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The Daily Doings of Steph

This afternoon, Tyge finally relented. He gave into Echo’s innumerable playbows, entreaties, kisses, etc., and he started to play. They played - hard - for a solid hour. Tyge of course, took pains to constantly remind Echo that he was the dominant alpha male. But Echo wasn’t intimidated - she kept coming at him and if things got a tad scary, she’d retreat under the chair and attack his paws.

It was adorable. And I think we may finally have crashed through the barrier. Even this evening, Echo and Tygey are relating very differently to each other. Like buddies.

Here’s a video of some of this afternoon’s festivities. And sorry about turning the Flip sideways near the end.

Read: Tyge and Echo Breakthrough the Ice »

Starting Thursday evening, it was Slat Rat-Ski Boy Solstice weekend for the record books.

Thursday night was the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Anchorage Concert Association. My two year stint as President officially came to an end as Annie assumed the presidency. It’s been a pretty darn fabulous two years and with Annie and Jason at the helm we’re going to go even farther. The board gave me the most wonderful ever parting present: a new Kindle (latest generation). I am soooo excited. I’ve been lusting over a new Kindle (not the large format Dx but the new smaller model). The ability to get wireless in Alaska with the new Kindle is giant! What a fantastic present. The ACA Board is the absolute best!

Friday, was the annual GCI Academic Decathlon Golf Tournament - it’s a best ball scramble. Our team consisted of myself, the Ski Boy, Mike F. and Gordon P. I’m not a very good golfer - although, I’m convinced that if I didn’t have hypermobile shoulder joints, suffer from the yips, wasn’t a Libra, etc., I could be sort of ok. Fortunately, Peter and Mike are good golfers and Gordon is one of the top amateurs in the State. We had a blast and stunningly - thanks to Gordon - finished second out of thirty six teams!!!!! Holy Cow!!!!

Yesterday was Alix Support Team day. Alix ran the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Half Marathon in the morning and then was a bridesmaid in a wedding last night. In between was the whole wedding hair and makeup ritual and of course afterwards, everyone partied at the reception until the wee hours of the morning. I was up at 6:30 AM this morning with the poochies and Alix had just gotten up and looked as fresh as a daisy. Oh - and she did a four mile run with the Sunday morning running group. We are not worthy!

Peter, Tyge, Echo, and I had a ton of fun meeting Alix at various points during yesterday’s race. She looked awesome and finished in two hours and fourteen minutes. And then she was a stunning bridesmaid last night - even though it was an outdoor wedding up at Arctic Valley where the temperature was 48 degrees and a stiff wind was blowing.

Today, I admit, was a recovery day - for me. Peter and Alix were, of course still going strong. And it goes without saying the Echo and Tygey didn’t need a recovery day either. I did rally in time for Father’s Day dinner: Alix, Peter, and I just returned from the Spenard Roadhouse - we’re all stuffed to the gills.

What a weekend!

A very excited Slat Rat with our golf tourney runner up trophy:

Alix with friends prior to the start of the Half Marathon. Whitney, the bride, is the blond next to Alix. Whitney was running the 5K.

Alix (in the red shirt) looking good at about mile nine of the half marathon:

Echo and I cheering on the runners at Mile Nine.

Peter and Tyge at Mile Nine:

Tygey, Echo, and Me:

Tyge and Echo slurping up water after the race. Being support team is thirsty work!

Read: What a Solstice Weekend! »

Echo is fourteen weeks old today and she’s been with us for three and a half of those weeks. She is a bundle of spirited energy - Tyge, Peter, and I are all exhausted. I’m not sure that Echo isn’t a Jack Russell terrier in a Bouvier puppy’s body.

For the past few weeks, I’ve started putting together a Puppy Learnings List:

1. If your puppy has a urinary tract infection, house training is almost impossible. Amazingly, we haven’t had that many accidents over the two weeks that it’s taken to clear up the infection.
2. It is possible to gain 20% of one’s body weight in three days and 25% of one’s body weight in one week. Two weeks ago Friday, Echo weighted 18.5 lbs. The following Monday, she weighed 22.5 lbs and the subsequent Friday, she weighed 24.5 lbs. Right now, she’s holding at 24.5 lbs.
3. Parts of puppy bodies grow at different rates. Two weeks ago, Echo’s ears grew. For two days she looked like Dumbo. Last Thursday, her head grew - a lot. Her daddy, Webber has a giant nog. It is quite possible the Echo’s head will be as big proportionally as Webber’s. Yesterday, her legs did another sprout - all at once, she’s tall.
4. Puppies eat a lot: Ergo they poop a lot. Echo is eating as much per day as Tyge. And she’s not fat - as our vet states, “There is no such thing as a fat puppy.”
5. Having a puppy in a large house with lots of stairs, is a great weight loss method for the puppy’s people. Since Echo arrived, I’ve lost three pounds.
6. Having a puppy with a urinary tract infection in a large house with lots of stairs, is a great strengthening program. Echo gets zoomed down the stairs whenever we think there might be an imminent potty event. As she has moved from 13 lbs to 24 lbs in the past 3 1/2 weeks, my arms, back and legs have definitely started to muscle up.
7. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
8. A Tired Puppy is a Good Puppy.
9. Piranha teeth don’t have any thing over puppy teeth.
10. New. If your puppy all at once appears to become very focused while sitting, it’s time to break out the “Urine Off” carpet cleaner.

And here are a few more pictures from the weekend. Note these pictures were taken with camera phones (either my iphone or Peter’s blackberry), so quality isn’t as good as it could be.

A very handsome trio!!!!

Echo and Tygey checking out the action:

Tyge with his head out the window. Talk about a happy dog!

Echo and me on a Coastal Trail bench.

Peter and Tyge hanging out on the Coastal Trail.

Read: Puppy Learnings and Wisdom »

A gorgeous afternoon in Anchorage today. Peter, Tyge, Echo, and myself spent some quality time on the deck in the late afternoon (actually we were killing time waiting for 5:00 PM so we could head off to the Spenard Roadhouse for dinner in the sun on the patio).

Echo is growing at lightspeed. Last Friday, she weighed 18.5 lbs. On Monday she weighed 22.5 lbs. And this Friday, she weighed 24.5 lbs. She gained 25% of her total body weight in one week. Whoa!

I’m going to do a blog post on puppy wisdom, learnings, and truisims. I’m sure Phil can contribute to that one.

Echo had a blast with Peter and the broom!

I like this shot because Echo’s ears are straight out sideways.

Tyge and Echo checking things out.

Another cute shot of Echo and Tyge.

Oooh - what’s up here?

A mid-air shot. Tyge is really hoping that Echo knocked down some sort of food-like item from the table.

I don’t think Tyge is buying what Echo is trying to sell.

A really over-exposed shot of Echo in the grass. This is when advanced photoshop - well really - advanced photo shooting - would come in handy.

Read: Hanging Out on the Deck »

Tygey and Echo spent the Noon hour on the deck. Another hot and sunny afternoon here in Anchorburg!

Hanging out in the shade - the heat is hard on furry dogs.

Echo would really like Tygey to play with her. She’s nosing a chewed up plastic pot towards Tygey.

Read: Sunning on the Deck »

It’s official - raising a puppy, especially with a resident grumpy-old-man dog in the house, is almost as time consuming as a baby. Good grief. The last two weeks have been basically work and dogs. Fortunately, Echo is a ton of fun, Tyge is slowly coming around to Echo’s charms, I can work from home, and Peter has just finished up a marathon ten days on the work front. We’re slowly moving back towards normal.

Or maybe, we’re just becoming accustomed to the New Normal: life with “Little E”.

For Echo’s clamoring public, below are a ton of pictures - including several very fetching shots with Peter.

There are also two very cute shots of Tygey. Poor guy. His life has been turned upside down.

Morning time is bonding time!

Belly scritch!

Echo loves to shower. She zoooms in with both Peter and myself. She’s a big time water hound. I did have an adorable good shot of Peter and Echo drying off but there was a bit too much of Peter in picture, so that one unfortunately went into the bit bucket.

Echo in the the shower:

Who’s that wrapped in the towel?

A woebegone Tygey with Steinbeck, my stuffed bear.

Tyge rapturously gazing at Patty at Bookclub last weekend.

Echo and Peter hanging out the green chair:

Echo Close up:

Echo watching Tyge get ready to chase the flying screaming monkey:

It’s my squeaky toy!

Read: Two Weeks of Echo! »

Tyge is such a good boy!!!!!!

This afternoon, I was out with Echo on a leash and Tyge was also out. Starting this morning, Tyge has been solid enough that he’s come out with us and just keeps his distance. This afternoon, on one our innumerable Echo “go potty” trips, Tyge came up to Echo, gave her a sniff on the nose and then moseyed off. That was huge. In the Gorbachev-Reagan category.

But wait! It gets better!

Echo and I walked over to the other side of the yard to visit Tyge. Tyge came right up to Echo, gave her another nose sniff and then pranced backwards, tucked in his rear end and started zooming around Echo. I let Echo’s leash all the way out and they started chasing each other and playing hide and seek/ring around the posy around a tree. The Berlin Wall fell! And it was so much fun! The poochies played hard for five minutes. All the while, I had Echo all the way out on the leash - sort of like a horse trainer. She did great. And Tygey was drop dead fabulous.

Tyge is going to be an AWESOME big brother!!!!

Next go around, I need to get out there with the Flip video camera!

In the meanwhile, here are a few more pictures:

It is really difficult to take good pictures of a black dog. This one isn’t bad.

Tyge looking very regal. Definitely the Senior Pet.

Tyge and Echo in repose.

One of many indistinct black puppy photos.

Read: A Breakthrough!!!! »

It’s official: Echo, the massively cute and latest member of the Kesler-Partnow clan came home Friday afternoon.

Well, at least Peter and I think she’s a massive cutie. Tygey wishes we could just stick a stamp on her and “Return to Sender.”

She is ten weeks old. Bright, energetic, playful, a big time lover, etc. Oh, and did I mention that she’s hugely cute and adorable?

With Echo’s arrival, life has basically turned inside out and upside down for Peter, me, and Tygey. Sleep has been difficult to come by. Friday, I got a grand total of two hours of sleep. But first nights are always the toughest. At Midnight, we discovered that Echo is afraid of the dark - or at least being all by herself in her crate when it’s dark. Since we’re close to the end of May, it doesn’t really get dark until around Midnight. Once it got really dark in the bedroom, she started whining and then howling. At first, I didn’t know what the problem was. I took her outside, she did some minor business, brought her back in, tucked her in her crate, and then I crawled back into bed and read until she fell asleep. But just a few minutes after I turned the light out, she started howling again. For such a little pup, she howls like a full grown husky. Note: Howling is quite unusual in the Bouvier department.

Anyhoo, I finally figured out that the dark was the issue, so I left the light on until around 2:00 AM when it started to get light again outside. At that point, I was able to finally get a few hours of sleep.

Last night was much better. We installed a big plastic kids’ portable and configurable playpen next to the bed and we plugged in a soft nightlight next to the pen. Problem solved! As a result I got six hours of sleep. A vast improvement over two!

We’re keeping Tyge and Echo separated by baby gates, pens, and crates. We think it will take Tygey about three to five days to get over his nose being bent out of joint. Actually, I think his feelings are really hurt. But we’ve been loving him up BIG TIME and he’s getting lots of cookies and attention. He’s starting to feel a little better today. His tail even inadvertently wagged when Echo stood up on a baby gate and gave him a big kiss on the schnoz.

He does recognize one big positive as a result of Echo’s arrival. He gets breakfast at 6:00 AM when Echo wakes up.

Below are several shots from the last few days:

Echo in the sun. Peter took this shot this morning with his phone. If you look closely, you can see his shadow on the left. The halibut belly white legs are mine and the nifty shoes belong to Mom.

Echo and her big brother Seth on Saturday morning.

Tygey on Saturday morning. Poor guy.

Grandma and Grandpa Lowell came to visit on Friday night.

Echo in repose.

Peter and Echo. The striking thing about this picture is Peter’s tan. I think Peter and I are different species.

Read: Echo’s First Few Days at Home »

Last evening, Tygey and Echo spent more time together. Well actually not really together together - Judy, Peter, or I were always holding Echo while Tyge got to sniff and investigate. This weekend or next weekend, we’ll do actual paws on the ground. We’d better by next weekend - that’s when Echo is coming home with us.

Did I mention that we need to buy at least five baby gates? And puppy proof the house. Lots of shoes, electrical cords, etc. If nothing else, Echo will force us to be tidy.

The pictures from last night’s get together are absolutely wonderful. The light was great and my Puffer defuser on my Canon 30D was superb.

Tyge, Echo, Judy, and Peter:

Peter, Echo, and Tyge:

Closeup of the Tyge schnoz with Echo and me in the background:

Echo snuggling in:

Smoochies:

Two very handsome guys:

Damn - Tyge is one handsome dog:

Happy guy:

Peter is under siege by a Barrel of Puppies:

Peter with Red (the conehead) and The Potato:

Read: Tyge Meets Echo: Part II - The Pictures »

We’re starting the process of introducing Tygey and Echo. We’re going to do gradual intros over the next week and a half and then bring Echo home next weekend. This morning, I dropped Tyge off with Judy. Tygey will spend the day up there meeting, greeting, and sniffing Echo through the puppy enclosure.

When we arrived, the puppies came running to look at us through the banister. Tygey stood up on his hind legs and sniffed all the puppies through the bannister. His tail was waggin’.

Judy then took Echo and showed Echo to Tyge and let Tyge snif. Echo’s eyes were pretty big but Tygey was a very good boy and his tail was still wagging away.

Here’s a very blurry picture taken with my iphone.

Read: Tygey and Echo Meet! »