Growing up (or not)

Another week has flown by.
In just slightly more than a month, this little happy-go-lucky girl will be 2 years old! Time really does fly!

But just to prove she hasn't lost any of her puppy charm, here's a sweet little video for you!

1 and 1/2 years old!!!

My, oh my! Does time fly!!

I still remember when she was such a tiny little baby.

At 6 months - Her lanky period

At 1 year old - A fluffy stage

Now, at 18 months!! 

Any difference? 

Officially a young lady =)

Poofie Coat

Eva is now almost one and a half years old.

Time does fly, doesn't it?

After her spay, her coat has increased so much in volume!

It's getting harder and harder to groom her because there are just so many layers!

Here are some photos :)

Sometimes, I wonder

Where's my little puppy girl gone?

Looking back at 2010

To those who have been with us through our ups and downs for the past year, may I say, "We did it!"
To those who we have met in our journey along the way, may I say "Welcome to our adventures!"

It's been a tough year for our dogs, and for many many other dogs in the world. Somehow, this year has not been good to us dog owners. May 2011 be a better and happier year for us all!

Here are some highlights of the year we'd like to share with you (all in chronological order!):

January:

With my beautiful mommy.

February:

My 2 week stay at mommy's parent's house while she was away in the UK.

During which time, momma Hana passed away (on Valentine's day). 

March:

Grandma Laura's 10th birthday. Here I am giving her a birthday kiss!

April:

My first outing to a park!! 

Also the first time I met my daddy Sunshine and half-sis Sweetheart!

Sweetheart and I

My Daddy! Are you sure I'm not half bear??

My first Obedience class where I met my BFF, Joey!

(P.S. At 6 months old, I passed puppy obedience with flying colours!!)

May:

I learnt how to jump and do tunnels in agility!!

Posing with my friend, Happy

June: 

The first time I saw so many doggies that look like me!

 

 July:

The sad passing of my sweet Grandma Laura.

August:

My first beach trip!

I also met blogger pal, Hero in the annual Dogathon!

And had my first swim in a swimming pool!

Uncle Mika also had a car accident and needed surgery.

September:

I met with blogger buddy, Lian. She visited me with lots and lots of goodies :) 

She is by far my favourite person (apart from my hoomans, of course!)

She got me this pretty harness!

October:

Uncle Mika had his second operation as the first was unsuccesful.

He has started swimming a lot and building up his leg muscle, 

which is looking really good now!

November:

 I had my 1st birthday!!

December:

Christmas already!

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Before ending this last post of the year, I want to give a bit shout-out to our friends to kindly send their prayers and blessings to these two dogs who are suffering terribly. 

Sweet Misty is suffering from an unknown disease. Her humans are trying their best to keep her fit and healthy and she's already 12 years old! Please send her your prayers to get better soon!! 

Our other friend, Hero is suffering from a terrible disease known as Familial sharpei fever which attacks the sharpei breed very violently. His infections are getting worse and his humans have a lot to worry about. Please send him your prayers and well wishes for a speedy recovery!

And to end with, I hope you all have a  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Please don't get too frightened by the noisy fireworks!!! 

  

My Duties

I'm nine months old now as most of you have already known.

What should a nine months old pup do when it comes to the stage when I'm not really a puppy and not really an adult yet?

My hoomans always remind me that I'm a BIG puppy now so I should know this and this and this.... those rules!!!

I think I'm a good puppy even though I might be

a bit too nosy

a bit too noisy

a bit too hyper

a bit too naughty

a bit too playful

I'm a vigilant guard puppy at home
I'm more sincere and dedicated than my Uncle Mika when it comes to house watching
I never miss any passing by cars, bikes, bicycles and hoomans
I keep an eye on them until they really disappear from my sight
I tell the neighbour's rooster not to crow in the evening
I keep my hoomans company whenever they need me
I'm faithful and loyal

Oh yes, I help do the gardening too!!!

Raising a Puppy

I would like to take this time to talk about raising a puppy since birth.

Our first family dog was Laura when we got her 10 years ago. At that time, a dog was a dog, we didn't even know what a notorious name a rottweiler had in Malaysia when we got Laura! Rosie wanted a dog, and we got her one that we all loved so dearly. I'm so sure that there are very few rottweilers in the world that are so tolerant, so well behaved, so patient, beautiful, kind, sweet, I could go on forever! 

Never have we imagined getting a sheltie. That was Rosie's dream when she was older. 

And least of all, never did we imagine we'd become 'parents' to a newborn pup! Unluckily we did not witness the birth of Eva but having her grow up in our house, watching her every day learning something, there's something very beautiful about it. 

At the beginning, we were so worried that Eva without littermates would be different, unusual, weird.

That is true in some ways, she hasn't learnt how to self defend herself, play with puppies, bring them down, ask for attention - luckily for us, she learnt that during the 6 days Sweetheart was with us. Raising her has never been easy. We've been through happy times, funny times, also many sad, heartbreaking ones. 

Last week, we realised that treating her like a puppy, like our cuddly toy will only make her behaviour worse. Her adolescent period (now) has been one of the hardest times we've been through with her. This week, we've decided to start from the basics again.

For example, whenever she gave us her 'moody' face, we used to try to comfort her. Then we learnt ... it's her face she puts up - that she's bullying us. So we ignored her. Few days later, she's back to her normal happy self.

Another thing we learnt from Sweetheart when she came was that she would always come and ask for attention because living with so many littermates, you have to fight for what you want. Eva gets it without asking for it. That's why she never bothers to come to us and even worse, if we pat her, it's like the most uncomfortable thing in her life and she'll walk away from us. We're still working on this but at the moment if Eva doesn't want to come, I'll leave her alone until she wants the attention.  

We really wish she could be good like her grandma, or even better like her mother but we can't ask for that because she's who she is. All we can do is mould her into a better dog with a better personality. We just hope that our 'inexperience' with raising pups hasn't had too huge and bad an effect on our beloved girl. 

The thing that worries us most are her hind legs. As many of you may know, they are very weak and we've been keeping her on grass, and mats. All we can do is hope and pray that it will not be too serious when she's older. We don't know where to take her swimming which apparently is the best exercise, our facilities here do not have hydrotherapy or water treadmills! 

Each problem will always lead to the next, but having Eva, our miracle has been a very exciting journey in our life, and we hope to share our journeys with you all always. 

Tag and games!

Our big buddy, Hero tagged Princess Eva to play a fun game of what's in the folder?

The rules of the game are:

1. Open your 1st Photo folder.

2. Scroll to the 10th photo.

3. Post the photo and the story behind it.

4. Tag 5 or more people.

Well, here goes. We are going to open our folder, called Eva that has pictures from EVERY DAY of Eva's puppy life.

This picture is the 10th photo of Eva's first day of birth.

The picture explains everything. 

Eva is having her milk-time, while Hana helps her. Laura supervises the feeding time :) 

We would like to tag Ricky, Sara, Bandit, Fizz and Remington to participate in this awesome game!

And now, back to some more serious matters.

Remember this little buddy?

Ok. Now imagine this scenario.

A little puppy is playing happily in the garden, unaware of 2 sneaky eyes watching her every move.

The puppy runs around with her stuffie and then drops it in front of this dog.

WOOPSIES! 

What happened there??

This rottie just needed a few kisses and some persuading from her beloved grandchild to give him back. 

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And now for some beautiful pictures of Laura we managed to get today.

She doesn't look 10, does she?

What a lady.

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That tag game from Hero reminded me of the past pictures of Eva and WOW! What a huge difference! 

She's gone past the cute, chubby stage, and now she's more like a little girl.

Shelties come with so many different growing stages :D Fascinating.

Every day, her look changes. As much as I would love to show you a picture from each day here, I don't think I would be able to because today is day 120 (yes, we do count! haha).

But here are some very VISIBLE changes.

At 2 weeks, she was a cute soft toy.

At 4 weeks, a show dog in the making :), yet still with that blocky head.

At 6 weeks, she becomes more regal, but still with her cuteness.

At 8 weeks, she becomes more and more beautiful.

At 10 weeks, that little girl in her is emerging. She is beautiful, cute, proud.

At 14 weeks, you begin to ask, Who is this girl? Is this the same puppy? 

At 16 weeks (now), all I see is drop dead gorgeous. (Or maybe I'm just being the boastful mom)

 Her new fur is also growing now!!!