puppy love: a day in the life of oliver

Oliver's favorite thing to do is wake up early (much to his owners' chagrin).  He's a "morning dog" and a firm believer in the motto that the early bird catches the worm, er make that the cicada, bunny rabbit, and/or squirrel.  After breakfast and a walk, Oliver hangs out in the kitchen while we do other things around the house/get ready for the day. When we come back, it's often to a scene like this:

Who? Me?

We have since reclaimed our coffee table for its original purpose and purchased a baby gate that prevents Oliver from destroying the entire house.

Hmm... I wonder how that blind got so twisted? Those dirty paw prints on the wall certainly aren't any clue.  Nor is the puppy frozen in action - obviously he wasn't doing anything wrong :) (Please excuse the poor quality of this photo!)

If it's not too hot outside, Oliver sometimes gets to hang out on the screened-in front porch.  When this happens, he loves to peer over the banister at his best friend Tana's house in hopes that she might be in her front yard.  His other favorite porch pastimes include chewing things he's not supposed to, trying to dig up the carpet, running around in circles, and generally being so cute that you can't get mad at him.

Finally! Freedom! As soon as that porch door opens, he's off! Luckily, there's no need to worry as we know he's headed directly to Tana's front porch, where he will wait in front of her door until a human is around to let him in. 

The long play session with Tana combined with the morning walk makes for one tired puppy.  Oliver comes home from Tana's and fights sleep for as long as possible until he passes out on the beautiful brick linoleum floor (you know you're jealous).  Just in case you're wondering, he does have a dog bed and a blanket he could sleep on, but sometimes exhausted puppies like the hard floor just the same.

By the way, if this is a typical weekend day, you've just seen Oliver's life from 5:30 am to 10 am. We're not even to lunchtime yet!

le quatorze

source

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

puppy love: oliver: 1, sprinkler: 0

Oliver LOVES the water. We first realized it when our neighbor, who (without any planning or communication between us) also got a puppy who just happens to be a day older than Oliver, filled up a kiddie pool with water for the dogs.  Oliver jumped right in and started "doggy paddling" (he wasn't quite swimming because the pool isn't deep enough) and our neighbor's dog, Tana, refused to join.  It is so amazing to me how dogs have these natural tendencies, this inherent knowledge of what to do.  What would take a human child days/weeks/months to learn, Oliver did immediately upon hitting the water at 8 weeks.  Crazy.

Anyway, we, as of yet, do not have a kiddie pool for the Liver to play in, so sometimes we try to get him to run through the sprinkler.  He doesn't like it nearly as much as the kiddie pool.  I think he doesn't quite get what's going on.  However, he will run up to it and try to bite the water.  You show 'em, Oliver.

And, he's really cute when he's sopping wet.  Well, let's be honest, he's really cute all the time. 

puppy love: oliver and the bottle

I'll admit it; these pictures are from awhile ago.  Like 3 weeks ago probably.  Oliver is MUCH bigger now.  He's growing so quickly! The weeks are flying by, too. It's hard to believe we got him Memorial Day weekend...it sometimes seems like just yesterday that we brought this little rascal into our home and it sometimes feels like we've had him forever.  I do have some more recent pictures to share, but I wanted to get these out there first - lest you think Oliver is shrinking! Ha what a joy that would be.  Some days I feel nervous about his undetermined full-size.  We've been told he'll be anywhere from 40 to 80 lbs.  Right now it's looking like we'll surpass 40 in no time (okay maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, last vet visit he only weighed 16.8).

Either way, he loves to play with that bottle. If Oliver could talk, he would tell you how he loves the way it bounces unpredictably.  And how he loves the rattling noise it makes as it hits the concrete.  He loves to chase it and how difficult it can be to bite the bottle itself (that mini tennis ball makes things much easier).