Updates!

Once again, life has gotten away from me, which makes blogging slip my mind.

Loki is doing great. His bandage is off, and he's running around like a champ. Thanks to his antics in the mud, he even landed himself a bath with Ares and Vixen, despite his best efforts. My husband already told me that thanks to a romp in the mud this morning, all of my careful grooming has gone down the toilet.

Vixen is growing like you read about. She's huge, already the size of the boys and passing! Everyday she looks like a different dog. Her coat is starting to fringe out a bit, and I'm excited for it to really start coming out.

Ares is... well, Ares. He's just as timid, but snugly as ever. He was a bit upset that my husband picked up some extra hours this week, causing the dogs to be left alone more than their used to. This has made Ares a little extra clingy the last few days, but we don't mind at all. He's the world sweetest cuddler.

Other than that, we're waiting out the rain, and hoping for some more sunny days to romp around the yard.

Poor Loki

My Loki is a sad little puppy:


And this is why:


Yesterday, while I was at work, my husband called me in a panic to come home right away because we had to bring Loki to the vet. When I arrived home, there was blood everywhere, and my husband said while he had the dogs out in the yard, somehow Loki had caught one of his claws and almost ripped one of his back "toes" right off.

The vet was wonderful, and took him right in. We had to leave him because he needed sedation in order to be patched up. They removed the broken nail and patched up his toe and wrapped it all up.

Loki is not happy about having his foot wrapped to say the least. I've caught him trying to chew it off several times. However, he LOVES the liquid antibiotics he has to be on for the next few days. Oh, and he gets to delay bath time for another two weeks. He's going to be one sticky, smelly dog by the next time we can get him in the tub. But at least he's all right, and I can live with a little dog smell any day.

The Beach

Finally the weather has cooperated enough to give us a chance to take the chis to the beach. This was their first trip to the beach, and we were curious to see how the doggies would respond to the sand, to the waves, and all of the new exciting ocean smells.

Ares, our champion sniffer, loved all of the ocean debris laying around:


Vixen kept sticking her nose in the sand, leaving her with a sandy nose to match all of the other places in her fur she got sand:



All the dogs were fascinated by these balls of sea stuff we kept finding on the beach. They appeared to be compacted sea weed and grass, and who knows what. All that mattered was that the dogs were crazy for them:


This is the dog's cousin Mopsy. He's a fun happy little Bichon that belongs to my mother-in-law who the chis get along with great. Mopsy had fun running around off leash- unfortunately our dogs aren't quite ready for that yet.


And of course, there was Loki. My husband thought for sure he would bark at the waves, but he didn't. Granted, he barked at everything, and everyone else,(including some giant horses riding on the beach) but not the waves. He had a great time poking around as well:


Now we know the dogs will have no problems spending the summer days at the beach. I just can't wait until we can all get in the water!

And, on another note, this trip to the beach finally gave the dogs a chance to find some cool beach goodies for Pedro's mommy's table! I can't wait to send them along.

Welcome Back Spring!

So, now that the warm weather is finally beginning to show it's face around here again, we've been taking full advantage of the sunshine and spending a lot of time outside and away from the computer. The dogs are loving it, and so are the rest of us.

Loki is still healing from getting fixed. Luckily it's healing up nicely, and he hasn't been licking at his stitches. In a few more days they should start dissolving. It was rough watching him be so uncomfortable, especially since he also had four retained baby teeth taken out at the same time, so his mouth was tender too. But he's bouncing back like a champ :)

So, just to prove we all still exist, here are some lovely bath time photos from the doggies before Loki's surgery:

Cute Overload

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Sometimes life just gets a little crazy.

This weekend we were so excited to have a nice day and spend some time outside. We put the dogs outside in their pen so they could scamper around while I did some yard work. Before long, our neighbor came over and introduced our puppies to some new friends- A mama bunny and her babies.

The dogs had a blast getting to know their new friends, and were very gentle with the babies:

We're hoping that this is just the first in a series of nice Spring days. I'm sure the bunnies will be back to play.

Loki is getting neutered tomorrow. I'm nervous, but I keep telling myself everything will go just fine. Keep your fingers crossed for my boy!

New Duds for Vixie

Having a girl dog is a lot of fun. Even though we've only had her for about two weeks, I'm loving dressing her up. So much so that I've even started making her dresses. I just got this pattern from http://petitepuppypatterns.com/Site/Home-1.html. So great! The pattern is just adorable and fairly easy. Check out the first dress that I've made so far:













It's hard to get good photos of a bouncing puppy. Especially when her brothers get involved:




(Sorry for the sideways-ness, it wouldn't load strait)

On the whole, things are going well. Vixen is finally sleeping through the night, and, aside from a few snarling matches, the boys seem to have accepted her.

The bad news? Potty training is slow going, and she seems to be dragging the boys down with her. Luckily it's warming up and we can start going outside more regularly. Keep your fingers crossed.

Also? She very nippy. We've been yelping to show her it hurts, and putting her on the floor when she gets too rough in her play. We've also been shoving chew toys at her.

So all in all, she's a puppy :) We adore her and she's been wonderful. Now only if she'd stop leaving little puddles everywhere....

She's He-ere!

Our little Vixen has officially been home for about a week now- and I'm exhausted! I forgot how much work a new puppy is, from cleaning up after them (already earning her the nickname "puddles"), to training, to getting your face bounced on at 2 a.m.

But, she's more than worth it. Her energy is upbeat and sweet, and she already loves laps. Oh, and did I mention that she's insanely adorable? I mean, how could you ever get upset with a little puppy face like this:

After some initial snarling and general stand offish-ness, the boys finally seem to be accepting her. They are even letting her cuddle up with them, and romping around with her. Here's a snippet of her playing around with Ares with the occasional glimpse of Loki poking around for good measure:

We all just adore her, and are so glad she's part of our fabulous pack.

I've updated Loki and Ares' photos and added Vixen on my sidebar to better reflect our new gang. It's a chi party!