Doggie Halloween Parade!

We went to the Doggie Halloween Parade in Greenpoint today! OMG there were so many dogs. Since we didn't have all of our shots, we decided to leave early. That, and the fact that she was absolutely miserable in her costume....Even the ears on her costume are pointed down. Sad face!

Since Trixie didn't want to take photos, here are two doggies that we loved. Lobster doggie with his chef...I mean, owner! Dog looks pretty happy to be carried for the entire parade, am I right?And Aaron's favorite....I give you a LOG with an ax! Homemade costumes are my favorite!

All I can think of is: It's log, it's log, It's big, it's heavy, it's wood. It's log, it's log, it's better than bad, it's good!

Not a good day

You've been reading a while and may have noticed that every post as a bit of unicorns, puppy dogs, and rainbows in it. But there are definitely days where we want to rip our hair out with potty training, barking, and biting.

All those days were NOTHING compared to today!

Awww, cute bear hat?! What?!

Yes, this little "bear" was a monster today! And you know why? I think she resented the fact that mommy made her wear the bear hat. But c'mon, Halloween is 3 days away and there's a doggie halloween parade in our neighborhood. I don't want to just show up and not have a costume...."Um, yes she's a polar bear!"

But the point is that she was the WORST monster today! I stopped counting after 5 accidents in the house. That's right folks, 5!?!?!?! And yes, I DO think she hates the hat.

I think we'll do better tomorrow, but really, I feel bad for the doggie sitter on halloween night after the hat has been taken off.

UPDATE: Aaron just got home and saw the bear hat that HE PICKED OUT! And we could NOT stop laughing. We were snorting and giggling because she looks absolutely ridiculous in this stupid hat. But she has to wear it for the parade.

A new adventure

Today was BEAUTIFUL. Not at all a fall day. It's 72 degrees outside and the normal temps are usually in the low 60s. Like I said, beautiful.

So I took Trixie for a bike ride. I was going to take her to the dog run near our house during an off time so she could run around and maybe play with 1 dog. But Aaron really wants to see this happen the first time.

We biked for an hour. We even went BY the dog run and she got to watch other doggies play with each other. Soon it'll be her turn!

Trixie visits Manhattan!!!

Today was yet another event filled day for Trixie. She was completely pooped out by about 2 PM. She rode the subway in her little carrier case. She was a little whiny, but you can understand a pup getting a little scared with loud trains in tunnels.Trixie went with us to Weight Watchers to weigh in and she decided to make an appearance for all the members. I call this look "Alligator Trixie!" Notice how she has no lower jaw? "Nom nom nom, me love me some bag and zipper!"

We returned home to have yet another play date with a friend's dog, Henry! He is significantly bigger than Trixie, and at first she was a little put off. But she soon took to not caring one way or another if he was in the same area as her. By the end of the day, they were touching noses, sniffing butts, and even howling at other dogs together!

At one point, Henry was playing with Trixie's tennis ball. When she had had enough of that, she stole it from him, and hid it under the picnic table because he couldn't fit under there. What a little stinker!
See?! They're both laying down. What good friends! Actually, Henry also was instructed by Renee, the private trainer we hired, so both dogs knew the same commands and hand signals.

And at the end of the night, nothing beats sitting on the couch with your dog. Trixie loves to venture though. So we've taken to bringing the bully stick with us so she stays put.

Puppy Kindergarten begins!!!

Today we went to our first class of puppy kindergarten. It's taught by Inna from Wag the Dog. It was great. There were 5 other puppies in class. Unfortunately, Trixie was a little overwhelmed by the experience and spent most of the class sitting in a corner watching the other puppies having fun. Oh, and how could I forget? Trixie was so scared that she literally had the "crap scared out of her". She stunk up the classroom with an epic log! She was quite the trendsetter though, as many of her new pup-mates eliminated as well. Best friends forever!

We received clickers and were able to start clicker training. Trixie was actually a natural at this part of the class, sitting when asked, making eye contact, and not jumping on the teacher. What a teacher's pet....

Then we came home to have a play date with Harry the 2 1/2 year old French Bulldog that lives in our building. Again, Trixie was a very observant puppy. She only got chased once and let him touch noses with her. It has been a tiring day for her, but this is great. The more dogs she meets, the better off she will be in the long run.

I mean, they even got close! Look, she's sharing her dig box!

Okay, this is totally bad!!!

This is not behavior that we allow, but Aaron said that I should snap a picture really quick. What you are viewing is Trixie's behind up on the dishwasher. What a little stinker! She thought "Oh, look at this nice big door! I think I'll hop right in....." Maybe we could give her a bath this way? She sure needs one!

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Okay, you're looking at this photo probably thinking "Um, where's the cute pooch with the face?" (I just did that in my head as an Italian dude, or more specific, as Steve Buschemi....whichever you prefer)

Anyway, I am just excited to say that Trixie finally went NUMBER 2 outside! And it was in the front of the house, not in the backyard....(misty eyes) my puppy is growing up!

Yes, a little gross that I am talking about poop, but c'mon....EVERYBODY poops! Did you NOT read the book?!

More visitors...

All my friends have been asking me "when are we gonna meet Trixie?" I've been introducing her very slowly to our friends. This means I haven't had that many guests or visitors. But yesterday, my friend Voon got to come over and have a little puppy play time.

And she totally behaved just long enough to get some cute photos. Voon has already planned on stealing her and doing a life of crime. What a deceiving looking little puppy.Voon swears that this is our Christmas card photo. I won't bother posting the 10 bad attempts where Trixie is a white blur...

Meet Riley...

...From Colorado. One of my best friends is living with her aunt and uncle who are westie owners for life. Everywhere you turn in their house, there's westie stuff. And wouldn't you know? They also have 2 westies! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Jackson, their boy. But I DO have a photo of Riley. She's got an interesting hairstyle, not one I've seen on a westie. But she' a sweetie!

Picture taking has never been easier...

...now that she's getting the concept of "sit" and "down". We use hand signals too. How great is that down? We've both been training her a lot with these two commands. You can see mommy and pup training here. Super adorable!

Another DIY project

Trixie got a new play thing today....a dig box! What is a dig box you ask? Well, a dig box, boys and girls, is a box filled with dirt and sometimes yummy treats that a puppy can dig to their hearts' and paws' content. Aaron was nice enough to devote his Sunday to make Trixie a dig box of her own. She really wanted to help him too.

"Oooh, lemme help! What is that?! I've never seen that before. Let me pee on it! How exciting! What's that long wire thingy? What's that round sharp thingy that's making noise?"

See? She's TOTALLY helping!

And the finished product worked magically. She watched Aaron construct it for about an hour and was salivating (do dogs salivate about digging?) at the sight of the 10 bags of dirt that were being dumped in! The minute she was let free of her cage to venture to the big black pit of dirt, she jumped on, smelled around, and started digging!

And this, my friends, is the face of a happy, "I did me some digging" westie!

And so these must be the paws.....good thing I didn't mop today!

You can see her adventures here...(sorry for the S bomb about 20 seconds in!)

Our Private Instructor

We hired (for the second time) Renee of Walk This Way canine therapy behavior to come over to the house and teach us how to be better owners. Yes, it's also for Trixie to learn, but we have to admit that we need help too. She's taught us how to be better about potty training, ankle biting discipline, walking, and commands like sit, down, off, and leave it!

We learned that you can train your dog to let you do practically ANYTHING so long as they get food in return, including grooming which Trixie will only let us do if she's super tired and can't fight us off! There was always a lot of biting, growling, and wiggling until we just gave up. Who likes bitten fingers anyways?

Enter the bully stick....made of cow, it's a big "beef jerky" stick for the pup to chew on. She LOVED this thing so much, she even let me comb dingle berries away from her butt! Who knew that all it took to get her to calm down was a piece of beef?!

See?! She's completely distracted by the bully stick (which I'm holding because I don't want her eating it unsupervised) and Aaron is able to get the knots out of her paws and legs! Yeah for teamwork!
And here's the finished product: A fluffy, poop free westie and a happy, bite free "dad".

One Month ago....

Trixie came home with us. Well, it was actually on the 13th that she came home, but I forgot to post about it. I know, bad puppy mom!

Anywho, I received emails from the owner of Sundance, Trixie's litter mate! So without further ado.....I GIVE YOU SUNDANCE!!!!

Aww, look at his adorable westie face! That cute snout, the white fur, the nice "give me a manicure" looking paws. I could just eat him up!Sundance has a bit of a mouthing problem just like his sister. And he loves squeaky balls. If Trixie had a squeaky ball, I'm sure she'd love it!

I wish...

she were an angel all the time. But alas, she is a puppy and she does not understand how to be good. I was so happy to get this shot because:

1.) she never sits still

2.) whenever she's behaving with Aaron, the camera is no where near

3.) she looks like Hello Kitty! (see below for reference)

Here's another shot proving that she does in fact like Aaron. Well, actually it just looks like Aaron likes her, but she likes Mr. Racoon.And a VERY deceiving shot where she looks like the baby Jesus Hello Kitty! Look at those cute paws!

Where does the dirt go?

I have been wondering how Trixie manages to stay white-ish. She's digging like crazy in the backyard and it's been raining. Oh how I HATE mud, rain, dirt, etc. The picture above was taken right after she dug IN the rain. What a lucky duckie! So yeah, I wanna know....where does the dirt go?

Answer: The white blanket that she sleeps on inside her crate. I clean it every 2 weeks. It's a regular blanket that I've folded up so it fits inside. You can clearly see the white part (the bottom half of the picture) where she DOESN'T touch it, and the top part of the picture which is where the mud and dirt goes. Maybe it's time we teach her how to wipe her paws?

"I LOVE me some apples!"

Today I took Trixie to an apple picking farm. She loved it. I think she found it so freeing to be off pavement and in the country. The colors of the leaves were beautiful and the apples were ripe right off the tree. Me and my friend Amy were able to pick an apple, bite it, and then give a tiny taste to Trixie. She LOVES apples....she also loves frozen peas!

Don't worry...I didn't actually let a dog eat an entire apple, nor did I let her have that apple core for more than a minute or two. I found that she enjoyed licking the core more so than biting it.
I just LOVED how many apples were on the ground here. The Stuart Farm was beautiful and I was SO thankful that they allowed doggies on their property (as long as you clean up after your 'fur babies')

Switching up the Menu

So Trixie has been super picky which is not at ALL what I've experienced with dogs in the past. Usually, you pick up the food dish rattle the kibble in the bowl, and the dog is going nuts, bouncing off the walls! Not Trixie....Trixie usually checks out the food dish, samples it, and doesn't even touch it till later in the day. She's been eating Castor and Pollux puppy food. It's a chicken based food and shaped like little hearts (although I swear that is NOT why we bought it)

Anyway, I called up the breeder today because I think I have an anorexic dog...she suggests changing the food. So we now have a bag of Orijen's puppy mix (which if the breeder is reading, I looked it up on dogfoodadvisor.com and it got a 5 out of 5 star rating!)

We put her usual heart shaped food on the ground (we're training her right now with potty training, but we usually use a stainless steel bowl) with little bit of this new Orijens stuff. And OMG I've never seen my dog eat food so readily like that before. In fact, she sniffed it all out of the pile. I think we have a winner. Below is the photo of what she left for us....what she deemed unfit to eat. Notice how there are no round pieces in that pile.

This just goes to show you that dogs don't give a crap if their food is heart shaped...lol

Chillin' like a Villian!

Our pup has really gotten used to her home. SO COMFY....that she decided she could just chill in her club house (AKA under a piece of wood that we use as a "doggie ramp" on the lawn).

She was just checking Aaron out. No big deal. "No you can't come in here, you won't fit."

Doggie Sitter!

Yesterday, Aaron and I had to be out of the house ALL DAY. We didn't want to have to come back home because it would've been a hassle and I didn't want to leave her in her crate because she would've gotten cabin fever or left us a nice surprise on her blanket!

Enter doggie sitter!

Okay, a week and a half ago, I wrote on my facebook wall asking "who wants to dog sit?" I got a lot of responses. It seems that Trixie is a pretty little cutie and everyone wants to meet her. I "hired" my friend Jeremy, gave him the lowdown....etc. I really felt like a parent when I said "okay, her vet's number is on the wall over there. And if they're closed, use the 24 vet number."

Trixie was thoroughly spent by the time we got back. Jeremy would take her out and run in the backyard. She got a full day of play. How lucky!

Ready for her close up

Doesn't this shot look like a headshot? I think my pup could be a star! I mean, her uncle (I believe) Justin is in Martha Stewart commercials for Pet Smart. Maybe one day, she'll go to Film school. Our friend Katie (who is a professional wedding photographer) is visiting for a couple of days and tried to take some Trixie shots!

I mean, C'MON! Doesn't she look like the Cesar dog? Okay, yeah not really...she's WAY cuter! lol

Trixie is a challenge for Katie to shoot....she's normally shooting brides and grooms who are good at sitting still.

What a cute puppy

Yesterday was Trixie's booster shot day! We found a new vet in the area and tried them out. So far I like them. The vets all said that Trixie got the "cutest dog of the day" award. I wish there was a plaque for that.

Anyway, she'll be receiving her Interceptor and Frontline tomorrow.

In other exciting Trixie news, it is confirmed that she will be coming to CA at Thanksgiving. She has a plane ticket and everything. Yeah!

And for fun, here's a funny video on Trixie escaping from her pen. We only allow her to be running in her exercise pen when we're home and in the same room with her, so it's not a huge deal if she gets out. We just pick her back up and put her back in the pen. See it here.

And since she was groggy from her shot yesterday, we decided that it was a great time to try and snap a shot of the 3 of us.

What a sweetie

Okay, imagine you're asleep. Dreamland. Sounds nice right? Okay, imagine your spouse telling you "I'm getting in the shower. Please go play with the pup." You sit up, rub your eyes. Your feet touch the floor and you push yourself up out of bed. You groggily walk to the staircase to walk to the kitchen.....and who meets you half way, but TRIXIE!

This actually happened. It's not supposed to happen though. It was a nice way to woken up though, to a cute face!

Yes, THIS face! Yesterday I went to Petco to buy a specific harness that the trainer recommended. I passed by the leashes and HAD to buy this cute pink leash. When we first bought all the supplies for Trixie Aaron was super against pink stuff because "I have to walk her too!" But he showed up last night at home and saw it and just shrugged it off, calling her a "princess". Eventually, we'll move to red, but for now, she's just so dang cute with everything in pink.

Oooh, and we gave her a big 2 liter bottle to play with. Watch it here!

You're cooped up!

We've had a very busy weekend at the house. Aaron spent a good part of the weekend putting chicken wire up in the yard. He's such a handy man. I love how Trixie immediately started pulling on it and eventually shaped it into an arch for an escape tunnel. Aaron soon fixed that and we haven't seen any real digging around the borders of the fence since.

Trixie is quite a hand full. She tires Aaron out. We were very proud of her last night. We had a party and there were about 10 people in the house. She wasn't freaked out at all. She was quite friendly with the guests and just played with her toys. Of course, she was still in her pen the whole time. Everyone loved her, and I'm glad that we can bring people over without her howling and barking.