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Harnesses and a Candy Shop

12/29/2014

Only in Texas can you sit comfortably in shorts to sew fleece jackets for your puppies for the temperature drop that evening. On Saturday, Mom and Dad had some errands to run. Mr. C has just about outgrown his size M harness- the straps are let out as far as they would go and it is still fairly fitted. Mr. M just barely fits his size S harness. We already had to replace Miss S' harness a couple of weeks ago and decided that Mr. M's harness had seen its last comfortable use over Christmas. So, we needed to make a run to Petsmart. The Petsmart closest to our house however, doesn't always have much selection of collars and harnesses for larger puppies, so we decided to make a little run to the Petsmart in Galveston. (Any excuse to go to Galveston is a good excuse as far as I'm concerned). We wanted to beat the incoming cold front, which meant that we just happened to be there around lunch time. Oh darn. After lunch, we decided that a trip to La King's was in order so that Mom could try out a few of the indoor functions on her camera in a place other than our living room or kitchen. The fact that they have the best homemade ice cream may or may not have influenced our decision to go there. We showed remarkable restraint in not buying any of their handmade salt water taffy, fresh chocolate goodies or ribbon candy. They make pretty much all of their goodies themselves, so trust me when I say that we showed remarkable restraint in not buying any candy. Anyway, here are a few of the pictures from our excursion. I am happy to report also, that we did in fact get the right sized harnesses and they fit very well. So it was a successful trip. We didn't tell the puppies about the candy shop (or the fact that we were so close to the beach).

La King's on the strand (Strand and 24th). Notice the fog in the distance. This was about an hour before the cold front hit.

Yummy, yummy, yummy. Get ready for sugar shock...

Notice the lack of skinny people in these pictures. Their candy is really good!

Everyone who works there is friendly and helpful, and they all wear bow ties like they would have when this shop originally opened in the late 1800's or early 1900's.

They make and pull their own taffy. The guy in the background is getting ready for taffy duty.

This is the taffy guy getting everything ready. They make their taffy right in front of you and usually throw out a few pieces of the fresh taffy to people in the crowd.

There is a full service soda fountain and a coffee bar as well. Notice the bow ties that all of the guys are wearing. The owner wanted to keep it as authentic as possible.

All handmade at La King's. Seriously.

Dad trying to decide what flavor ice cream to get (also handmade there in the shop). I'm not convinced that there is a wrong decision on this one.

Dad enjoying cinnamon ice cream. Mom usually gets the lemon custard. She knows that all of the other flavors are good too, but the lemon custard is so good, it's hard to pick anything else.

I think Galveston is one of the only places in Texas where you can get away with keeping Christmas decorations and lights up for a long time without feeling silly. Some houses just take down the wreaths and trees and then add a little bit of purple and green to their lights to make them Mardi Gras lights instead.

The Christmas season still in full swing.

Seriously. How could you not like Galveston?

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

12/28/2014

Mom and Dad decided to take all of the puppies along with them to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas. After all, how could the fuzzy kids get left alone on a day filled with boxes to chew up and turkey?
As soon as we got there, the puppies each went about their normal business. Mr. M found his favorite toy and went to work on it- after the gift bags he was interested in were relocated to the coffee table.

Miss S and Mr. C decided that the smartest thing to do would be to keep Grandma company in the kitchen just in case she needed any help with the turkey (or any other people food). They are always eager to help.

Miss B decided that the safest thing for her to do ( and the least likely to land her in time out) would be to find something to chew on near Mr. M.

Miss M is still trying to find her groove at Grandma and Grandpa's. This was only her second time there, and she isn't big enough to jump in Grandpa's lap to give him kisses like Miss S. She doesn't know where all the good toys are kept yet and hasn't realized that keeping Grandma company in the kitchen always gets you treats. So instead, she tried chewing on Mom's shoe.

Then she went to the kitchen to see what Miss S was doing.

"Grandma, please ignore her- she doesn't have any kitchen manners yet. We, on the other hand, are very good and need more treats."

Miss M finally realized that there were toys to chew on in the living room. That Mr. M is pretty smart- and rarely lands himself in time out. She decided to follow him more.

The day after Christmas was just a nice quiet day at home. We all played in the yard for a while so that the puppies would be good and tired when Mom and Dad went to the grocery store.

Mr. M teaching Miss M to chew on stuff in the garden boxes

Some sticks require team work.

This particular stick proved cunning indeed and required the efforts of all of the puppies.

December 22nd, 2014

12/22/2014

What is a girl to do when the Christmas songs are right and the weather outside is frightful? Dress for the part of course!

We found these cute little jackets the other day and got small and medium for the littles. Much to our surprise, Miss M didn't fit the small and Miss S and Mr. M didn't fit the medium. So only Miss M ended up with a jacket. We are going to have to find a different kind of jacket. I mean seriously, it was like 50 degrees outside. It's practically cruelty to animals to not have a jacket in those kinds of frigid temperatures.
Luckily, the puppies all have plenty of treats to keep them warm.

This past Sunday, we took Miss M to have her ears cropped as well despite Mom's protests. This time though, Mom didn't cry. The ear vet's office was packed. When it was time to pick her up, there were several other dog owners there to pick up their dogs as well. Miss M behaved so well that the vet used her as an example to show everyone else how to put on the antibiotic gel and drops. That meant that we got to leave first, which was good for us. Most of the people there this weekend had dobermans and cane corsos. The vet was explaining to them that pit bulls have higher tolerances for pain genetically and return to their normal selves quicker than most other breeds. So the pit bulls only get 3 days worth of pain medicine, where all of the other breeds have to take the pain medicine for 8 days instead. I was proud of our little Miss S. She was the smallest one there but was one of the toughest.

Oh No!!! Not the Cone of Shame again!! It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone of shame. Notice the disapproving look on Miss M's face. Of course, with that many puppies int he house, the cone is in her best interest.

After being gone with Miss M all day, the other puppies were extremely upset when we got home. Miss B and Mr. C were practically in a frenzy. We let the littles out to go to the bathroom first and then Dad took them into our bedroom with Miss M so that they could check her out without big puppies jumping all over the place. Mom sat with Miss B and Mr. C and calmed them down before letting them out of their crates to go outside one at a time. Mr. C was so worked up that he was literally beside himself. Mom walked with him around the yard, spoke quietly to him and made him sit often to get him back focused again. He was extremely concerned about Miss M and his whole body wagged along with his tail when we finally took him back to the bedroom to see her. After a few minutes, everyone was happy and calm again and we let them all out to play. Miss M was very happy to see everyone and went to chewing on them immediately.
By this afternoon, all was back to normal. Miss M is back to chewing on everything and everybody and back to barking at the other puppies to play.
On a more Christmas-y note, we decided that it would be wise of us not to put Christmas presents under the tree this year. All of our dogs love boxes and love ripping up paper. Not too good for Christmas presents. We are very surprised that our live tree- deemed "awesome" by one of Dad's students- is still standing despite having 5 pit bulls flying around the room at top speed knocking chairs out of place. So far, we have only had one ornament casualty- and that was only a plastic ball ornament. Mom decided that it would be smart to put all of the glass ornaments up high, well out of reach of curious puppy noses- a system that seems to be working so far.

Naughty or Nice?

12/16/2014

As Christmas approaches, Miss B has gotten increasingly nervous. It's her first Christmas, and she only just found out about this whole naughty or nice thing a couple of days ago. Now she is concerned that her sneaky ways may have caught up to her. Surely Santa couldn't possibly know about the time she poked her head into the garbage can and pulled out the chicken packaging. He couldn't possibly know that she then gave it to Mr. C and the littles so that they would get in trouble for it instead of her. He definitely couldn't know about how she runs up and down the fence to get the neighbor dogs excited and then runs off to play with Mr. C.
Then there was the time that she showed Mr. M and Miss S that they could jump up on the couch. But seriously. He couldn't know that. Right?
She has been trying to be extra good to make up for the sneaky things she does, but she hasn't had much practice at being good and it's harder than she thought. She has been making sure to go inside right away whenever she is told and has been eating her food instead of playing with it.
She hopes it will be enough. She doesn't really know what a stocking is but is sure that it tastes good. She doesn't want Santa to give everyone else stockings and skip her. It would make it awfully hard to catch up on the nice-o-meter for next year if she has to start out in the negative from stealing Miss M's stocking.

Miss B snuggling up to Mr. C for protection- hoping that some of his niceness will rub off on her so that she gets a stocking too.

All of Miss B's worrying has Miss M thinking too. Biting Miss S and Mr. M's ears isn't enough to put you on the naughty list, right? What about peeing on the floor? What about chewing up stuff, then biting everybody's ears and then pooping on the rug?

"I'm much too cute to be on any naughty list."

"Mom loves it when I pull on her robe."

Special Days and dates 12-13-14

12/13/2014

Today was a special day. It was Miss M's first trip to the vet for her first set of puppy shots. It was the first time she met Grandma and Grandpa. Miss B and Mr. C were too wound up and excited before time to leave, so they ended up staying home- making it the first time Miss S and Mr. M have been on an outing without Miss B and Mr. C. But even though these milestones were important, the day was even more special because of the date:12-13-14. That date won't happen again for 100 years.
Miss M behaved very well at the vet and made friends with all of the people at the vet's office. Miss S and Mr. M were their usual bouncy selves. While they were at the vet's waiting on Miss M, a big lab came in, and Mr. M was completely convinced that he needed to play with the big dog. He even barked at him with his tail wagging trying to convince the big dog to play. The big dog was being held close to his owner, so Mr. M gave up and played with Miss S instead. When we were almost done, two little boys came in who were completely fascinated with Mr. M and Miss S. They asked to pet them, and slowly reached out their hands when we told them they could. The puppies licked their hands and let themselves get petted. One of the little boys was talking and waving his hands around, causing his shirt to come up. Mr. M took the opportunity to lick his belly.
After the vet's office, we stopped by Petsmart for a leash for Miss M, and then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's. Miss S and Mr. M were very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa again- especially when Grandma brought out the treats. Miss M made herself right at home- playing with Grandma's supply of puppy toys.

In honor of the unique date, Mom and Dad went out for a night on the town- sort of. They wanted to visit the Christmas light display at the zoo, but traffic was a nightmare. The normal street leading to the zoo parking lot was blocked off. After driving around in the traffic for 40 minutes, they gave up and went to the liquor store. No. Not for liquor. For goodies. The large liquor store downtown has a large selection of imported candy and goodies. So they bought what most people go to a liquor store to buy- chocolate.

Mmmm. Chocolate.

The little girls napping on the couch- they are not normally allowed on the couch but were allowed on the blanket for a picture

Mr and Miss M recognize a food bag when they see it. We had to rescue this one and put it in another room so that they wouldn't open it on their own

Random Thoughts: On Fitting In

12/9/2014

It's been a little tricky getting well lit shots of Miss M. She is extremely fast and doesn't sit still very long. The only time she's still is when she's eating, but then she won't look up to get her picture taken. I am now on a quest to take some cute pictures of the five of them. I have several shots in mind but need to take them in the daytime so that I can get more natural light.

Miss M's favorite pose

So far, she has been fitting in well with the other dogs. She doesn't seem to realize that she is small. She chases them around, bites them, plays with them and pays attention to how they go outside to potty. Yesterday evening I was in the kitchen and heard her whimper by the door. Just out of curiosity, I opened the door for her and she immediately ran outside, did #2 and ran back to the door to go back inside! I was amazed! Of course she got lots of praise for that.

Miss M also got to meet one of Dad's students. She loved the little girl but was a little distraught because the girl kept wanting to hold her, which meant that she had to be still. That's not an easy thing to do for a 6 week old puppy. She looks bigger in this picture than she is because the girl is also small.

A typical shot with puppies in motion. I think she fits in nicely- as long as she leaves Miss S' food alone.

Normal is OverRated

12/7/2014

No, this is not a picture of Miss S when she was little. This picture was actually taken today. This is Miss S's Mini Me. We are calling her Miss M.
We decided a while back that normal was not something we do very well. So why fight it?
As soon as we brought Miss M home, we gave her a bath in the sink. Mr. M and Miss S were very distraught that they couldn't climb into the sink too, but it has been a really long time since they last fit in the sink.
After her bath, she barked at Miss B for her food before we could get the bowls into everyone else's crates. We had started feeding the four of them in their crates a while back so that Miss S wouldn't eat everybody's food. So now, they are used to eating in the crates. Miss M hasn't quite figured that out and thinks she needs to take food out of all of the other crates.

Miss S is very serious about her food and has a little bit of a tendency to be food aggressive, and it seems that Miss M is just as food aggressive. So I guess we will have to pay close attention to not feeding them out of their crates together to avoid potential conflicts.
Over all, our puppies seem to like her. Mr. C thinks she is his puppy again. He snuggled her and played. Mr. M finally has someone to chase him around when he gets to feeling playful. Most of the time the others just play with him a little but ignore him after a while. She jumped at him and followed him all over the house. He pranced around like a teenage boy showing off. He and Miss S both ran and sat in Mom's lap for a cuddle several times just to make sure that they are still her babies.

I feel like it's getting dangerous for us to go out in public. We keep bringing puppies home! I'm starting to feel like the Duggars.

How things normally work at bath time- notice the littles in the edge of the picture

Throw Back Thursday- A Picture Post

12/3/2014

I haven't taken any new pictures in the past couple of days, so I decided to create a Throw Back Thursday (TBT) post. I am only just using that name like I'm cool. Really, I saw it on one of the blogs I follow and Googled it. Apparently TBT is a thing. Who knew? Anyway, without further ramblings on my part, here are some random pictures of the puppies.

Back when they were small enough to fit in the same crate together