We have one happy dog living with us! He likes going for walks, going for rides in the car, playing with his ball in the backyard, and just hanging around with us in the house. When we sit down on the floor, he just cuddles right up next to us. If we are standing up, he loves wrapping his body around us, like a cat does..we cannot believe how flexible his body is! He got to meet our vet a couple of weeks ago and got a clean bill of health. We will be scheduling the obedience classes for after the holiday time. We really do enjoy him… all is well in the Household of Dexter!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Hi Dawn. I just got a call from the vet who told us that all of Hailee’s blood-work for liver function, phenobarbitol, heartworm and lyme disease came back perfect. She is a very healthy girl. The vet was very impressed in her behavior and cooperation as well as her overall health. She was obviously
loved in her past lives as she is in her current one with us.

We are working with her on the invisible fence and she is a fast learner. It will be a couple more weeks before she can be on her own with Sam in the yard. She finally loves all of the men in the family-no more barking and backing away from them. Sam and she are the best of friends now. She enjoys her outings to the local state park. It is a trick keeping the two dogs from getting tangled up on their long leashes. It works best when we go together.

Hailee is quite the little thief! I opened a bottom drawer in my bureau and she quickly grabbed a pair of socks and ran. We are working on getting her to drop shoes and socks and trading them for a toy. Then we play keep away with her. She keeps us on our toes.

We went shopping last night and picked up a new tugtoy and nylabone for her Christmas stocking. Sam is a tennis ball and nylabone kind of guy and is not interested in the tugtoys son we are building our upper body strength playing tug with her several times a day.

Bill got up to feed and walk the dogs this morning. I was sound asleep and was woken up by Hailee kisses all over my face!!! She has decided our bed is a favorite place. She and Sam often nap there during the day.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

We have now had Cosmo for 8 years and he is doing great. He is still coming for runs, hikes and chasing his ball in the yard. We had our third child in July and once again Cosmo is awesome with the baby. He also let’s my twins play and crawl on and around him without a care in the world.

Thank you once again for bringing him into our lives. We will always be grateful.

Hailee has certainly made herself at home. She and Sam have come to an understanding and are now pals. I think Hailee would like it if Sam played tug toy but he has never enjoyed that game so we play tug with her instead. We will be starting to train her on the invisible fence this week. We got her a working collar and now that I am on a 3 month hiatus from the nursery I will have more time to work with her. We took Hailee to Buddy Dog this weekend to meet Donna Dewallis, the director. She thinks Hailee is a gem. She played mascot for the team of boy scouts working on their Eagle Scout project there.

Hailee is an imp. She likes to get into the trash so we are getting cans with lids for the bathrooms. She especially likes to take our shoes and play keep away with them to get our attention. Our house is tidier now that we know to put our shoes in the closet! Hailee keeps guard while we have workers building a small deck off the house. She makes a point to woof at them periodically just to let them know she’s here.

Yesterday, saw her have her first seizure with us. She was laying next to the desk and when she didn’t lift her head and saw her shaking a little. It was brief and mild like we were told. We are religious about giving her the medication so I guess we can expect these periodically.

Our 2 year old granddaughter loves Hailee because she is so playful and affectionate. She likes having 2 doggies to love and they love her. She is really good with dogs because she has spent a lot of time with Sampson since she was born. Our daughter came home from college last weekend and was surprised to find Hailee here. We did not tell her because we wanted her to be surprised and she was. Hailee is so immediately affectionate towards women and kids but it takes her a while with men. If they sit down she is fine but when they are standing she barks and backs away until she gets to know the man. She must have had issues with a man or men in her past. She is doing great with all of us now that all the family has met her and she has had a chance to give kisses to all. Hope your holidays are jolly!

We continue to really enjoy having Dexter as a member of our family! He has defintely adjusted to our schedule. He is such a smart dog…he learns very quickly. It took a few days, but he now lies down on the floor by the table while we eat. I think he even closed his eyes and took a little cat nap while we ate tonight! Whenever anyone of us comes home, he greets us with kisses and full body wags!

While out on our walks, he has met our next door neighbor’s dog; they seem to be friends. He also gets along well with the other dogs that our dog walker takes care of. We will continue to have her come take him out around noon, so he can burn some of that puppy energy. He, of course, really likes to play fetch with any one of us, including me who does not through the ball very well.

Today we went to watch the local Santa parade. Dexter howled at the firetrucks when they turned on their sirens, with his tail wagging; I think he was telling them that he could be louder! He also liked seeing the horses and other dogs…and of course Santa!

This week we will be going to the vet for his check up. I am sure that he will get a clean bill of health. Thank you to all who took care of Dexter before he joined us; he is a very sweet dog!

I can’t believe it has already been one whole month with my new family. It feels like I’ve been here forever. I continue to amaze my mom and dad with just how sweet and kind I am. Mom feels I have truly accepted that this is my forever home. I have become so playful. I chase after balls now and will return them to Mom when she throws them for me. I used to just laze around. But now, no one would ever guess my age!

Mom and I both think it is funny that neither one of us can eat gluten. In any other household, they would have to be concerned if I gobbled up a spare crumb from the floor. Yet somehow, I was blessed to be placed with humans that are just like me!

My feline brother and I have enjoyed keeping our parents on their toes. He is a very talented cat and will kindly knock things off the kitchen counter for me. He can even open the fridge! We nearly had quite the feast when he figured that one out! Mom just laughs and calls us “partners in crime”. She blames it all on my brother and knows I would never participate in such hijinks without him.

I’ll keep you all posted about our adventures next month! Mom says we get to go stay to my Auntie’s house for the holidays. Can’t wait!

Until then,
Fantastic Frannie

Dexter has been a wonderful addition to our family! He adjusted very quickly. He gets to go for a short walk in the morning before we all leave, a neighbor takes him for another walk around noon, and then we go for a nice long walk in the later part of the afternoon. Of course, in between all of those walks, there is always time to play fetch! Although right now we keep Dexter on the retractable leash and don’t throw the ball far, he does not seem to mind. He is just happy to play fetch!

I must admit that I was worried about having Dexter join us on Sunday and having my family travel and stay over for the Thanksgiving holiday, but all went very well. Everyone loved Dexter. He did not seem to even notice that there were lots of people staying at the house. He played nicely with my seven year old niece…she would tell him to sit and wait before throwing his ball, and he listened and obeyed her. They had a great time together!

Dexter just makes all of us laugh, even my three month old nephew would giggle when he saw him. We are so happy that he has joined us.