Week One

Today we have had Zeldie for one whole week, yet each day that passes I have more and more trouble imagining our life without her. It seems to me the house was so empty before and we didn't even know it. We can't believe how much she has grown. Already her nose looks longer and when she straightens up she looks a little taller. She is becoming a confident little puppy. When I look back at the videos from the first day I laugh watching her sniff, as I see how unfamiliar everything was to her and how curious she was about her new surroundings. Now, her home is familiar to her and she has moved on from sniffing to chewing everything in sight. She doesn't like to wander too far from it on walks and she is beginning to get a routine schedule down of activity and napping. Yesterday, we left her in the crate for 4 hours while David was at swim practice and I was at work and she did fine. I bought some of the special treats the instructor called puppy crack and we have been practicing her voluntary attention and she has been getting the hang of it. Tomorrow we leave for Texas for four days. It is harder than I thought it would be to leave her. After all, she is just a dog. But, fortunately, I know we are leaving her in very good hands and that makes it comforting. But, I try not to think about the leaving part, I try only to think about the returning part.

Puppy Kindergarten is exhausting

Last night I took Zeldie to puppy kindgergarten. She was so tired out afterwards, she feel asleep as soon as we got home. The video above is how she feel asleep in her crate. David had swim practice so our friend Tifanni met me there. Tiffani is a very experienced puppy mommy and had both Zeldie, and me, all under control. Zeldie was one of the smallest dogs there. I let her off the leash for some play time at the beginning of the class and she started making friends. with one of the three golden doodles in the class, whose name, by the way, was Paisley.

Some of you may remember, that when we first started talking about getting a dog, Paisley was my first choice for her name. I was very glad we had decided against it. There was also a black lab named Scout. Some of you may also remember that Scout was on our list too. After being in the class with another Scout, which also was a boy dog, I was glad we had decided against that as well.

During the training, Zeldie did not grasp the concept of "voluntary attention". Unlike the Golden Doodles, Golden Retrievers and Labs whose sole purpose in life is to please their owners, Zeldie was as the instructor put it diplomatically to the entire class "highly distracted in this environment". I was the only owner who had to get on the floor to work with my dog. The rest could sit politely in the plastic chairs. When the rest of the class moved on, we got some remediation in "volunatry attention". Zeldie is a smart dog, she was able to figure it out quickly. She is just a twice exceptional dog. So, she has a few special learning needs too.

And oddly enough, I now understand what David has been trying to tell me all this time. You may know that I have for a long time said that David makes me feel like my biggest flaws are my greatest strengths. What I call stubborness, he calls persistence. What I call a hot temper he calls passion. Watching Zeldie last night, as she strained at her leash trying to make friends with the Golden Doodles who were adoringly volunteering their attention to their owners, while the instructor discussed proper handling technique and I knelt futilely on the floor, I fell in even more deeply in puppy love with our little girl thinking that she was lot more interesting because of it.

Dental Health is Important

Yesterday, we brushed Zeldie's teeth for the first time. All of the books we had read talked about good dental health but I had kind of dismissed it thinking that these books were a little intense. Then, when the vet said something to me about it, I thought, well, maybe I should look into this. She loved it. Of course, I think what she loved most about it was chewing on the toothbrush, but either way, I hear the key is to get her accustomed to it early.

After five days of puppy toys all over the floor and nature's miracle hanging out on our countertop, I got the call that I had been dreading, someone wanted to come show the condo and they only gave me an hour's notice. Zeldie went into her crate and I immediately flew into a cleaning frenzy. About 20 minutes into the tempest, David came home and I couldn't have been happier to see him. He walked in and more than tell him, I gestured to him and he fell in cleaning along beside me. Shortly thereafter, we, along with Zeldie, were on our way to Petsmart. Where else can you go with a dog when it is starting to get dark? Zeldie, loved petsmart. She especially loved the treat aisle. After smelling all of the boxes, we decided the ones she already had were her favorite which we were happy with, but we did come home with something for her friend Tallulah who will be sharing her mommy this weekend.

Zeldie is a big girl!

Zeldie slept all through the night until 6am! We both felt like we really slept in. We have decided it is time for her to start learning to play in her crate while she is awake so we played for a little bit outside and then I put her in her crate for some awake play time. I put her in her crate and then I sat down by it so that she could see me. She played for a bout 10 minutes and then fell asleep! I guess she missed the point of the awake play time. We will have to try it again another time.

Last night she saw her shadow on a walk and she growled at it. She was so fierce. We stopped and really stared down the shadow puppy. Then, she slowly moved on and when we moved out of the light of the street lamp and the other puppy disappeared and she was so confused. She just swung her head from side to side not knowing where that puppy went. When she walks, and she gets a really good trot going, her ears bounce up and down and it just cracks me up to death. When she is setting a really good pace, she actually looks like she is prancing and she looks kind of prissy. At one point she saw a bird and she straightened up as tall as she could and I noticed that she looked a little taller. Then I looked at her belly and I think it looked a little fuller. I thought to myself, she's growing! Quick, get the camera before she gets any bigger! Although many people have commented on the size of her paws and how big she is so I have included a picture here which shows perspective for you so you can see that she actually is quite small right now.

I came home from work yesterday and David said, "You know how else Zeldie is like you...." I thought 'Oh no, this can't be good!' "She goes, goes, goes until she drops from exhaustion." I don't think the vet has to worry about us loving this dog if we already think she is taking after us.

A dog named Zeldie

A few people have asked how we got the name "Zeldie". David's favorite Dave Matthews Band song is titled "Rapunzel". We both thought that was too long so we were trying to come up with derivatives of that. Although we both found many dog naming websites which we spent more time on than we'd like to admit, on thinkbabynames.com we found that you could do a search by prefix or suffix.

I started looking up names that began with the last syllable of Rapunzel, "Zel". I found nine names. One of them was Zeldie. Thinkbabynames.com says Zeldie is a Yiddish word meaning "happiness". That was pretty much the deciding factor for David. The name also has sentimental value because one of the first dates we went on was a Dave Matthews Band concert in Hershey, PA. We both liked that connection as well.

Last night Zeldie got up in the early hours again. I thought those would be the hours I liked least but I am beginning to think that is the time I like the best. The rest of the world is quiet and it is just the two of us. That is usually when she shows me whatever new game she has figured out amuses her for the day. This morning, it was chasing my shoes. She also barked at a fire hydrant on her walk and discovered her reflection in the oven and the dishwasher while we were playing. She was quite disappointed the puppies staring back at her didn't want to play.

A day in the park

We had a day full of firsts. We took Zeldie to Burke Lake Park to meet our friends the Lewises. Their daughter, Jillian is 3 and she talks about getting a dog when she is 10. Zeldie and her got a long very well. Jillian ran around and Zeldie chased her. Zeldie got a lot of attention from people in the park. Now, she thinks everyone outside is there to see her. We are happy to say though that she did very well in the car. She did better with the music on. That is good news since in two weeks, she will be on her way to see the New York contingent of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Her stomach has been bothering her a little bit as we have been slowly transitioning her from the dogfood the breeder sent with her. Today she has been throwing up a little bit. After that and having been sitting in her crate on the plane for so many hours which she had eliminated in, we decided to give her, her first puppy bath. The bath she did not think was so much fun. The toweling off game, she thought was a blast along with the chasing the brush game.

Tonight, she went down and only wined in her crate for four minutes. She sleeps on top of the hot water bottle we put in there for her. We are hoping she sleeps a little later than 3am. But, if she doesn't, seeing as how Daddy has to work tomorrow, Mommy will take early shift again.

Pictures of Zeldie

We can't believe how much we love Zeldie already. We think she takes after her Grandpa Bernie because she was up at 3am this morning. Anne took first shift because David took late shift last night and let her out at midnight. She is adjusting to the crate well. She wimpers only a little bit and then settles down. She has had her share of accidents in the house, but she is starting to remember the designated waste elmination spot by the tree outside the door. And everytime she goes there we "throw a party". So far, her favorite toys are the rope toys that she can chew and tug and the green hippo that sqeaks. She likes hiding it behind the T.V. When she goes for walks, she loves to eat leaves. She also chased a bird this morning. Here are some pictures from her first day.

Zeldie's Arrival

We picked up the puppy today at National Airport. There were three other puppies on her flight. She arrived at the oversize baggage claim. Here is the video footage.

Medium Ash Blonde

Last year I gave up highlighting my hair so that we could save more money for our downpayment for the house. The last time I got my haircut in March, my stylist cut the last remaining color out of my hair. Since then, David has had to put up with me complaining about how flat the color of my hair is and how I think it looks like dishwater.
After we got invited to several weddings this summer, I decided that I just couldn't go to the weddings living with my hair looking like it did. I decided that I might need to do something drastic and color it myself. I have never colored my hair before and agonized over it for a long time. I did some research on the Loreal website and watched all of their "how-to" do-it-yourself videos. I also took the quiz and found my "perfect" color match. But, even that was not enough to convince me to take the plunge. Then, the proper incentive came along in the Sunday paper, a $3.00 coupon for Loreal Excellence to go. That, along with a Walgreens store coupon and I found myself with a $4.00 box of medium ash blonde in my hand thinking that this might be the start of a whole new era in my life. A month later, the box of hair color still sat on the shelf in the closet and that is where I thought it might sit for the rest of my life. I still couldn't convince myself that I could successfully color my hair.

Then, I went out to get some coffee with my friend Jessica and she told me I had nothing to worry about. She even knew the color I had bought and thought that it was a good color for me. That, along with the fact that I had an impending hair appointment scheduled in a week to fix any disaster I could have possibly created, settled it. I decided to take the plunge. Two nights later, David and I found ourselves in the bathroom mixing tubes of smelly creme and making 1/4th inch parts, spreading color in the roots of my hair. Whenever I think that David can not be any kinder, he always outdoes himself and that night was no different. I could not have asked for a more attentive and patient husband. In any case, we think it was a success. I have already bought my next box of color. You can decide for yourself whether or not it was a success, the "after" picture is below.