We Still Love Lucy

Our last post was regarding Lucy. Being that the last five weeks have primarily centered around her, there is not much else to update about.

When Darlene from the rescue group put Lucy in Aaron's arms that day, she told us that she was 9 weeks old. It didn't take very long for us to become suspicious that this is a high estimate for her actual age - between the research we'd done on her breed, and Lucy's trainer (who has her own Bernese Mt. Dog and has trained quite a few) voicing her own opinion, we finally decided to take our curiosity to the vet. After quickly scoping out her teeth, Dr. Tiffany decided it's true: Lucy is probably about a month younger than we think. So, that makes her 11 weeks old TODAY.

 As I've told a few people, this new information has been encouraging: If Lucy really was roughly 5 or 6 weeks old when we brought her home, then for an 11 week old puppy who had no early learning from her mother or litter mates (because she was already in a rescue home at 3 or 4 weeks old), she learns fast and easily.

Lucy has been catching on so quickly to what we expect out of her, what her routines and habits will be, and what we are trying to teach her. She knows what we mean when we say, "Let's go upstairs to your crate." She runs for the stairs and bounces up them happily, and waits patiently to be let into our room (and then for the deliciously moist bacon cookie she is rewarded with after sitting politely in the crate). She shows fast response to the new tricks she learns each week at PetSmart. We heard her breed is very smart and trainable, and we wouldn't deny it.

House training is coming along well, too. Lucy can't wait to get outside and do her business and get a bacon cookie for every squat. She is holding her bladder longer and waking us up less every night. For the first 3 weeks we were up 4 or 5 times every night to take her outside because she was physically unable to control her bladder. We have graduated to once nightly, around 3 AM. We are at the point where her pen is becoming obsolete:

(And yes, that is my shoe she is grabbing for on the couch - I had to think fast and grab it at the last moment or she'd have run off with it.)

So moving forward she will have free access (only when we are able to supervise 100%) to the kitchen and living room. We know she will have accidents inside for a little while longer but we accept this is the key to learning: we can't just prevent, we have to correct as well (is that not a MAJOR parenting concept or what?).

In other news, my brother David is officially done with his active duty in the Army. He will be home soon for good. This is an incredibly momentous and exciting time for him. Please pray that he finds a successful journey in life post-service, whether he pursues a degree or finds a job well suited for him, finds a house or an apartment or lives with the 'rents for awhile. Whatever he does, my family will be relieved and happy to have him back where we can hug him more often (he gives great Lyon hugs).

Between the Army and grad school, both of my brothers have finished amazing chapters of their lives this summer. I'm very proud of them.

Believe it or not (we hardly can), we are approaching the 30 day countdown to our first anniversary. Strange! We have had a wonderful first year of marriage. But, as we have one month of our first twelve left to experience, I am not going to provide any insightful thoughts on what we have learned or anything like that until approximately October 10th.

We have both scheduled the week after our anniversary off from work but we don't have any plans of going anywhere (at least not far). We originally thought we would go to Hocking Hills for a few days but have since decided it would just be nice to have a few days off at home, to keep our pocket book in check and to get some projects done on the home front. And of course, to relax and treat ourselves here and there. Any great suggestions for local restaurants to check out on October 9th?