I am afraid that we have lost the couch... to the dogs. This is why we bought such a long couch. I really am happy with it. Most of the time, it is big enough to sit on with the puppies up there too. In the picture below, I went into the kitchen for a few seconds only to find that the couch had gone to the dogs when I got back. Mr. M likes sitting by the couch but not on the couch. He is the protector of the couch.

Occasionally they let us sit on the couch too- but mostly when we have something to eat that they are interested in. Miss S decided that she needed chips and cheese dip. Mom disagreed, so Miss S sat with her head on Mom's shoulder hoping that she would succumb to the Jedi Puppy mind tricks and give her chips. Unfortunately for Miss S, Mom has the power to sometimes block Jedi Puppy mind tricks. The Force is strong with her- especially when cheese dip is involved. The puppies are very disappointed that Mom won't let them have wheat, sugar, corn syrup, soy or dairy. What I don't understand is why manufacturers would put sugar and corn syrup in puppy treats to begin with. Puppies really don't need processed sugars. Seriously.

There has been quite a bit going on around here. The puppies got a new two-legged cousin this past week. They haven't met her yet, but were very interested in smelling Mom when she got back from visiting. It took a while for the baby to finally get here. In the meantime, Mom had a ton of nervous energy and made a quilt. The puppies have already decided that it is for them.

We can't wait for them to meet little Miss Cousin M.

This just in: Apparently Chewy.com boxes really are chewy. (According to Mr. M)

Also just in: Kitty P is getting fat. Kitty S is also putting on some pounds, but she is longer so she doesn't look as pudgy as Kitty S.

The rain has stopped, but the ground is still moist, so the puppies haven't been able to play in the yard much. We have been having to play more in the house, which is a little tricky. It gets crowded really quickly when all five puppies are playing and rowdy. So we end up having to play with them one or two at a time, which is good individual time. They really enjoy their one on one time. 
In other news, the puppies are really growing up. Their Aunt P informed us jokingly that they really aren't puppies anymore. They are big dogs now. They may still grow some, or at least bulk up, but they will always still be our puppies. It is really hard to believe that little Miss M is already a year old. Looking at them now, it's hard to imagine how small they all were when we first brought them home.

Okay, seriously? Again with the flooding? Why do we always have to have rains of biblical proportions? Can't we just have a little bit of rain like normal people?

It started raining Saturday afternoon and really hasn't stopped since then. Every time we take the puppies out, they just stop and look out, and then they look at us like, "can't you turn it off?" Normally if we open the door, we have to watch out because they all fly out. This weekend, I'm pretty sure we could leave all of our doors wide open, and nobody would even get up off of their blankets and pillows. If you look closely in the picture below, you can see Miss M looking out at me while I was taking pictures of the backyard. Notice that the door is open, but she is quite content to just sit and look at me. She eventually ventured out onto the porch, but that was as far as she went.

The Weather Channel keeps telling us that the rain should start coming to an end  later this evening. I'll believe it when I see it. I will say though, that it has actually been pretty cozy with the bad weather. It is a little cooler (65 outside) because of the rain. I was able to bake some bread yesterday, and we made brownies today. I also had a little bit of time to work on puppy sweaters. So even though it is a pain in the neck when it's time for potty breaks, it's not bad otherwise. Plus, the puppies have been super cuddly this weekend- which is nice.

It should come as no surprise that we go through a lot of dog food. I got tired of running to the store constantly for more dog food and discovered www.chewy.com a while back. I love Chewy. They give free shipping on orders over $50, which is kind of a big deal when you buy big bags of dog food all the time. Their prices are really good, and their shipping is always really fast too. We get most of our dog food there, along with treats, crates, puppy shampoo, etc. Today when I (Mom) came home from work there was the usual dog food package on the front porch, but there was also a smaller package with it. I was a little confused. I didn't remember ordering anything extra and didn't think I had ordered anything from anywhere else. When I opened the package to see what it was, I was totally shocked. We had sent a picture of the puppies to the customer service people at Chewy's when I had talked to them about returning something I had ordered in the wrong size. They emailed back saying that they had the puppies' picture hanging up on their wall of fame in their office. I didn't think much of it after that. When I opened the package, I was surprised to find that they had commissioned little hand painted portraits of each of our puppies. We both loved the pictures and were quick to hang all of them up in our dining room. I'm not sure who their artist is, but I think they did a really good job! Check out Mr. M and his portrait.

Doesn't it look just like him? They even got the little bit of pink on his nose. We were completely surprised that Chewy did that for us. Talk about good customer service! Look at these cuties!

It's hard to believe that Miss M is almost a year old and that it has been almost a year since Mr. M and Miss S got their first rabies shot. We have to go get their rabies booster in the next few weeks. How is it that they are already old enough for their boosters? It seems like yesterday that we were just taking them to vet for the first time.
I have to say though, one thing I don't miss about them being little puppies is the whole potty training thing. 
When we got Miss B and Mr. C home, it took several weeks for them to get the idea that they should always go outside. Once they figured that out, we were halfway there, but their bladders were still small. So we still had to take them outside every few hours in the middle of the night for a potty break. Just about the time they started sleeping through the night without any accidents and without waking us up to go outside, we brought Miss S and Mr. M home... and the potty training started all over again.
We were still sleep deprived from the first set, but not taking them out every 2 or 3 hours meant cleaning up puppy messes in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. So every 2 or 3 hours, we were out with the little ones. They did pretty well with the potty training. I think they worked hard on it at night so that they could sleep in the bedroom with us and with the big puppies (not in the bed yet of course). Right about the time we got them sleeping through the night, along came Miss M, and the potty training started over. Again. So did the waking up every few hours.
I think that people who have a hard time sleeping at night should just get puppies. After a few weeks of taking them out every 2 or 3 hours, they wouldn't need sleeping pills any more.
Another thing I have noticed is that the bigger our puppies get, the more they like to snuggle. When they are little, you always want to cuddle them, but they pretty much just tolerate your kisses and snuggles. When they get older, they realize how cozy it is to snuggle up next to you. So the snuggles get better and better. Pit bulls are the best snuggle dogs as far as I can tell. Their skin isn't particularly oily like a lab, so they don't have a very strong doggy odor. They are also solid enough that you can hug them without having to worry about the weight of your arm hurting them. They are like warm teddy bears.
​The one thing I have to admit that I do miss is the cute little puppy breath. 
I'm really glad we had more than one puppy at a time. They keep each other entertained and exercised. Plus, Miss B has a ton of energy, and without the puppies, Mr. C would be worn out all of the time. They stay much happier when they get plenty of playtime and exercise. Notice how Mr. M is keeping Miss B on her toes...

It's the middle of the week. Thursday is a strange day. It isn't hump day, so we are almost to Friday, but we aren't quite to the weekend yet. We still have to get up early tomorrow, so we can't go to the beach. But, we still need a little exercise and fun. This Thursday, the puppies decided to change things up a bit. Mr. M found a nice used toothbrush in the bathroom trashcan. Miss S thought it was her lucky day when he put it down and she was able to snag it. About that time, we realized what they were chewing on and took it away. Mr. M tried to reason with Dad to get it back.

Miss M tried to help him reason with Dad. Mr. M didn't appreciate her help and leaned way back to see what she was doing. 

Mr. C was a little concerned with all of this talk about toothbrushes.

Eventually Mr. M got bored with the toothbrush and made the argument that we should go outside. It seemed like a good idea.

We let Mr. M and Miss B play together first before bringing the others out. They both like to run and will wear each other out if we give them a few minutes for their zoomies.

Once Miss B and Mr. M were tired, we took them in to cool off and brought out the others.

Before going back in, Miss M took the time to play chase with Dad.

All in all, I guess it was a pretty good Thursday.

It's fall, but apparently the weather didn't get the memo. I hear that it is supposed to be cooler this weekend. For now though, we are still enjoying summer. In October. Complete with air conditioning and flip flops.

The puppies have been enjoying the backyard. Mom has been working on knitting more sweaters so that they will each have a sweater by the time it gets cold. The sweatshirts they had last year are too small, and they looked a little ragtag. We will probably get the puppies each another sweatshirt to wear around the house and in the backyard, but the sweaters will look more stylish when we are out and about.With as slow as the Texas winters are in coming, she probably has a few more months to get the sweaters ready. 

In other news, the cats are getting fat. More specifically, Kitty P is getting fat. Kitty S is just looking normal. We suspect that Kitty P is hogging all of the food. We would like to think that she is just fattening up for the winter, but I think she's just a little piggy.

The puppies were hoping that we were leaving to go up north when we loaded them into the car on Saturday morning. They were slightly disappointed though, when they realized we were just taking Dad's car to have the A/C serviced. Saturday afternoon was just too warm to do anything. This is what it looked like:

Summer can get really boring when it is even too hot to go to the beach safely. We stayed home most of the day, but as it got a little later and started cooling off, we decided to head toward the beach but just hang out in town instead. We have a favorite coffee shop that has outdoor seating, so we parked a few blocks away and then walked to the coffee shop. It was already 9 by the time we got there. The restaurants and bars were jumping, and there were people everywhere. As we were driving, the puppies would bark at people and motorcycles, but as soon as we got out of the car, it was like their manners came back. They were superstars walking down the street. We had to walk past several crowds of people to get where we were going, and they didn't bark at a single person. We had several people stop and ask to pet our puppies. The puppies were glad for all of the attention.
One group who had apparently just come from a play at the Grand Opera House, actually chased us down and asked to pet the puppies. They couldn't get over how nice they looked and how well behaved they were. The puppies of course were on their best behavior. Mr. M said hi to them and then he just stood by Mom looking around- on guard, watching out while everyone else was getting petted. He really is turning into the big boy of the bunch. We had never taken the puppies out that late before. So walking around at night with people every where was a new experience for them. They handled it all really well. They sat politely outside with Dad while Mom went in to get the coffees and a cup of ice for them. They enjoyed all of it, and seemed really happy just to be able to go somewhere fun. On the way back to the car, we walked past a little dog who was barking at us from the safety of his mom's lap. Our puppies didn't even pay any attention to him. They just walked right by him and kept on going. Miss B noticed a roach running across the sidewalk but left it alone when we told her to.
We didn't get home until 11 pm, which is way past the puppies' bedtime, but they were so happy about having gone somewhere that they still wanted to play laser pointer in the yard when we took them out.
We were really proud of how well they behaved and how calm they were. They are turning into quite the social butterflies. Puppy school really has made a difference.
I don't have any pictures because it was just too dark. Next time we go, we'll have to try to take some pictures to post.

Times like these sometimes make me wish we lived further north. Today's high? 1 million degrees. Tomorrow's high? 1 million and 1! 
Why must it be so hot? When you're in the house, sometimes you get the feeling that the a/c isn't working as well as it should be. Then you step outside for a few minutes. When you step back in, you realize that the a/c is working fine, it's just that hot outside. Needless to say, the puppies have been getting a lot of use out of their little pool. Here are a few pictures taken over the past week of their backyard fun. They've realized that they can run around and get hot, then jump in the pool to cool off.