Cinder's Adventures Begin

     It's been a busy couple weeks for us since the weather finally broke enough to get out and start doing some things. In a matter of weeks Cinder's life has dramatically changed in a lot of ways.  One thing is certain, she has more than doubled her size in the last month-particularly the last couple weeks!  Her adventures in life are really beginning now.

    A couple weeks ago Cinder discovered she can jump and ever since, trying to keep her from it has been quite the impossible dream! Her favorite thing to do when she's fighting being tired is to kick into high gear and zoom at full speed around the house, jumping on the furniture and jumping off it onto Gilley and Buzz. She also discovered that she's tall enough to reach a lot of things a little pup shouldn't reach - like the tops of tables!  So far, we've been able to keep the tabletops free of dangerous, valuable, or food items, but I'm sure time will get the better of us and she'll soon abscond with something she shouldn't.  She is the most food motivated little pup I've ever had too and she hasn't found anything she won't at least attempt to eat.  Her girlish figure is going to be a challenge to maintain as she ages if her voracious appetite doesn't soon diminish!

   Other recent adventures include her first car rides without being held on one of our laps, but rather riding on a seat, tethered by a car harness.  The first endeavors to travel have been short, taking her to the barn and friend's places.  The first ride to the barn was successful but scary.  The second was less successful because she was not happy being in the back seat while I was in the front and kept getting herself worked up about it.  The third time we had Brian chauffer us with me in the back seat next to her to give her some support and confidence-which worked until she got sick and threw up.  In case you want to know, feeding a puppy within an two hours of taking a car ride is probably a bad idea.  Today we achieved total success by me driving and her being seated in the front passenger seat so she was close enough for me to give her some pats and consoling chatter. When we arrived at our destination, she got to meet two of our best friends who made all over her since they hadn't met her yet.  Then she met their dog (a great dane) who's head is as big as Cinder's entire body-that was funny but they got along well.

     Cinder's starting her leash training this week in tandem with her travel training so our trick training may not progress so much, but leash work is important stuff.  I'm hoping we'll be able to take her on the local bike paths soon so she can not only have a great walking place, but a great learning experience as she learns about dodging bikers!  We have an abundance of bike paths that converge in our town and go all over the state so I like to walk the dogs on them often since they are mostly well shaded and reasonably well groomed areas. The opportunities for socializing with people and other dogs is good too.

     In the month that we've had Cinder, she's become a fixture in our world.  Gilley and Buzz have totally accepted her and engage in all kinds of play with her daily now. Her presence has already impacted all our lives for the better, getting us all up and moving more than we have been for a while, and of course, who can resist cuddling a cute little puppy at every opportunity.

     That's the update on Cinder for now.  Now that Spring is about to bloom forth, Cinder's adventures are really about to begin so look for more updates on our activities and don't forget to check us out on Facebook for updates there too as we continue raising Cinder!

Cheers!

Chris, Cinder's hu-mom