m a little behind on this month’s Odin update. His 9 month “birthday” happened to fall on Christmas Eve, & I thought I’d have time to pull together a video & edit some photos while I was out at the lake, but we spent time playing games, going for walks, skating, hot tubbing, skiing, & eating instead. No complaints.

Odin & Jake watching football

Pre-haircut

Sunny naps

December was a particularly great month for Odin, since N was home for pretty much the entire month. Hanging out & playing with dad everyday? No pen time? I think it was pretty amazing.

Odin & Rudolph

Hanging with a reindeer

Someone’s got a new haircut!

Bed hangs

Unfortunately, we did run into a couple little setbacks because of this. For one, he had more access to his stuffed toys than he normally would, so Molly, Garth, & Ned all bit the dust despite my attempts to sew them back together.

Christmas Parties

Bring your dog to work day! 😉

Please play with me, Akela.

Playing with Rosie

Family Photo

He also got used to being out of his pen all day so going back is an adjustment. That’s a story for next month though because December was all about playtime, cuddles, & relaxing.

Storm Mountain naps

a fluffy new toy

Odin’s favourite things this month include: walks, ear scratches, belly rubs, aggressively chewing his toys, playing, making new friends (humans or otherwise), snow.

Odin’s dislikes: when mom & dad leave him, jumping into the back of the car, puppy teeth.

Of course, I also have a little video compilation from Odin’s 9 month of life. Unfortunately, the original had some issues, so the We Edit free logo is on this version. You can still see his cute face though. 😉

Welcome to 2017, bud!

Love,

Mom & Dad

Eight months! Man, eight-month-old Odin is a trip.

His personality has really started to shine over the last month. He’s also become so much more protective of me lately. He alerts me to every noise & is much more keen to snuggle on the couch. N has been away a bit longer this rotation which makes me wonder what he thinks is going on there – maybe that he’s the little man of the house.

Odin at the office

Odin Naps

Lately, he’s been doing really well while I’m away at work so I’ve been leaving him longer all the time. Unfortunately, we jumped the gun a little & paid the price for giving him too much freedom last week. We’ve now got some couch cushions to patch. He’s back in the ex pen during the day this week & that seems to be going well. I feel a little bad leaving him with such limited space, but it gets easier as he handles it better.

Odin & Adam at Halloween

Odin getting some snuggles

A walk along the bluff

Majestic Odin

Recycling makes great toys for puppies & babies

Barking at the head on the mantle (“protecting me”)

I splurged this month & bought us a little pre-christmas gift. Pajamas! They are better than I could have ever expected. I love matching Odin so much. He seems fine with them too. I’m pretty excited that he doesn’t try to chew them like he does his harness!

a very comfy watchdog

Only slightly embarrassed to be matching with mommy

Once again, I’ve got a little a video. This time I compiled it on my computer so it’s a little bit better quality. I can’t believe how much he’s grown since we got him. Looking back at photos from when we first got him is surreal.

Love you, little guy!

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)