Getting Bigger

It has been awhile since Macy and I have had time to sit down and work on her blog.  So much has happened in both our lives, but through it all, we have stuck together like a good dog and dog owner should.  Macy is now five months old.  She weighs in at 30 pounds and is turning into and absolutely beautiful dog.  As she grows, she is leaving behind her small puppy antics and getting into her bigger puppy lifestyle. 

Macy was spayed when she was 4 ½ months.  Dr. Odom took care of that for her when she was boarding with him for about five days.  Tommy and I took a trip to New Orleans so it was the perfect time.  When we picked her up after only five days, she looked so big.  She weighed 25 pounds then and 30 now, so she is growing fairly well.

Macy’s chewing is not as ferocious as it was a month ago.  She can tell me when she needs to go outside and she follows me around and makes me feel loved and important.  Macy is learning things now also.  She is getting easier to train as her attention span is lengthening.  This is fun for both her and me.  I am looking forward to the warmer days ahead and lots of walks with her.  It takes a beautiful, little brown fur baby to make me love walking through my yard early in morning before the sun even rises.  It’s ridiculous how much I love that little dog. 

Couch Potato.

At 15 weeks, Macy has reached yet another milestone, this one to the dismay of her big brother Bear.  She can very easily jump on the couch and now Bear has no safe place to go.  Luckily, he is a wonderful big brother and doesn’t mind wrestling and playing with his little sister most of the day.  It’s funny to look over at the couch and see them both sitting there.  There isn’t much room for humans in our house, but the dogs have comfortable seating.  That’s all that really matters.

After another checkup this weekend, Macy weighs in at 13.8 pounds.  She is growing fast and Dr. Odom revised her grown up weight to about 45 to 50 pounds instead of 60.  She is on the petite side of her large dog breed.

We discovered that Macy is sensitive to corn and have switched her dog food to a no grain variety.  She is doing much better with this and it has helped tremendously with house breaking.  I did not have to clean anything up for the past three or four days.  Now, I’m not expecting perfection, but I can definitely see progress here.

Most of all, it is a joy to be met at the door by my fur baby, her tail wagging and knowing she is glad to see me.  I love her sweet cuddles and playing with her on the floor.  She comforts me and that’s what it is all about.

Girl Talk

Macy had another visit with Dr. Odom this past weekend.  She is getting bigger.  Macy weighs 9.5 pounds.  Her daddy said it was 9.7, but she’s a girl.  We always round down when it comes to our weight.  In addition to doctor visit number two, Macy is proving to me that she is starting to understand that she takes care of her business outside.  She is beginning to come and get me when she needs to go outside.  We are far from perfect yet, but she is getting there. 

Macy and I have a lot of fun playing and just hanging out together.  It’s nice to have another girl in the house.  Earlier this week, she got her first phone call.  Her Aunt Holly talked to her on the speaker phone and Macy was super excited.  She cocked her head this way and that while she listened to Aunt Holly talk to her.  Then she decided she would talk back.  The two of them had a good conversation.  What can I say….she’s a girl.  Girls like to talk on the phone.

All in all, she has had a pretty good week.  She is playful and happy and loves to terrorize her brother Bear.  I can’t remember life without her.

All In The Family

I have had Macy for 20 days now and I can’t imagine life without her.  Macy is as much a part of our family as Bear, Tommy and I.  The last 20 days have been amazing ones for me.  I have watched this little puppy grow and learn and evolve as she explores the world around her.  We began our longer walks through the woods and to the pond a couple of weeks ago.  At first I wasn’t sure she would be able to make it.  I was prepared to carry her some of the way if she got tired.  Macy has an abundant amount of energy and she has no trouble making it down to the pond and back to the house.  She could probably do it several times before she finally wore herself out.  These walks are good for both of us and I look forward to the day when she and I can do some serious exercise together.

As is her custom, Macy likes to find a treasure halfway through the walk and bring it home.  Usually it’s a leaf that catches her eye.  Occasionally she will find one of Tommy’s smaller targets and decide it needs to be relocated.  On one trip to the pond, Macy found a rock.  Our woods are full of large, natural rocks and I use the larger ones to line my flower beds and some of the trails that Tommy has cleared.  Well, Macy picked a rock up that I could not believe could even fit in that pups mouth.  She carried it back to the house and deposited it right next to my flower bed.  Now that’s pretty good when my puppy can help with the yard work. 

Macy continues to grow like a weed.  She is still very tiny, but she has definitely grown a lot in the last 20 days.  She loves to be rocked.  I had to leave her when I started back to work on January 5^th.  Her daddy was in charge.  When I came home after work, Macy ran to me faster than I have ever seen her move.  She wanted me to hold her and after a lot of licks, decided that she needed some rocking.  I love this and have decided that I will find a way to rock this dog even when she is 60 pounds.  It may be in the porch swing, but we will definitely find a way.

Settling In

Macy is definitely starting to settle in.  We have a routine now and everything seems more regular and normal.  For the most part, she uses the bathroom outside.  I do realize that I am probably more trained than she is, but this is a good place to start.  Today she ran to the front door two times, so I’m looking at that as a victory.  Macy loves to be rocked.  She will come up to me and scratch my leg and that means “pick me up and rock me.”  We do a lot of rocking.  I did not schedule anything extra or any jobs during these first two weeks, because I wanted to spend this time holding her and playing with her.  Macy and I have bonded.  My guess is that she loves me as much as I love her.

Yesterday Macy had a bath in the kitchen sink.  It was the easiest way at the time.  She was starting to smell a little doggy.  I washed the little wiggle worm as best I could and still hold on to her.  Later, after being dried and brushed, she was softer than ever.  She is so soft she is hard to hold on to.  She smells pretty good too. 

In addition to settling in, Macy is growing.  She is still a tiny little puppy, but she is bigger than she was a week ago.  It’s fun to watch her get longer and taller.  I never imagined it would be this fun to raise a puppy.

Helping Out

Well, Christmas is over and with it, all the fattening food and wrapping paper.  Oh, the wrapping paper that covered the floor and was so fun to play with.  That is if you are a 9 ½ week old puppy.  It has been an exciting three days for Macy.  Having three dogs in the house was fun for the little squirt.  Not so much for Max, Ben’s dog.  Max was terrified of Macy and ran from her whenever he was forced to leave a high piece of furniture that placed him safely out of her reach.  Of course, Macy thought this was just a game, so she gladly gave chase.  Max and Ben went back home this evening and I think that Max was pretty glad to leave Hood Farm.

Just because the holidays are here, doesn’t mean that work stops for me.  I have photography jobs that have to be finished and that has been a challenge with a brand new pup to watch.  Today I had to work.  At first I put Macy in her crate and she was good there for about an hour.  Eventually she began to fuss so I put Tommy in charge.  Well, Macy is a bit spoiled and I’m her person, so she wasn’t satisfied until she found me and I picked her up.  She sat on my lap and was the best little puppy ever.  Together we worked on about 50 pictures and she was fascinated with the workflow as it passed across the computer screen.  What a lucky girl I am.  Macy was born on my birthday, came to me at Christmas and has a flair for photography.  Now if she can paddle a kayak, clean a barn, and help me shoot a wedding or two, we will be in business.

Merry Christmas from Macy and Family

Christmas Day 2014 is a beautiful, sunny day that followed two really nasty cold and rainy days.  Macy continues to experience a lot of “firsts” in her life.  She met Ben on Christmas Eve and Lauren and Joe on Christmas Day.  Ben brought his dog Max and Macy has had a good time running around with Max and Bear.  Santa was good to all the dogs in the Hood family.  Everybody has had a happy day and after eating a big holiday lunch, we are all sleeping in front of the television.  Well, Macy and I are not quite asleep yet.  We decided to work on her blog and it’s hard to type when you are sleeping. 

Macy has perfected sitting when asked.  She seems to learn fast, but she is stubborn when the mood hits.  She will grind her feet in hard and take the stance of a stubborn mule when she decides she doesn’t want to walk in a certain direction.  She has met her match on stubborn.  We are beginning our leash training from the very beginning so she eventually figures out that I am taking her for a walk instead of the other way around. 

Macy and I take a walk every day in the woods.  For now we just go to the top of the hill behind the house.  Every day she picks up a leaf when we reach the top of the hill and carries it back down to the bottom.  I guess she is clearing the land up there one leaf at a time.  We usually go walk around the barn after we finish in the woods.  Macy loves the chickens and could stand there watching them all afternoon.  Well, she is a bird dog. 

On this early evening of Christmas Day, we wish all our friends and family a wonderful holiday.  May each of you look around you and see the blessings in your lives.  For those of you who have experienced so much loss this year, our Christmas prayers will continue to include you today and each day that follows throughout the year to come.