We can’t believe we’ve had Abby one month. She is doing wonderful. We started her in obedience training and the trainer calls her “smarty pants” and what a sweet dog she is. She is doing well in training. We are very lucky. We have a few names for her (and probably more as the time goes by). My husband has taken to calling her “Princess” (or sometimes he’ll say “where’s my girlfriend” and her ears perk right up and goes right to him. (whatever he calls her, she goes right to him) =o) After my alarm goes off in the morning and I hit snooze, she comes right on over and lays her face beside mine and I might get a little kiss to wake me up again. (love that). She is still very timid when people come in and our visitors know that she needs a little time and she will go right over to them. We have bought her a couple of toys but finding out she is really only interested in the ball toys (or sticks.) She LOVES the snow and actually slides (nose first) down the small hill in our back yard. Next snow we have I will make sure to take a couple of pictures.

Mort has had a great month so far. He’s really become a part of our family. We just returned from a long weekend at our house in New Hampshire. He travels great in the car. We hiked our favorite trails, and Mort loved it. We climbed a small mountain, and explored the summit, and then came down another trail, with Mort leading the way on his leash. Our dachshund, Heidi, is a veteran hiker, so she showed him the ins and outs of hiking, so to speak. After splashing through lots of mud, he actually jumped in the lake for a bath. It was very balmy out, but he made it quick, and then came inside and warmed up by the fire. He really loved it up there, and we’re glad, because it’s our favorite place, too. He adjusted right away to the house….I think he knew it was OK as long as he was with his family.

He’s walking much better on a leash, and has settled in to our daily routine. He LOVES his daily walks, and jumps around when he hears the jingling of the leash. He is also learning not to jump up on people, but we’re still working on not stealing food from the table…this might take some time. He is not as timid now when he meets new people, and greets all of the neighborhood kids with excitement.

Mort has really connected with each of us, especially the boys. He loves to play soccer in the yard, and can’t have enough tennis balls. The cats are still a bit leery, but they’re very dog savvy, and know the best hiding spots.

Mort has added so much to our lives. We’re looking forward to sharing many more adventures with him. Thanks so much for choosing us as his forever family.

This is Clifford’s One Year Update. It’s hard to believe that big ol’ Cliff has been part of our family for a whole year. We celebrate his birthday on his adoption day, so he has had a couple of special treats today.

He is such a good dog with a great disposition, and he’s pretty mellow (except when he wants to go for a walk, or it’s feeding time). He was less than thrilled when we attempted to dress him up for Halloween. We tried getting a picture, but he would have half of his costume off before we snapped the picture.

He’s into the big Nylabones now, which thankfully last a lot longer than the rawhide bones. He loves his walks, rides, and having his belly rubbed. He gets this indignant look when you stop rubbing his belly.

Surprisingly, I think we have the only Labrador Retriever in the world who doesn’t like the water. Looks like we’ll have to sell his lifejacket on E-Bay.

We are so thankful that the big guy is part of our family.

Sadie is doing very well. She absolutely loves her squeakie toys, of which she now has a sufficient number to meet her needs in various parts of the house. I am currently teaching her the “squeak it!” command; she already knows the “get the baby” command. Anyway, she entertains us to no end with her squeaky-toy shenanigans. She especially likes whipping them from side to side and throwing them in the air when Simon, our cat, is her audience. It’s as if she’s saying, “this is what I’m going to do to you!” Simon is unmoved by the display, mainly because he is safely perched in the center of the dining room table while Sadie does her squeaky toy dance in the living room.

Sadie and I also continue our twice daily walks. Every morning we go the beach, where she gets to run free and frequently gets to see her new boyfriend, Thor, who lives down the street. Thor is an big old guy who pretty much just stands there while Sadie literally runs circles around him and does the occasional body slam. We got a good laugh out of that.

Another update on our Abby. We have started calling her Abby Gabby Girl because she “talks” to us and we love it when she does that. We are continuing our walks in the woods and have found out that she loves to try and dig up rocks (big) ones. She puts that head right under the water and then tries to dig it up and bring it to us. We laughed so hard watching her.

We are going to have obedience training Thursday nights at 5:30 starting next week on the 17th. BUT, she listens soooo well that we might be able to skip the beginning and go on to something more.

Here’s a little picture just because she’s so cute.

Our first two years with Blackjack have flown by with amazing speed, wonderful memories and too many adventures to count. She is such an integrated member of our family with her own unique personality and quirkiness that just make her a special dog, our dog. I’m happy to report that as she approaches her 11th birthday she is still in good health and continues to amaze our vet with her energy and silliness. I had to laugh when our vet informed me that I could expect her to calm down in two or three years and start acting like a “proper adult dog” and not like the puppy she thinks she is.

As mentioned last year, we taught her to swim and it has become her absolute favorite thing to do. Every time we took her to the beach, she’d run right out in the waves, stick her paws out in front of her and body surf to shore. Everytime she did this, a group of people would inevitably gather around to watch our beach bum and just smile. Though she likes the ocean, her favorite is playing in the rivers. At one point, she swam across the river and its very strong current and to get to a big rock on the other side to sun herself. I guess she just needed to soak up her rays. Not to be outdone, she also managed to summit Wildcat Mountain and had a blast cruising the trails, chasing squirrels and getting muddy at every opportunity.

You can tell that she’s a hunting dog by nature, especially around water, because every time she sees a bird, she’ll go on point and start stalking. She has a love hate relationship with a great blue heron and a mallard duck that live on the river/marsh area down the street from us. She gets all excited to see them; her stalking game begins and then gets frustrated when they get away from her. I can imagine her thinking to herself, “someday, someday.”

As we work on our third with her, we’re so happy that we adopted her through NEARR. She truly is the perfect dog for us and you helped make that happen!

I know that I was suppose to email you on the 2nd but wanted to wait until after Abby’s first visit to the Vet. All went well at the vets-good health-good shape and he even told us that her back end was very muscular probably from all the running and fetching she so loves. What every woman loves to hear. =o)

She has adapted to our home wonderfully. We are having lots of fun on our walks and playing in the yard. Her records show that she was 55 pounds when we got her-she weighed in at 60 so we are going to try and hold her at that. =o)

Our second week has been just as great as the first. Maggie has had a few good swims in the pond behind our house and has had lots of hikes. Halloween was very exciting. Maggie needed to meet and greet every kid that came by. Maggie also had her physical. The vet said she is in great condition, and recommended glucosomine to keep the hips and knees in shape and lubricated. So Maggie and Aiko get their “vitamins” in their breakfast every morning. I don’t think they notice at all.

In general - Maggie is doing great - she loves the woods, and the couch, and her chair, and the bed, and every other soft surface in the house.