TG it's Sonny

I was paid the sweetest compliment by Sonny when I go home from work today. When I opened the door to his kennel, he picked up the bone Big D gave him when he put him in, walked out and immediately offered it to me by jumping on my lap and holding it up to my mouth. (Once he eats the marrow out, we recycle them over and over again by filling them up with wet dog food, peanut butter or coconut oil sprinkled with Cheerios and then freezing them)We don't fill them completely, just add enough to give him a little extra treat. He loves them.) It was super sweet behavior and totally made my day especially - I worked through lunch and barely had time to go to the ladies. Dogs do that, they offer so much of themselves without asking for anything in return; unless you count: belly rubs, ball, treats, walks and a couple of meals each day.

Sonny Rules!

He's so tired (UPDATE)

This is what a walk, a trip to the dog park and a couple hour car ride followed by a small lunch of carrots, apples and blueberries looks like. He hasn't moved in over an hour.

Watching Sonny sleep like this reminds me of what it was like to watch my son sleep when he was a baby; just stare and drink in the moment.

A well run tired dog, is a happy dog

He'll be full of P&V when he wakes up though which means I have to make good use of my time while he's out.


UPDATE: And this is what is looks like after some more time outside.  I love the funny little poses Sonny makes. This is one I haven't seen before.

Dog tired

One Year Ago

We've now had Sonny in our home for one year! Here he is with one of his first toys, sans collar. When I look back at old photos it makes me miss those early days and how small and cute he was then. If I could turn back time, there are a few things I would do differently - hindsight being 20-20 and all - but I wouldn't want to do it all over again. Raising a puppy, especially a Jack Russell puppy, is A LOT of work.

This guy is worth it!

Saturday Funday at the Park!

Cool as a cucumber

There is something about this picture that screams "cool" to me as in "he's just one cool little dude."

Sonny's pack and play

I was looking at old photos of Sonny to send to a friend and came across the one below. It's one of my favorites from his early days with us.

The pen shown in the picture (sans cardboard bottom) became an important part of his first year of life and was invaluable to us. It gave him a lot more freedom in a confined space in the house and gave us piece of mind as wasn't able to get into places he shouldn't. We took it everywhere with us (like many parents would a pack and play). And then, as he grew, it became a permanent outside pen only larger as we purchased a second one, giving him more play area. It was a very diverse piece of equipment too. Sometimes we attached them together and sometimes we set it up in two different outside locations.

The whole thing eventually became a fence around an area we laid grass seed and has now been put away altogether.

Sonny's little play pen

Don't Make Eye Contact

Every night it's the same. Sonny gets put in his kennel for the night. And every night when I glance in his direction I think, "don't make eye contact." Sometimes it becomes almost like a mantra because, as he's looking out with his stern looking little face questioning why he can't sleep the night in our bed, it's all I can do NOT to let him out. We're not quite ready to open that can of worms. Once opened, it'll be hard to close and go back to his nightly kennel up time. We used to think that when he turns two he'll be mature and trustworthy enough, but now we're thinking one and a half; so just a few short months.

Sonny has two in-door kennels (and a small car/traveling kennel) which are comfortable and spacious enough to give him room to stand, turn around and do almost anything else he needs to do in them. The kennel is our bedroom is placed in such a way that allows him to see only a portion of our bed. He has to angle head just so to get some kind of a line of sight.

Several months ago a ritual was started wherein he gets to come to bed first thing in the morning. This practice started one morning after I "made the mistake" of falling for his little cry. In his mind making that noise got him what he wanted and so he proceeded to cry, scratch and shake his collar every morning after that one and at an hour that was long before the alarm clock was set to go off.
We continued this pattern for several days before I decided to try something new. I was annoyed and frustrated by being woken up way too early and losing sleep because of it. This, I decided, wasn't going to fly. I wasn't going to allow him to dictate our wake up time.

I'll show him, right... My idea was to make him wait for the alarm to go off, no matter how much time was left on the clock, before he would be let out of his kennel. I started setting the alarm clock one hour earlier than necessary for me get up. No matter how much noise he made, I was determined to make him wait. It took a few irritating days, but it worked.

Mornings are now much better and we get our rest as he patiently and quietly waits for the alarm to sound. The moment it does, I jump out of bed so he can climb in. I guess I showed him, right!