My couch!

Poor Finn! Ever since Darla got big enough to jump up onto the couch he hasn't had a moment's peace.

Fun at Kits Beach

Finn and his baby sister, Darla, enjoying an afternoon at the beach. He's such a good big brother :)

Puppy love

Puppies take up A LOT of time...

Finn has been absolutely amazing since we brought Darla home two months ago. It's been hard for all of us to adjust to having a puppy around and dealing with all her puppy issues. I almost didn't survive the first couple weeks of house-training, although we were able to night crate-train her after only two days.

The worst is over now (we hope). We still have a long way to go with both dogs (Miko is a perfect old man) but Darla is now able to keep up with Finn on walks, she loves the dog park, and she is able to play with Finn and with other dogs.

Finn was really uninterested in Darla to begin with, and he couldn't stand her barking and whining during the initial crate-training process. If she got too agitated he would go over to the crate and growl; I actually think that helped to crate-train her faster. Now she's super calm inside her crate and goes in to nap all the time.

The two of them play great with each other and we are counting down the days until Darla is big enough to give Finn a good chase. Right now he just runs circles around her and she kind of runs in a smaller circle and lunges out to try to grab him. He also won't wrestle with her yet but he will let her crawl all over him and "wrestle" his face.

He still doesn't quite get the exercise that he used to so we're sending him out on hikes with Release the Hounds three times a week. He just loves it! He comes back thoroughly exhausted and they've been working on his recall so he's actually getting better at responding to us at the dog park.

Here's a poor quality phone picture of Finn and Darla napping together on the bed. Baby girl loves her big brother :)

Finley turns 2!

Happy belated birthday, Finn!

Poor baby. These are very belated birthday wishes as his birthday was this past Monday. I was home from work that day and made sure to give him lots of playtime and attention. His present was a trip to a new dog park. He behaved remarkably well, and we were glad to see him interacting quite happily with the 4 or 5 German Shepherds at the park. As usual, Finn tried to join the smaller dogs' wrestling matches and was promptly told off by a Chihuahua mix. He spent the rest of the time stealing the ball from an adorable Beagle named Dexter who took Finn's thieving ways in stride.

And today marks Finn's last day as the baby of the family! Today after work we are hopping on the ferry and bringing Darla home. It is going to be quite an adventure having 3 dogs, especially with a puppy, a rambunctious adult and a senior. Andrew's brother is adopting one of Darla's sisters so we'll actually get to watch 2 pups from the same litter grow up together-ish. We've all got a lot of work ahead of us but we're all very excited :)

We have healthy dogs!

We took the boys to the vet on Sunday to get all their shots and stuff up-to-date. Miko, fabulous old man that he is, just sauntered into the clinic and tried to make friends with another dog. Finn, on the other hand, freaked at the door and had to be put back into the car while Miko was checked out.

Miko came in at just under 70 lbs, which means that he has lost about 25 lbs since we adopted him and is no longer overweight. He's actually a little underweight now; no more diet for him! We bought him a special doggy treat to celebrate. Other than his teeth which need a serious cleaning Miko was proclaimed extremely healthy and fit, especially for his age. No one at the clinic could believe that Miko is going to be 14 this year. I'm happy that we were able to slim him down; I think it's played a big part in his health.

The fabulous vet staff then had to bribe Finn with almost an entire bag of Pill Pockets to get him in the clinic, onto the scale and then into the exam room. We're so glad they were willing to take the time to bribe him in instead of us dragging him in. It seriously took almost half an hour before the vet was even able to see him. Much to our surprise, Finn is only 87 lbs. I was concerned that he was underweight too but the vet said that it's actually a great weight for him and that he too is very healthy. The vet took a couple skin scrapings from Finn to see about his crazy scratching. No mites or anything on him so it looks like it's an allergy to something. They gave us antihistamines for him to relieve some of the itching and let the raw-ish parts of his skin heal up.

All in all it was a great vet visit and we'll definitely be going back to them for Darla's shots and Miko's teeth cleaning. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon and everyone was getting tired, the staff were patient and kind and helpful and thorough. It's nice to know that our boys are doing well.

Here's a picture of a svelte Miko and his friend Daisy the Basset Hound (who has the best ears in the world).

On the road to recovery :)

Last night we sat down and worked on a plan to refocus on Finn and get him back on track. We know that the teenage rebellion phase is normal in dogs but we also know that if left unchecked any issues can turn into huge problems.

We totally admit that at some point over the summer we got really lax with Finn's training because he was doing so well and we were exhausted from getting him to that point. In all honesty, he was a nightmare when we brought him home a year ago: huge, hyper, strong, untrained, etc. We would come home from walks in tears because it was just so hard to control him or get him to listen or just stop pulling. We could see little improvements here and there but most days we were just so tired and completely demoralized.

And then some time in the middle of June we realized that he would walk beside us more often than not. We realized that we were successfully refocusing his attention when bikers and joggers passed by. We realized that we could call his name across the park and he would respond. He was calmer; we were calmer. Walks were enjoyable. The dog park was fun. We had finally emerged from the bad place.

We relaxed. Maybe too much.

We haven't worked on anything new with him for months, just coasting by on what we were able to accomplish to make him manageable. But it's not enough anymore. For his mental stimulation, I've started to teach him to "find" something. I hide a carrot under a bowl and he has to point to the right bowl (out of three choices). He was so confused the first time we played, but it was so awesome watching it click for the first time. Confused as all hell again today though...

We've also started walking the boys separately whenever possible so that we can give Finn all our attention during his walk. We only started walking them together in mid-November because it was just impossible previously. Separate walks take more time but it really gives us quality one-on-one time with each dog.

On a lighter note, here is our other type of quality time :P

Teenagers...*sigh*

Although, at almost two-years-old Finn should be past the rebellious teenager stage, right? He's gotten so difficult lately, exhibiting all these dodgy behaviours that we hope are not permanent.

This morning he growled and snapped at a dog that he's known for almost a year and the two of them have always had positive interactions in the past. The dog is a German Shepherd and is an intact male, both of which are things that seem to be new triggers for Finn. He did have a nice romp with a seven-year-old GSD female named Bella later in the day, so it really might just be the "intact male" part that is an issue.

We've also had to put him the in "penalty box" at the dog park quite a few times recently. He loves it there and he's great friends with most of the owners and the dogs but he's been misbehaving a lot and we're really not okay with some of the things he's been doing. The "penalty box" does seem to work well for most of his indiscretions but there have been a few times that we have just taken him home early. We really want him to behave well at the dog park because he gets such good exercise and socialization there.

There are a lot of dogs around Finn's age at the park so almost everyone had stories to contribute about the bad things their dogs have done. While it's nice to know that we're not alone and that everyone still thinks of Finn as a friendly, gentle dog, we have to watch him so carefully because he is just so big. He can make the same mistake as a smaller dog but his mistake will likely have greater consequences.

We are lucky that we live close to this awesome park with lots of amazing calm, friendly and forgiving dog owners. We've seen dogs pee on people, knock people over, get into tussles with each other, nip, wrestle and pin each other, and yes, grab at clothing or hands with their mouths. For the most part, everyone tries to help each other out with advice, separating dogs, reinforcing boundaries and rules, watching one dog if the owner has to attend to another dog, and just generally being great company. And all our dogs have good and bad days, and people are really good about calling it a day if their dog is acting out.

I am hopeful that Finn is just going through his adolescent phase a little late due to all the upheaval he experienced in his early life and that soon he will go back to being the super friendly, gentle giant that he's known as. I feel that we keep a close eye on his behaviour and are able to spot when he's about to get testy, and I know that we have a pretty good handle on his triggers. We just have to be patient and firm with him and put in a few extra hours of training.

They calm down around three years old, right...?