Home made dog treats

Ali in Helena has a golden retriever girl too. Jesse is the biggest sweetheart, who loves to cuddle with you if you pet her soft fur. Jesse had apparently been experiencing a winter funk like me. She wasn't her peppy self, would rather sleep on her pillow then come greet you, and was generally just in the doldrums.

Ali also wondered if Jesse could sense a major shift about to happen in their house with the arrival of the baby in a few weeks. She found Jesse sleeping under the crib last week, and Jess will go sniff everything in the baby's room before having breakfast each morning.

I wanted to take Jesse a baby gift too, and thought that home made dog treats might be a nice way to exercise my baking muscle while not consuming calories. So Harlow helped me:

The ingredients are peanut butter, bananas, oats, whole wheat flour and a little oil and water. You mix all that up and roll it out like a dough, then cut them out with a cookie cutter and bake on 250 degrees for 3-4 hours or until dry. Harlow thinks they are DELICIOUS, as does DJ who kept asking where the Dusty biscuits would be? Apparently DJ and Harlow shared a doggie biscuit at lunch last week.

14 weeks of puppy

Harlow continues to make us laugh every day. She's doing well, save for some re-adjusting after we were gone a week. She loves laying on the floor with DJ. Loves wrestling with him, being staked out in the front yard, and going for walks.

Balancing.

Super dog with the bionic eyes.

She does not, however, enjoy going for runs. After about 10 minutes She. Is. Done.

One thing is problematic though; she's a little shy around other dogs. She either gets too excited and pees, or gets scared and pees. Or rolls on her back in a submissive pose. Yesterday the neighbor's frodo-looking 10 pound dog came over to say hello. The little shit lifted his leg and peed on Harlow. Right on her ear. And she didn't react.

So yeah, we need to work on some confidence for the girl. Any suggestions for how to accomplish that?

Puppy check in

Harlow had her 12 week checkup last Friday. She now weighs 16.5 lbs; 8 lbs more than when we got her. She's all legs these days; long, lean and limber.

She's also had the chance to meet Ava, the Bernese Mountain dog of our friends Corey and Shawna. Ava had a back yard, a fence, and a lot of energy. Harlow looks dwarfed next to her! But some puppy socialization is good for both of them.

Good thing I have a ShopVac...

I didn’t grow up with a pet. We joke in my family that dad was the dog; you’d come and he’d be all excited and wiggly, saying “hi-howareyou-wannaplay-what’sfordinner-howwasyourday-wannaplay-whatsfordinner-dinner?”

Until two years ago I viewed dogs as such young-adult things. And then, I don’t know, something shifted, and I wanted a dog. Someone to pet, and go for late night walks with me. Someone to make me giggle, and run and play with.

DJ is a good substitute, and he does shed less. But he’s not always willing to go for late night walks with me.

After dog-sitting for Ava, the Bernese Mountain Dog (a breed forever known as the Ava-Dog), I wanted a BMD, BAD. But the research proved Berners to be A) expensive as pups, and B) sadly short lived. These two factors pretty much rule out the Ava-Dog for us; I’m too big of a softie to handle a short-lived dog.

Then last summer we were out at Jeff and Suzy’s, and this little girl stole my heart.

She was sweet tempered. Good with a lot of people. Playful, and beautiful. And I wanted a golden retriever from that point forward. They’re good family dogs, they’re gorgeous, active, trainable, great therapy dogs (stress relief?) and generally mild mannered. And oh my god, can we talk about puppy cuteness?

Especially at this age, when they're still fuzzy furry.

Source

Source

But I'd resigned myself to not getting a dog until next fall, after El Weddingo. But I kept wanting one. Pestering Harassing DJ about getting one. Then last week something serendipitous happened; there was an ad in the classifieds for American Kennel Club registered golden retriever puppies.

I called. DJ and I had an actually discussion about it. I bought A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Golden Retrievers. And we called around; vets, other breeders, friends. Are we insane for getting a puppy five months before El Weddingo?

And in the end, I think tonight DJ agreed to get one, saying that one thing he loved about me was that I pushed him to take a step he wanted to take, but hesitated on. We’re not 100% there yet, buuuuttt… aren’t they cute?

Ours is the girl on the left. : )

Flying Dogs and More Framing

I barely have time to upload some photos, but I know what you guys are here for: to see the progress of the house! It’s coming along, as you can see.

Funny story: This morning I stopped by the house on my way to the gym (Gym Time =’s Stress Management). To my delight, the crew was standing on the decking for the second floor of our home at 7:20am, starting to frame the second story walls. Also on the second floor with them was one of the guy’s dog (a bulldog of some kind).

The contractor came down and we were standing over a saw-horse and plywood table discussing how to move the east bedroom closet ablove the stairs in order to save space in the bedroom, when we heard the dog moving rapidly on the second floor plywood flooring. Now our house isn’t big; a 750 square foot footprint at the most. And the dog was hustling. And the then we heard it start to skid. My eyes god big and I glanced out the hole in the framing that will be the window above the sink, fully expecting to see the dog flying off of the second floor, across the back yard and into the barbed wire fence! Thankfully, the dog understands his stopping distance, more than I gave him credit for!

But it reminded me of how fun it is to play “chase” with a puppy on hardwood floors. They get all excited and floppy eared and run after you… and then you stop or suddenly change directions and they go sliding by.

“I’m gonna hit the brakes and he’ll fly right by.” “You’re gonna do WHAT.” Man who doesn’t like to end their day with a Top Gun reference. I wonder if DJ would let me name our golden retriever “Maverick”? He he he, golden retriever puppies and our wood floors!

Ok, on to pictures of the house!

The front of the house! It will be two stories, obviously, but we're going with a concrete front porch. The front porch faces south, and I was afraid that a wood porch would get absolutley decimated by the exposure.
The driveway is on the side to the right (east). The garage floor was poured on Wednesday, and I'm sure they'll frame it up soon. The garage is detached.
Looking at the house from the west towards the east. The house to the left (west) of us will be as close as 10 feet, so the window openings in this elevation of the building are high, and used only to let light in and for ventilation. The trick? They're 5'6" off the ground. The top of my head is 5'5" off the ground, so I totally can't see out of them. The contractor offered to lower them, but I'm not sure... thoughts?

Walking in the front door and looking to your left. First the living room, then the dining room (the long window hole is centered in the dining room), then the kitchen where the sawhorse table is.

A more direct view through the house. Unfortunately, the garage will block most of the 1st floor's view of the Bridger Mountain Range. We're only 2 weeks in and I have regrets about that. My only comfort is that the master bedroom is right above the kitchen, and will have kick ass views of the Bridgers!

Back in the living room looking at the area that will be the gas fireplace. It'll be centered on the wall between two windows I can't see out of.

Looking south from the kitchen towards the dining room and living room. The window opening on the left side is super-oversize. We'll get some awesome light into the kitchen in the morning!

So if you'd walked in our front door, you'd be immediatley facing the back door, which will go out to an east-facing side porch and the driveway area and garage. See the column footers in the dirt? Looking south over the garage foundation at the back of the house. The square window opening on the wall is above the kitchen sink, and I'm wondering if I should make it taller... the ceilings in this house are 9', so the cabinets will be a bit taller too... decisions decisions.

This morning at 7:45am.