What's in a Name

I think I've narrowed down registered names to my top four:

Tigana's Pure Hoppiness
Tigana's Chasing Tail Golden Ale
Tigana's Sweetwater Happy Ending
Tigana's Don de Dieu

Of these I think my favorites are Tigana's Pure Hoppiness and Tigana's Sweetwater Happy Ending.  I really liked the Chasing Tail one because it had to do with dogs but I don't really like how it flows when you say it.

For the puppy's normal name I am still undecided.  I thought the name Bentley was cute, but I don't think it fits any of these puppies.  I still really like the name Tucker, and that is probably one at the top of my list right now.  Another one that I thought of recently was Levi.  I really like the name Bailey but my sister thinks it is a better girl's name than a boy's name, so I'm undecided on it.  A fourth choice is Fisher, although this one doesn't seem to fit these puppies well either.  I'll keep working on new ones.  Any suggestions, likes or dislikes?

Puppy Visit #2

I can't believe how much the puppies have grown since I saw them last week!  They now weigh about 7-8 lbs and are starting to look more like normal puppies, rather than the little wrinkly faces they had before.  They got to be out in a little pen on the patio today and when I got there they were all conked out sleeping.  They slowly woke up and I got to pet them and play with them all.

Little orange boy (now he is green boy) has really matured a lot over the last week and Christine says that he has gotten a lot more playful.  Before this week he seemed to just want to sleep a lot, but now he has caught up with his siblings and is exploring and playing like a normal puppy.  (Top puppy in the photo below)

Purple boy was very sweet and very playful.  He and blonde boy were the first two that were awake and they played a lot at the beginning.  He was very curious and came over to see me and chew on me. : )   At one point Christine gave the puppies a couple of beef rib bones to chew some meat off of in hopes of waking up the other puppies.  At first purple boy didn't know what to do with it since they hadn't ever had any food other than milk, but once he figured out that it was yummy he took his bone off to chew it by himself. 

Blonde boy was the most active today.  He played with me, played with his brothers, played with the toys, and munched happily on the beef rib.  His nickname from me is "fattie" because he is the heaviest of the bunch and he lived up to his name when the beef ribs were given to them.  He went right for it, even though they haven't had any food other than mom's milk before.  The other puppies nibbled curiously on it at first, but he went full force tearing off little pieces of meat.  He was very fun to play with, and it was funny watching him attack his siblings.

Blue boy was very sleepy for the first half of my visit, but once he woke up he played quite a bit.  He is by far the goofiest of the bunch.  He would crack me up with some of the things he would do.  One time he was just standing there and then he decided to run up to me and he ran right into my leg.  He played a lot with blonde boy, and he played a lot with me.  He kept trying to climb on me and burrow under my legs.  He also wanted to chew on every part of me; my shorts, my feet, my hands, my legs.  He and blonde boy went on the wobble board (see above photo of blonde boy).  This is a toy thing that is round on the bottom and flat on top so when they walk on it it moves.  It is good for getting them used to things moving such as the teeter in agility.  They weren't phased by it at all. 

This picture is of Blue and Blonde playing.

And lastly here are some cute pictures that I don't remember which puppy they are (it's hard to remember without the colored collars!)

That's it for now.  Can't wait to see them again, a week is too long to go between puppy visits!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kobe!  You would have been 8 years old today.   I used to love throwing you birthday parties and getting you all sorts of presents.  I kind of think you always knew that it was a special day even if you didn't know why.  I remember the one party that we had when you were living with Mom and Dad at the rental house and you got to pull all of your presents out of that giant gift bag.  You were so excited at finding the presents that you would just pull something out and then drop it to see what else was in the bag.  You probably didn't get to fully appreciate all of the presents that way but it sure was fun to watch.  Today was a hard day for me.  You were all I could think about.  I never thought I would have to say goodbye to you so soon.

Here are a few other pictures from that birthday, as well as some other pictures just for memories.

Happy Birthday bud.  I love you and I miss you.  Thanks for all the love and happy memories you gave me over the past 8 years.

First Puppy Visit!

Today was my first visit to see the puppies.  They are just over 3 weeks old and they are absolutely adorable.  They are a little smaller than I was expecting because they look so big in their photos and videos, but their personalities seem similar to what I expected.  Blue boy is quite the playful one and seemed to keep going and going even after the others got tired.  Orange on the other hand didn't really play with his siblings much he just wanted to sleep.  Purple was adventurous and he wandered around the puppy area outside of the whelping box looking at all the new sights and smells.  Blonde (no collar) boy is playful and sweet, amd just wanted to stay in the middle with his siblings and the humans.  They were all so sweet and they liked to climb over my legs and lick and chew on my pants and toes.  Blonde boy and orange boy both fell asleep with their heads resting on my legs which was really cute.  I could have stayed with them all day (although I'm sure Christine and Don wouldn't have liked that much.)   I can't wait to see how much they've changed by next weekend.

More Name Ideas

Sweetwater Happy Ending
Don de Dieu (translation "gift of God" in French)
Night Stalker
Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy
Twisted Pine Blonde
Angel's Share Grand Cru
Chasing Tail Golden Ale

Back to Puppies...

The puppies are two weeks old now and they get cuter every day.  I already love them all.  I can start visiting them next weekend, yay!  The litter theme for picking AKC registered names is "Artisan Beers" since Christine has been calling them Sporty's "six-pack".  She started a list of potential names going off a list of the top 100 beers on beeradvocate.com.  My mom has also been doing some name research.  Some of the names that I like so far are:

• Tigana's The Perfect Storm
• Tigana's Exponential Hoppiness
• Tigana's Pure Hoppiness
• Tigana's Splinter Gold
• Tigana's Duck Duck Gooze

Any name suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I've already started my puppy shopping and a fun box of toys arrived last week.  I couldn't help but test them all out. : )  One of my favorites is this hide-a-bird toy that I got.  They make a couple different types of these puzzle toys for dogs and I thought they looked like a lot of fun.  There are three little plush birdies that you put in the tree and the dog then finds them and pulls them out.  I also got a Chuck-it which is surprisingly more difficult to use that it appears.  I guess maybe I just need to practice outside of the house and then it might be easier. I also got the puppy an everlasting treat ball which my Uncle and Aunt have for their golden-doodle.  I also ordered a new crate that should be here in the next week or so which will be the puppy's crate at school so I don't have to transport mine from home every day.

The puppies have all opened their eyes now and their ears just recently opened as well.  Christine says that they are starting to play with each other and their toys now.  I just can't believe how quickly they grow up.  The next 6 weeks are going to fly by.  I will start posting pictures after I visit them next weekend.  (Thanks again Dad for letting me borrow your camera!)

Missing You

I saw this on a facebook friend's status.  I don't really like the posts that tell you to copy them into your status, but this one really meant a lot to me so I thought I would put it on here instead.

Repost if you have someone in Heaven. I thought of you today, but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday and days before that, too. I think of you in silence. I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which will never part. God has you in his keeping. I  have YOU in my HEART! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ LOVE YOU ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 Kobe, thanks for all the amazing memories, you were the best dog!  I love you and I miss you all the time.