Where To Begin...

Busy, busy, busy and unfortunately the blog is always at the very bottom of my priority list.  I honestly don't know how so many people are able to keep up with everything!  I think I know too many people who epitomize productivity.  There are plenty of dog people I know, with multiple dogs, competing in multiple dog sports, while holding down a full time job and taking care of a family.  My hat is off to them!  I just have myself and my two dogs to be responsible for and that often has me desperately trying to find more hours in the day!  Oh yeah, did I mention that I have a new puppy? :)

Meet Miley. :) Her registered name is Icon's Came in Like a Wrecking Ball.  I thought both her call name and her registered name were quite amusing.  At the time, with an 8 week old puppy, I thought it was hilarious how sassy and bold she was, so why not give her a name to match!  Needless to say, that sass and boldness is still there, but now in a nine month old great dane puppy's body!

She is ridiculously cute, ridiculously sweet, still quite sassy, has an opinion about EVERYTHING and thinks the world needs to know, is scary smart and most importantly, has been exactly what Heffner and I needed.  She is wonderful.  But also a little bit of a shit at times. ;)

As you might guess, I have a ridiculous amount of pictures and video of the now not so little, squirt.  I thought about over loading this post with a smattering of pictures from the past several months, but that's really a lot!  At the request of some non-dog friends who were horrified at the picture onslaught that they knew was coming, I created a separate page on Facebook for Miley. :)  It's actually kind of nice having her own page and has worked really well.  So if you'd like to see pictures and video and you're on Facebook, you can check out Miley-SassyPants Bader.  Which reminds me, I still have more pictures that I need to upload to that page!

You might be wondering how Heffner initially handled this little bundle of back sassing joy.  To put it mildly, he wasn't thrilled.  As I mentioned, Miley is sassy.  She is also bold.  I absolutely love that in her, but it is also two personality traits that will piss Heffner off.  It took a full three months before I could have them loose together both inside and outside the house.  We went through the two different heights of x-pens that I have during this process so that he could get used to her and adjust to her personality while inside the house.  I knew that they would eventually get along and they are now pretty freaking adorable together, but it was a process and it was not easy.  It was one of those things where I knew what the eventual positive out come would be, but it was going to take as long as it was going to take and there was just no way of knowing how long that process would be.  But it was oh so worth it!  She keeps Heffner hopping and playing.  Bringing a new puppy into the house is definitely not for everyone's situation.  I know very well what I'm dealing with when it comes to Heffner.  I've also accumulated a lot of dog related equipment over the years and was able to set up my house to accommodate the extended introduction process.  I was also really invested in making sure this worked for all parties involved and I'm very happy to say that it has.:)

It's difficult to sum up the past several months in one blog post that attempts to not be a novel.  There are so many hilarious Miley stories, so many personality quirks, so many awwwww moments, as well as some "how'd she figure that out??" moments.  My intent with Miley is to show her in both conformation as well as a variety of performance sports.  I still plan, and to some extent have already been, to do all the regular hiking, running, swimming, traveling, etc. with her that I've done with my other dogs.  Once she's old enough and her growth plates have closed, she'll start going running with me.  She already goes on hikes with Heffner and I and loves it.  We've gotten back into private obedience lessons already and have been going for a few months now.  Twice she's been used as a training aid in Bobbie Lyons' Train the Trainers sessions.  We've also had a private lesson with Bobbie to go over some age appropriate exercises that I can do with Miley.  And finally, Miley has already been in two conformation shows, with her third coming up this month at the big Rose City Classic.  We still have agility classes to start and there are a variety of other sports that I'd like to start into with her as well.  First and foremost, she is a fantastic companion and I am thrilled and feel fortunate that the circumstances were right for me to get this puppy. :)

So, new puppy.  Yay!!  Heffner time now.  I will be completely honest, before I got Miley, I was afraid that I might lose two dogs in the same year.  Heffner had a rough winter with his malignant nerve sheath tumor and it looked like he was getting arthritis in his front feet.  Then he became an only dog.  I noticed my boy age in front of me and it was hard to deal with.  Having a puppy in the house was a lot of work and a lot of splitting my time, but it did jazz him up.  And once they were able to be completely loose with each other, the old man had an ever ready playmate!  So while he is still not the same agile boy that he once was, he has definitely perked up.  But I did take him in to see the vet in December to do something about his arthritis.  While he was more mobile, I could tell that he was uncomfortable.  We ran some blood work just to make sure everything else was fine with him and Heffner got a prescription for meloxicam.  The blood work came back with everything looking great and the arthritis medication has given him back some of his old spunk!  My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.  The old man is ripping around the back yard with the puppy, they're wrestling inside the house, he has no issues with certain types of terrain while we're hiking, and is generally a happier boy.  And he turns 9 this month!

I hope that all is well with everyone that I miss out in blog land!  Thank you for holding out hope that I will eventually get around to blogging again!  And thanks for reading!  I hope everyone had a great holiday season and here's to more blogging in 2015! :)