Kaner, getting bigger
Just a couple photos of Kaner to check in how he’s growing and to send off to his breeder…
Just the ear set. Came out nicely and gives him a really nice expression. Sweet from the side. A little playful from the front!
Full body. He definitely still has a lot of conditioning and muscling out to do, and also, his little naked coat really needs to fill out – but he’s a handsome little naked dude!
Georgie Turns FIVE
Our little miss Georgie turned FIVE this year! At last minute, my mom and I went to Party City to pick out some party goods for her. I located the sparkley tiny cowboy hats… for 99 cents… and couldn’t really pass that up.
Also this awesome sequined bow.
Yes. Yes this is good.
Although I’m not positive Georgie agrees.
Payton got a lovely black sparkley cowboy hat (because they were out of the blue.)
And Kane got a silver one to set off his Tiny Black Dog-ness.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIE
Also, this happened… yep. Payton knows some kind of secret.
This is the face of a dog who is ready for her birthday cupcakes.
Ohhhhh yaaaaaas.
A very good wait, even on her birthday.
The carnage happened after this. The photos are all blurry and there are cake crumbs everywhere. It’s terrible.
Then Payton got his cuppycake.
He is really rather good at the cake eating.
…sort of.
This one is still learning about cake. We gave him his on a plate because we weren’t positive he was going to know what to do, exactly. (He’s only done the birthday thing once so far!)
A good wait for a little baby dog! (Also, behold the adorable monkey plates.)
Aaaaaand he knows how to eat cupcakes.
Happy birthday my little Georgie, my good girl!
The Last Photos of Auggie
It has been really hard to get into these photos.
Several of these are photos I took after he came home. Still more are photos my sister came and took of us.
I’ll do my best, y’all, but some of these may just have no commentary.
The photos of Auggie’s final night at the vet will be hidden behind a link… I know those can be really hard to look at, especially for those of us who have lost beloved dogs. So I give you the option of preparing your heart, and then clicking to enter into those photos.
Here we go… the last round of photos of the best dog I will ever own.
July 4th – home on his bed after that first weekend. All I wanted was to be able to bring my dog home and have him curl up on my bed with me again. So so blessed to have been able to do that.
That Obi-Wan Kenobi pillow became Auggie’s pillow over the years. He slept with his head on it so many times. When I packed up all his things, I packed that pillow up along with it.
Our 33 week family photo… he clearly didn’t feel well this day. This was when he still wasn’t up to eating again.
With his niecelette, Georgie.
One more time – the hilarious disaster that is my three.
Payton with his bro. He loved his Auggie so very much. Just like we all did. Best brothers and best friends.
This is a photo of the best dog I will ever own.
A kiss from Georgie.
This beautiful photo my sister took. He obviously was feeling much better by Sunday. Look at that big, beautiful, happy smile.
Trying to get another family photo… just one last one with all of us.
Nobody would look at the camera, so I looked the same direction they were looking – ha!
The last one of all three of my great dogs with me.
One last jump, buddy.
Joy, right up until the end. Doing what we loved to do together.
We were at Louisville last year – the year Auggie retired from agility – and my friend Gary’s wife told me one day, “I love to watch you with your dog. Because no matter what your run went like, you pick him up at the end and you give him a kiss. And then he puts his little head on your shoulder, and you give him a kiss again.”
I’m so fortunate to have this photo. It is one of the things I will always remember most about Auggie.
32 Week Family Photo
32 week family photos! Two this time, neither of which is really worthy of going on anybody’s wall…
Auggie. Forever the best at photos.
Kane and Payton. Forever ruining everything.
Payton thinks he’s pretty bloody clever though.
31 Week Family Photo
Well, at 31 weeks, this is much more like a regular family photo, right? Nobody is smiling and nobody wants to get that close and Payton won’t even LOOK at Kaner today.
30 Week Family Photo
30 weeks! The best part is they all look like they like each other here. Sitting so nice and close and everybody smiling.
Not at all like real families, right?
Fetching Tags for Kane and Payton
Kaner is old enough to have his very own Fetching Tag now – and while I was at it, I grabbed a second one for Payton. Payton has rocked the Kid Flash for a long time, but just like the time came for Wally West to take up the mantle of The Flash, it was time for Kid Flash to stop being the sidekick.
Kaner first! I hope I’m not asking for trouble with that nickname of Hurrikane and all that…
Gulp.
Next up, Payton’s new tag, inspired by one of the great quotes by Walter Payton. It really fits with all the training struggles we’ve had, too.
It’s okay to lose, to die, but don’t die without trying – without giving it your best.
29 Week Family Photo
At 29 weeks, Kaner looks even bigger than he did in last week’s photo. Auggie’s IV shave spots have filled in almost completely and his feathering is slowly slowly sloooowly starting to grow back.
I looked at baby dog photos of Auggie and P, and Kane is definitely naked looking compared to Payton; of course, Payton was basically SuperFluff and will likely forever make all of my other dogs look naked. Kane looks closer to how Auggie looked at this age. We’re gonna need those hormones to kick in and make some gorgeous coat if this little guy is supposed to go in the show ring!
28 Week Family Photo
28 weeks. Kaner is officially “huge.” Look how little Auggie looks next to him! My tiny black dog is now just Black Dog.
My Little Family
I’m really really blessed that Auggie is still around. I wanted to take the family photos of all three of my dogs together every week so I would never run out of opportunities to have seen how the baby was growing alongside my best dog, who likely won’t be around to teach him how to be awesome like he did Payton. But I also wanted to get a photo of all three of my dogs with me. The problem is it’s next to impossible to get anybody over here to take a photo.
The good news is I own a remote shutter release.
The other good news is, I’m a bloody genius about how to make this work.
All three of my very good boys.
27 Week Family Photo
27 weeks! Just over 6 months now.
We are having a happy day for all three dogs!
IT’S A GOOD DAY
I also took a few photos to send to Kaner’s breeder to let her see how he’s growing…
and how those ears are doing!
He’s super leggy right now but looks great. I’ve also noticed he’s starting to muscle out along the chest and his back. Baby puppy is growing up for sure.
Pool Day (26 Weeks)
Yeah pool day!!
To start with, we took our 26 week family photo. Kaner turned a full 6 months on May 19th, which is also a full 6 months since Auggie was diagnosed with CHF.
We made it a full six months, everybody is happy, everybody is healthy, everybody is still alive.
So we got out the pool to celebrate.
Heat and humidity can be hard on a dog with CHF. The rule is Auggie can only stay out when it’s hot if he keeps himself cool in the pool.
So far he’s totally okay with this rule.
EVERYBODY IN THE POOL
Payton loves his pool.
Even the baby wants to play in the pool.
Family photo in the pool.
Hi I’m a cute puppy in the pool!!
Payton also really loves towel time. Like a lot. Like maybe more than playing in the pool itself.
Being dried off is the bestest.
YEAH TOWELS
Oh my Auggie.
Auggie had a fantastic day. Pools are actually pretty great. Yeah.
Payton’s Fifth Birthday
FIVE is a pretty big birthday, I think. Especially with Auggie being 10 and P rolling to 5, it makes my OCD happy.
Happy FIFTH birthday to my most wonderful Payton. Our sports story has not gone as I had dreamed, but he is my very good dog. Despite the tears, the battles, the long list of struggles, and the many chomp wounds, I love him very much and am glad he is here with me. Happiest of birthdays yet and all the belly rubs to my middle child.
Shoutout to the woman at Meijer who wrote on my cake and didn’t ask me if Payton was my son.
I actually drove all over town trying to find a proper Payton-esque cake…
Perfect Auggie in perfect birthday hats.
HI I’M A PUPPY WEARING A HAT
fffffff
Not sure what Payton is doing here but this was literally the best we got. This might as well be the 25 week family photo, by the way.
NOT SURE WHAT IS CAKE BUT WANT
Make with the birthday, lady.
WHAT BIRTHDAY
Hi in case you haven’t met me I’m Auggie and I’m the best.
Do I HAVE to wait??
TIME FOR BIRTHDAY
Listen, I know I’m supposed to wait, but let’s be honest, my heart disease. If I wait I might not live to eat this cake.
So I’m not waiting. (Yeah okay that’s fine.)
Meanwhile Payton.
What a good puppy!! Then I wanted to fix his hat and he moved back some to make it easier NOT to steal cake.
Are you for real? Is this actually a thing that is happening in my life??
Okay yay this is a thing and I want it!
Auggie demolished his cake in about half the time Payton was taking with his. Which makes sense as he’s had about twice as much cake eating practice.
Meanwhile the baby is trying to figure out how to actually eat this.
Whoops! He dropped it.
Payton be like IT’S MY BIRTHDAY AND YOU DROPPED YOUR CAKE SO THIS OTHER HALF IS MINE (Auggie in the corner ahahahaha)
Yup that was some birthday.
This is what I look like after I eat cake, too.
Birthday is the best.
THEN A PRESENT WHEEEEE
24 Week Family Photos
At a certain point I will probably have to stop calling Kaner “tiny black dog.” He’s looking rather un-tiny lately, especially when he’s next to Auggie.
23 Week Family Photos
At 23 weeks old, Kaner is officially taller than Auggie. Auggie, meanwhile, has apparently simply decided not to die. Either he’s improved and regained some circulation (and thus motor control) over his back end, or the dog who’s missing toe joints on his front end has learned to adapt to not having excellent control over his back end. He is walking 99% normal these days, and that 1% may simply be my being paranoid and searching for any hitch or odd step in his walk. Maybe a bit of both adaptation and improvement? It doesn’t exactly matter which. Ultimately I am blessed to have more happy, healthy days with my old man.
Tongues from baby and the old man.
The hair on Auggie’s legs is looking pretty good now – you can probably only tell he has a slightly more naked spot if you’re really looking for it.
22 Week Family Photos
Everybody was feeling a bit naughty today so the family photos didn’t turn out the best… Kane has decided “stay” is optional and therefore he does not want to do it.
In this case he will only sit and stay if he is in FRONT of his brothers.
Payton is now so stressed out because I kept having to re-sit the puppy he won’t look at the camera because somehow he thinks it’s his fault.
I give up.
So instead I took some photos of just Kaner.
I have a lot of him running around being a goof but not a lot of cute photos like these.
And he is pretty cute… lucky for him.
Outdoor Toys
Kaner’s ears are back down today. Auggie’s blood work from the vet was unremarkable. The regular vet is guessing he’s just having some trouble with circulation as his heart isn’t pumping efficiently. His respiratory rate is up a bit again, too. Other than that, everybody is just guessing maybe it’s joint related with age. We already know he has arthritis in his front legs so maybe the back legs are setting in, too. She did examine him fully to make sure we’re not all missing something else, just assuming it’s cardiology related and maybe he hurt his back, but that does not appear to be the case.
We all went outside at lunch to play and take more photos.
Happy puppies don’t have any real idea what’s going on so they are happy puppies.
Liiiiike a stick.
My boy.
He ate cheesestick last night. At his worst Auggie wouldn’t even eat cheese when I handed him some – too much trouble breathing to chew a cheesestick piece. So now as long as he’s eating a cheesestick I know his lungs are doing okay.
Tuggy ball. We haven’t done a ton of tugging since joints are still baby joints and teeth are still baby teeth, but Kaner does like to tug. He grabbed my sweatshirt one day and when I tried to lift my arm away to have him let go, he simply came up off the ground with his teeth still sunk into my sweatshirt. Well then.
Chuckit Squirrel is actually dead because Payton killed it during a tug game last year (his fabric body has peeled away from the plastic frame) but Kaner is fine with playing with the dead squirrel.
Also discs. We’re working on this one too.
P cruises around trying to decide how many toys he can steal before he gets in trouble for stealing from the baby.
And the perfect Auggie is being perfect.
21 Weeks and Auggie
Starting Wednesday night Auggie has started to lose motor control in his back legs. It started with what looked like a fluke; he was laying in his bed and I asked him if he wanted to go outside and potty, and he jumped out of the bed but his back legs didn’t quite follow. Almost like he tripped over the bed. He then came slipping and sliding across the room to me. I caught him and picked him up, immediately trying to decide which emergency vet to take him to – the one we’ve been seeing or the university, where they could call the cardiologist for me. A minute later, I set him down, and he was fine. Like it never happened. We went outside and he went down the deck stairs, peed while hiking a back leg, then climbed back up the stairs, no problem.
But then it rapidly got worse. Standing eating his breakfast with his back legs shaking. Falling over when he got out of his crate and tried to shake off and his legs gave way underneath him.
The internet says when dogs with CHF lose control of their legs it’s not long to the end.
The cardiologist has us heading to our regular vet for some blood work to try and see what’s going on.
Kaner is 21 weeks today. One ear came up last night so I took them both out to see how they’re doing.
Slowly trying to be bigger than Auggie.
Not quite there yet… just not quite.
Auggie is still happy and still eating well, which is an important metric for Auggie. So I guess that’s good news.
Still happy.
He is my most wonderful dog.
He looks older, and in my opinion he aged quite rapidly – CHF will do that to you – but he’s still so handsome.
The smile hasn’t changed at all, though.
I love him the most.
Ears up. Looking a bit goofy without a lot of coat.
From the side. I think they are a teensy bit too high so I’ll try setting them a bit lower this time.
Eating sticks – his favourite outdoor game.
If you’re wondering where Payton is in the rest of these photos, he wouldn’t leave my side after I buried my face in his fur and sobbed “What are we going to do without our Auggie?” He’s a good boy.
20 Week Family Photos
20 weeks! I missed a week for some reason and really can’t recall why. Easter Egg Hunt hangover?
And a close-up on baby’s face because people complain YOU CAN’T SEE HIS EYES DOES HE EVEN HAVE ANY
Easter 2016
It’s been many years since I thought it would be fun to let Auggie hunt Easter Eggs. He was such a sniffy dog, always using his nose – wouldn’t it be funny to put a treat in an egg, hide it, and have him sniff them out? In some ways we were doing “Nose Work” in our house and backyard before it was a thing people paid money for to title in. Auggie really loves this game, to the point of getting excited when he sees me get the eggs and baskets out, because he knows we’re going to play. Also, it doesn’t hurt that he gets a bunch of cookies when he finds the eggs, either.
So away we went and Auggie started cruising along.
Georgie came over to play with us all. Last year she ran around stealing eggs from everybody else, especially Auggie, who was having trouble with his old man teeth popping the eggs open. But this year I was going to hoard all of Auggie’s eggs for him. If he found one and tried to open it, but couldn’t, I would step in and help him open it, then drop it in his basket after he got the cookie.
So Miss Georgie had to find her own eggs. But being Auggie’s little niecelette, she’s pretty good at it, too.
Payton found one, whoo!
Meanwhile Auggie just rocked and rolled and grabbed everything he could sniff out or see.
My sister came over with her Henri to hunt eggs, because my yard is way bigger and has more spots to hide eggs in.
It was a bit hard for Henri to stay focused on the eggs when the entire yard smells like Payton pee.
But he did a good job of finding all his eggs, anyway.
Kaner wasn’t very good at the egg hunting. He tripped over an egg and my mom declared he “found” it, then opened it for him, thinking if he figured out there were cookies inside, he might understand the game. She grossly overestimated a puppy brain.
Payton, too, is just a little attention deficit; his constant go-go-go makes it hard for him to spend time actually opening the eggs. Finally we came to a compromise where he finds them, and just like I do with Auggie, I open them for him. This worked pretty well as Payton started looking for an egg, flopped down with it, and then stared at me expectantly to come open it. I think in Nose Work we would call this an “alert” so whatever.
I am happy to say that Auggie restored his title of Egg Hunting Champion this year after I protected all his eggs from the thief.
Not surprisingly, Georgie came in second place.
Payton actually found a decent handful this year.
And Kane “found” a whopping two, by which I mean my mom gave him the first and he picked up a second one for about a half second, and we declared he “found” that one, too.
Henri, of course, found all of his eggs.
All the little shelties with their Easter baskets.
Then, because I’m an ambitious dog trainer, I went for all five. This is not Photoshopped, we actually got all five lined up and sitting on the deck with their baskets. It wasn’t easy, but it happened. Meanwhile, the little black dog in the center is only 18 weeks old, and that big one on the end and my big Payton sometimes like to try to eat each other’s faces – but for Easter, we nail beautiful harmony.
Then I pulled out the bunny ears I bought at the Dollar Spot at Target. I may have only bought one St. Patrick’s headband, but I made no such mistake with bunny ears. I bought three pair.
Big handsome Auggie thinks his bunny ears are hilarious and Easter is awesome.
Payton, for the first time ever when he’s got something on his head, doesn’t look like he’s being beaten to death!
And the bunny ears were really too big for Kaner’s head so this was quite interesting to get them to balance and then hurry up and take a photo. But somehow, with the magic of Easter, we again made it work.
I didn’t take any photos, but after all our guests went home, I got the eggs out, stuffed them again, and let Auggie have his very own egg hunt. Just me following him with his basket, letting him find every single egg without any pressure from any other dogs running around, getting all the cookies. I think that was Auggie’s favourite part.
Happy Easter from all the little bunnies!
17 Week Family Photos
Unsurprisingly, being spring in Illinois, it’s still windy pretty much every day, including the days we go out for family photos.
Basically no longer a challenge to get Kaner to hold his sit-stay for these, which is awesome. I set everybody up, ask for a stay, take a handful of photos, then release. Then we set up again for another round, just to make sure I get something worthwhile!
He’s chasing catching up to Auggie, but as of yet he’s still at least an inch shorter at the shoulder. By this point in Payton’s life, he was already Auggie size, so it’s looking like Kaner will stay in size for sure.
St. Patrick’s Day 2016
I was going to be out of town on St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to take some festive photos just a few days ahead of time. Before I even picked up Kaner, I found this green bow headband at the dollar store and bought it to use for photos. But I only had one, and I had three dogs – for the family photos, I thought, I needed two more props.
Return of the hats.
First of all, this is basically an accurate representation of our lives right now.
And then Auggie screamed when I put the bow on him. (Just kidding, he’s yawning because this is booooring.)
Then he gave me a look of disdain because I brought home a puppy.
A grudging decent face. It’s a handsome one.
I’ve got no clue if Payton is giving me a grumpy side-eye here or if he’s hoping I’ll use this as his singles ad to help him pick up bitches.
Oh, but he’s so happy!
Much much better.
Oh, hello Giraffe Neck puppy stage. I did not miss you. You make for really awkward looking photos.
Also these photos were basically all snapped as fast as possible between Kaner trying to eat the bowtie around his neck.
But it tastes like sparkles!!
Then we got the hats out and Auggie gave me a Michael Jackson impression.
Payton was like “herp derp gone fishin'”
Also, it was really windy, so this was an even bigger joke.
GOODBYE HATS. Also Kaner’s ears are trying to blow away. Good thing they’re glued onto his head.
Okay, okay, so maybe we won’t get a cute family photo with the props on. This will have to do.
16 weeks old and rockin’ his sit stays now.
THEN WE RUN AND PLAY AND BITE BROTHERS
15 Week Family Photo
Hey, check out these family photos! Not only am I able to get further back, but I also was able to crouch down and get the photo from an appropriate angle – all while the little baby dog was holding his sit-stay. Way to go baby dog!
And a close-up on Kaner’s face, for everybody who complains about how hard it is to see his eyes.
Kaner and the Puppybed
Baby Kaner actually got into his puppy bed to take a nap, and it was super adorable, but every time I moved to try and get a photo, Payton would jump up like ARE WE DOING SOMETHING FUN and that would cause Kane to get up, too, and ruin my photo.
So instead I decided to shape Kaner to go across the room, get in the bed, lay down, and be cute so I could take my photos.
Basically all of my dog training just has to do with getting cute photos.
First I made sure my settings were okay given how dark the office was (it was yet another gloomy, cold winter day.)
Then baby got rewarded for being in the bed, and as all the treats landed low, it was simpler to lay down so he was closer to them for eating.
In order to actually make it a training session instead of just a photo shoot, I would occasionally chuck a treat outside of the bed so he would have to get up and leave, then make the decision to get back in the bed where more treats would appear.
He’s pretty cute, guys.
Okay he’s REALLY cute, guys.
