12-20-05  3:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is 21 months old.  This spring when Zac was having his headaches and balance issues, Mocha didn't get the opportunity play outside and be active.  Typically Zac and I go for walks on a regular basis, but walks were miserable for Zac in April and May.  So needless to say, Mocha got a little pudgy.  She maxed out at around 75 pounds when we took her to the vet.  The vet told us that she was a little bit overweight and that she could lose a few more pounds, which we already knew.  The good news is, with Zac and I being more active and with hunting season, Mocha is doing great.  She now weighs in at 63 pounds (her weight at her vet visit right before Thanksgiving).  She is 22 inches high at the withers. 

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9-19-05  9:31pm  Zac

   On Wed, 9/14, my friend John and I were out with the dogs in the tall grass across the street throwing pheasant dummies. All was going well (other than a September onset of mosquitoes), and the dogs were happily running around and "finding the bird". Mocha was a little warm and panting, but nothing unusual. Next thing I know, we look down and she's dragging her hind legs around like she's lame. Or like she injured a joint or something. She seemed happy - tail wagging, panting away, and wanting the dead fowl trainer in my hand. So I sat her down to check her out - felt her rear legs, and everything seemed fine. No wincing, growling, whining, or any sign of pain on the legs. So I had her follow me down to the walking path (~100 ft) to get her out of the tall grass and get a better look. She was still having issues, so I picked her up to carry her home and get her in to a vet. We go about another 100 ft, and she starts squirming, so I put her down. All of a sudden she can walk maybe 80%. After another 300 ft or so, she's back to normal, just tired. By the time we're home, it's like it never happened?

   So I ask my friend Don the next day about it, and it looks very much like it was a bout with Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC). Apparently it's somewhat correlated with excitement levels and physical exercise. He mentioned that keeping her in top shape helps his older dog (who also has issues with EIC). So, I guess Mocha and I are going to become running buddies pretty quick here. I'm just hoping it doesn't affect her upland hunting - I think both the dog and I have come to really enjoy it...

   Oh, FYI - Mocha's been holding around 70 lbs. Maybe down to 65 lbs if she's in great shape, but she's a very stocky build.

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3-16-05  12:00pm       Cari

    It has been a long time since we have updated you on what Mocha has been up to.  This fall she went out with Zac on few hunting trips.  She did a great job considering that she hasn't been specifically trained to hunt.  Mocha LOVES the hunt!  She gets all excited when you tell her to "find the birds!"  Come to think of it, Mocha had more success this hunting season than Zac.  Mocha came across a rooster with a broken wing on a hunt in late October.  I don't believe Zac shot one pheasant this season.  I better give him a break - it was his first year out.  Plus, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to shot a pheasant if it was sitting five feet in front of me!

    Mocha has also learned a new trick.  So the next time you see her ask her to "shake".  She is pretty good at the shake - especially when there is a T-R-E-A-T involved.  Yes - we now have to start spelling things like T-R-E-A-T and W-A-L-K when Mocha is around, otherwise she gets all excited.

    Also, Mocha is officially a Retriever!  She loves to play ball and she finally brings it back to us to throw again (most of the time).  Zac takes her out to a nearby fenced-in baseball field and works with her on retrieving a training dummy.  She is getting pretty good at that too.

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3-1-05  10:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 1 year old! Here are her measurements...

          Weight:  70 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  21 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  45 inches

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8-29-04  10:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 6 months old! Here are her measurements...

          Weight:  50 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  19 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  45 inches

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8-20-04  7:30pm       Cari

     Okay, it's been awhile since we've updated you all on Mocha and there are a few new things in Mocha's life.  Mocha, Zac and I have been going to Obedience Training (Level 1) at TCOTC for the past few weeks.  We are learning come, heeling, left u-turn, sit on command, stand, down on command, attention, sit-stay, stand-stay, circle left, down-stay, and much more.  We have only been to 3 classes out of 8!  Even though we've already learned a few of the things covered in class before hand, it is a good way for us to make sure we are spending at least an hour per week on training Mocha.  In reality, we would like to be doing more training throughout the week.  I took Mocha for a walk tonight and we worked on some of the training and she is doing a good job.  She is getting heeling down, but still wants to greet everyone we pass by on our walk.

     It's official - Mocha is big!  (See May 6th Blog entry) On August 9th, she got stuck under the futon.  Both Zac and I were in the office on computers and we heard a whimper come from the family room.  It turns out Mocha was stuck under the futon and she was whimpering for one us to rescue her.  She got stuck again this Wednesday evening and I came to her rescue.  I'm not quite sure how many times it will take getting stuck for her to realize that she is just too big to be under the futon.

    On August 7th, Zac, Mocha and I met up with friends at the Game Fair in Anoka.  It is a great event.  There were tons of booths for dog owners from food, to toys, to training items, to electric fence and shock collars, dog clubs, and much more.  They also had events for dogs to participate in such as an obstacle course, dock jumping contest, field tests and more.  Zac is considering training Mocha as a companion in hunting, so it was a great resource for Zac to learn a lot of information.

     Mocha is growing into a nice looking dog.  She is almost 6 months old and is weighing in at 48 pounds.  We will be looking into spaying her in the next several weeks, but want to be careful in fitting it in to her busy schedule - with school and all!  :-)

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7-27-04  10:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 21 weeks old! Here are her weekly measurements...

          Weight:  41 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  17 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  40 inches

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7-19-04  10:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 20 weeks (5 months) old and is weighing in at 40 pounds!

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7-14-04  11:00pm       Cari

    It has been quite awhile since we have written in the "Mocha Blog".  We still adore Mocha just as much as the day we got her - even more so!  We just have been so busy and away from the computer to add any updates.

    Last week, Mocha got to spend a week at the lakes.  Zac took her swimming the first day and she loved it!  She is a natural swimmer (no surprise there!) and she has surpassed me in swimming ability.  Every time Mocha was outside she bolted for the lake. I think that she could have swam all day if we would have let her.  Zac and my brother, Ryan, were trying to coax her to jump off the end of the dock and into the water, but she was a bit timid.  You could tell she wanted to get in the water, but she was hesitant about jumping so she we run to shore and the get in the lake from there and swim to Zac and Ryan.  We got her a couple water toys for the vacation and one of them was the "Cool Kong".  I would highly recommend this toy to any dog owners.  It is a Kong with a rope and a floatie inside the Kong.  Mocha loved to retrieve this toy.  She would swim over it and bat it under water, but she wouldn't stop until she had the rope in her mouth and then she swam to shore.

    Mocha also got to meet my cousin's dog - a male miniature Maltese named Benson that is only a couple weeks older than Mocha.  Benson was a bit scared at first.  (I would be too and something 10 times larger than me was pouncing at me wanting to play.  After a couple meetings, they were fine sniffing each other.  You could tell that both of them wanted to play with each other, but we were worried Mocha might smash Benson.  (Note:  Benson is about the same size or a bit smaller than some of Mocha's toys)

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7-11-04  10:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 19 weeks old and is weighing in at 38 pounds!

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6-28-04  10:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 17 weeks old! Here are her weekly measurements...

          Weight:  33 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  16 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  38 inches

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6-22-04  10:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 16 weeks old and is weighing in at 31 pounds!

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6-14-04  10:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 15 weeks old! We did the weekly measurements tonight and they are as follows:

          Weight:  30 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  16 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  35 inches

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6-8-04  5:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 14 weeks old! We did the weekly measurements on Sunday, June 6 and they are as follows:

          Weight:  27 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  15 3/4 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  34 inches

    Mocha also got a pool just in time for all the warm weather.  Zac and I filled up the pool on Friday and let her check it out.  She wasn't too fond of the pool and we think it was because the water was a bit cold.  Last night, I let Mocha check out the pool and the water was warmed up dramatically due to the 90+ degree day we had.  I think she thought it was a bit awkward at first, but then she got used to it and started playing around in the water.  She had a frisbee that she would push down and then try to pick it up with her mouth which meant she had to put her face in the water. The first time she put her head under the water was quite funny, but she got used to it.

     I'm starting to work on "stay" and "come" when she is distracted in our backyard.  Mocha has the "come" command down when we are in the house free from all the fun outside distractions.

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6-4-04  12:30pm       Zac

     It's been a while since I've posted. I guess we are kind of getting into a routine and didn't see the need to beat a dead horse. A couple of updates... First, Mocha got to meet my parent's dogs, Puckett and Buffie, last weekend when we stayed at their place. Puck and Buffie are cocker spaniel/lab crosses and are about 6 years old. Both weigh about 45 lbs, give or take. Puck, the male, looks a lot like a cocker. Buffie, the female, looks like a small yellow lab. Both of them do pretty well with people, but haven't been socialized to dogs, so it made for an interesting weekend. Puck and Buffie generally snarled and jumped at Mocha, so they were either leashed, kenneled, or muzzled any time Mocha was out and about. Mocha was her usual self - playful and puppyish, and she seemed to either ignore Puck and Buffie or run away when they were causing trouble. She didn't seem traumatized at all.

     I'd like to think we made some progress over the weekend with the introduction, but this is gonna take some time. If anyone has dog behavioral experience and wants to contact me, please do:  zherness@yahoo.com. A couple of things we tried:

     From discussions with a couple of folks, I've heard cockers are notorious for being aggressive with dogs and children. Need to check on that to confirm. Again, if you have any suggestions, give me a shout. I would love for these three to be able to play nicely...

     Otherwise, all is well. Housetraining is moving along, Mocha has learned "sit", "lay down", and "kennel up", and we are about 80% with "stand" and "off" (when she jumps up). I think her sense of smell is developing, and she seems to really enjoy walks in the park with Cari and I. We're planning to try one of the off-leash parks in the near future to keep the social interaction up with her. Also planning to start training her for rides in our new canoe so that we can eventually take her to the Boundary Waters with us!

     Here's a pic of Puck (left) and Buffie (right):

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6-1-04  5:30pm       Cari

     Mocha is now 13 weeks old! We did the weekly measurements last night and they are as follows:

          Weight:  24 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  15 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  33 inches

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5-24-04  10:30pm       Cari

     Mocha just graduated from Puppy Socialization class tonight.  We are so proud of her!  She was once again picked to demonstrate the "sit" and "down" command and she performed perfectly as everyone 'oohed' and 'aahhed'.  She is now 12 weeks old (3 mos.) and she continues to make us laugh and smile on a daily basis.  We did the weekly measurements last night and they are as follows:

          Weight:  20 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  14 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  30 inches

     It seems Mocha is getting over her bladder infection and house training is going very well.  When we are hanging out in the kitchen she hangs out by the front door when she needs to go out and when we are downstairs she hangs out by the back door.  She doesn't wimper or bark so we still need to be watching her every move.  She has had only one accident in the house this past week and I am chalking it up as a ploy for attention.  We were both busy in the kitchen and she seemed bored with her toys - I think she just wanted to play with one of us.  Mocha loves playing with her toys and it seems that we are always picking up a new toy for when we go out.  (She's not spoiled at all!)  Her new favorite toy is a plush duck that quacks.  She loves to put it in her mouth at the neck and carry it around the family room.  She seems so proud when she is carrying it around.

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5-15-04  7:00pm       Cari

     Mocha is growing!  We can easily notice it without any measurements.  We took her measurements today and they were the following:

          Weight:  18 lbs

          Height at shoulders:  13 inches

          Length, nose to tail:  30 inches

     Since both of us haven't written in the blog lately - there is a lot to update.  On Monday, we went to Puppy Socialization (second class) and learned how to teach Mocha to do a controlled sit and a controlled lay down.  Mocha was once again picked for several demonstrations by the instructor.  One of the other dog owners said Mocha is a "Teacher's Pet". (No problem here - she is pretty irresistible).  Of course, play time at the end of the class was Mocha's favorite part. 

     On Wednesday, we gave Mocha her first bath.  Even though she didn't need a bath, we wanted to get her accustomed to it so that she will enjoy bath time when she gets older.  She seemed a little hesitant at first, but she didn't mind being wet at all.  She tried to sniff the water and the bottom of the tub and in doing so she was blowing bubbles with her nose.  Also, when we started to drain the water, Mocha didn't know what to think.  She started trying to pull back the water near the drain as if she didn't want it to go down the drain.  She definitely made us laugh and we captured the memories with a few pictures and movies that we will be sure to post.  

     On Thursday, Mocha had her first visit to the vet since she had been showing signs of a bladder infection throughout the week.  Mocha was very good at the vet, but unfortunately we did find out she does have a bladder infection - exactly what we predicted.  We just have to make sure she drinks plenty of water to flush out the infection and she has some antibiotics to take for 2 weeks.  Hopefully that will solve the problem.  The good thing is, Mocha seems to be a very happy and playful puppy even with this infection. 

     Then on Friday, Mocha got to meet my parents.  She loves meeting new people.  My parents stayed the next day and we worked in the yard most of the day with Mocha out chasing us around.  She continually likes to eat anything that she can find and get in to her mouth - especially our wood chips in the front yard.

     Mocha's newest thing is playing on our video rocker chair.  She likes to sit on it with her toys and she LOVES to run up on it and tip the back part over.  We may need to make a movie of this and post it on the web.  It is hilarious, but best of all, it keeps her busy playing and out of trouble.  It's also good to see someone actually use that chair.

     I don't think there has been a day that has went by that Mocha hasn't made us smile.  She is always up to something and doing something silly to make us laugh.  We both love her dearly and are enjoying watching her grow and mature.  

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5-10-04  10:30am       Zac

     I have the day off from work, just to clarify why I am posting at 10:30am on a Monday. Had some more ups and downs with Mocha. I think we are getting used to the cycle. :-)  On the good side, she got to meet my (Zac's) parents and brother yesterday. We met half way at a park in St. Cloud for Mother's Day and relaxed for a couple hours before getting sent home by an impending thunderstorm. Mocha dealt very well with the thunder. I am chalking a lot of her disposition and lack of fear up to an excellent breeder (thanks, Betty!) - she seems to deal very well with new experiences and only seems to bark at or show fear of two things thus far:  yard rakes and the dustbuster. She seems to want to play with the yard rake and seems to think it's playing with her, so not a big deal. Kind of amusing, actually. The dustbuster doesn't seem like a fear thing either. She just barks at it and gets down on her front paws in the playful pose also. Funny puppy.

     On the down side, she was exhibiting the signs of a bladder infection yesterday:  peeing a lot (15-20 times in a 2 hour span outside) and with small volume. But she seemed to return to normal by last night. She also vomited in her crate Saturday night, but we think she got into something under our shed before bedtime on Saturday. All seems normal again as of right now (Monday, 10:30am), so we're going to monitor her and assume it was just something she ate. She was in the yard all day on Saturday and trying to eat anything in site also (grass, leaves, bark, twigs, and any other debris). We caught her before ingesting some electrical tape, a cigarette butt, and a bottle cap. Labs will eat anything!

     We trimmed nails, the hair between the pads on her feet, fed her the weekly hard boiled egg (for her coat) and weighed and measured her. I'm not sure how Jen managed to get her to sleep last week when grooming her, because it took both of us and a chew toy to get the job done. Here are the measurement results:

     Weight:  17 lbs

     Height at shoulders:  12 inches

     Length, nose to tail:  29 inches

     Length, not including tail:  22 inches

     Puppy class again tonight, so I'm sure we'll have more to report then.

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5-6-04  12:00pm       Cari

     Mocha was all tuckered out last night.  She played with Maverick (neighbor dog) for a while last night and then Zac, Mocha and I went on a walk.  Mocha loves to stop and smell EVERYTHING!  We need to work on getting her to heel.  Her new thing is to chase after birds and eat every dandelion in our yard.  We are getting more efficient on the potty and poo breaks, which is great because it allows me to get back to work a lot sooner.  Another thing Mocha loves to do is grab her toys and take them under the futon and try playing with them in a commando crawl position.  One of these days she is going to get stuck under there.  I don't think she realizes that she is growing!  Both Zac and I think she has gotten quite a bit bigger - and it will be confirmed the day she gets stuck under the futon.  We will do the measurements on Sunday and we'll be sure to post the updates.

    I have officially grown to love the smell of a puppy.  It seems that every dog owner that has held Mocha has mentioned how they miss the smell of a puppy.  Now I know what they mean.  Even though I do like the smell of a puppy, sometimes Mocha's breath is not that desirable.  We got her doggie mints that help with that!

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5-4-04  5:00pm       Cari

     I thought the Puppy Socialization class was a good start.  I believe Mocha was one of the youngest pups in class.  Most of the puppies were around 10-12 weeks old.  It seemed Mocha knew the "sit" command about the same, if not better than most of the other pups.  We were so proud of Mocha and, of course, she was the cutest puppy there!  (no bias - can you tell?) :-)  Honestly though, most of the other puppy owners were doting on her.

     Mocha is really responding well to her name!  I hardly use "pup, pup, pup" anymore to get her attention.  She is also responding well to the whistle, but is greatly distracted when she is out for a walk.  Today on our walk we worked a little bit on the "heel" command, but we have a way to go before she has that down.  She is only responding with a treat.  Also, on our walk today a couple people walked by us, but did not stop to pet Mocha.  It seemed Mocha had a look on her face as if everyone walking by should stop and acknowledge her since she is so damn cute!  I think she loves meeting knew people.

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5-3-04  9:45pm     Zac

     We just returned from Mocha's first puppy socialization class and it went well. She was very mellow initially and the teacher of the class picked her for how a demonstration on how to sit nicely (a "controlled sit"). She's really starting to pick up on her name, the "sit" command, the "down" command, and we are just starting to work with the "stand" command after tonight. The class was about 15 minutes of working on commands and listening to the teacher, about 15 minutes of passing each other's puppies around the circle to be handled by other people, and about 15-20 minutes of puppy free-time where they are all off leash and running rampant. Mocha was very relaxed for the first two and did very well running around with the other dogs. I think playing with Leary's dogs and Maverick (the neighbor dog) has really helped her confidence.

     When we were at Don & Jen's yesterday, Don showed me how to do a 'control down' hold on Mocha to settle her down. I'll have to get a pic posted, because it's hard to explain, but you basically gently hold her down on her side holding on to a back leg and front leg so she can't squirm out and speak gently to her to settle her down. It worked very well and probably saved my sanity last night. I think Cari used it today also. 

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5-3-04  5:00pm       Cari

     I figured I should write a little something in the Mocha Blog.  Yesterday, we took a trip over to Don & Jen's house so Mocha could play around with their dogs.  Also, Jen showed us how to trim Mocha's nails and trim the hair between her pads.  Mocha behaved wonderfully for Jen while she showed us the grooming techniques.  (Thank you Jen & Don!)  After we got home, Mocha snarfed down her hard-boiled egg and we took some more unscientific measurements.  (See 'Mocha Pics' with her sitting on the scale)  She has grown just a little bit, but it has only been a week.  I love being able to hold her and I enjoy every moment I can because I know it won't be too long before she is to heavy for me to hold.

     Weight:  15 lbs

     Height at shoulders:  11 inches

     Length, nose to tail:  28 inches

     I'm thankful that I work from home, so that I can take care of Mocha in these very important weeks.  We take potty & poo breaks around 10am and 3pm and then at noon she gets lunch and we go for a walk.  She loves meeting new people on our walks.  She seems to respond more and more to her name, which is great!  Also, I think she is catching on to the "come" and "sit" commands.  Tonight we are going to a Puppy Socialization class, so I am sure we will have lots to add to the Blog after her first day of school!

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5-2-04  1:00pm       Zac

     Yesterday, Mocha got her first visit to French Park - a Hennepin County Park with walking trails. We went for a long walk and she got to experience all kinds of new smells and sights. We were hoping to be able to introduce her to the water at Medicine Lake (in the park), but they prohibit pets near the lake. Guess we'll have to find somewhere else to check it out.

     It looks like Monday will be our first puppy training class. Don & Jen recommended Twin Cities Obedience Club, so I think we're going to check them out. She seems to already be learning the basic commands, like "come" and "sit" from us working with her, but the socialization aspect of the class will be nice and I'm sure we'll learn more on training.

     Today is going to be grooming day, so there should be an interesting post up later today. We need to clip nails, trim the hair between her pads (feet), take some measurements again, and feed her a hard-boiled egg to help her coat.

     We've both had our bad day. Mine was Saturday, and Cari's was Friday. Cari got a couple of accidents in the house and a pup who wouldn't settle down. I had one of those days when you feel like life will never be "normal" again and I'm gonna have to watch this little critter every waking minute. We both pulled through with each other's help and today has been good so far. Part of my problem is that I've learned how to rile her up (big surprise, huh Mom & Dad?), but I haven't figured out how to settle her down yet. Maybe I'll learn some patience out of this...

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4-28-04  10:27pm       Zac

     I think all three of us (Cari, Mocha, and I) are exhausted today. This puppy business is hard work! We had our first trip to Petco with Mocha today, and just about everyone that saw her had to check her out. She's just THAT cute. She met a couple of dogs and was pretty comfortable. She's more timid with other breeds, it seems. She met a 6 year old golden retreiver, a couple of french bulldogs, and a 6 mo. old golden/irish setter mix? Needless to say, our trip to Petco took way longer than expected.

     No accidents in the house since day 1. At least not that we know of!  Cari has been taking her out about 10, 12, and 3 during the day to potty and stretch out. I guess she is especially rambunctious around 3pm. We'll see if that continues... She also goes out first thing in the morning and as many times as necessary in the evening when we are watching her and playing.

     I was working a little bit tonight on getting her to come to me when I snap my fingers. Don and Jen showed us this when they were over. I'm just waiting until she gets distracted on something else and giving her a tiny piece of a broken up dog biscuit when she comes to me. We are planning to do 2-3 training classes with her when she's young.

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4-28-04  7:12am       Zac

     Last night, Don & Jen Leary (www.brownstonelabs.com) brought their dog Paige over. Paige and Mocha are half-sisters. They got along very well and we laughed watching the uncoordinated little puppy chase the bigger lab around. By the end of the night, Mocha's favorite activity was to latch on and hang from Paige's jowels. Paige was very forgiving with the little rascal. We're hoping Mocha grows up with Paige's temperment - she is a very mellow lab. Oh - Jen and Don were kind enough to bring us some puppy gifts, so Mocha had plenty of fun with her new squeak toy throughout the night.

     When meeting new dogs, Mocha has done very well, but I guess early in the evening she got scared by our neighbor's German Shepard-Lab cross named Maverick. Maverick is a very easy-going dog also, so this surprised me. While we were outside, Mav came over again and met Paige and Mocha. Initially, Paige was very protective of her newfound friend, so I asked Don to put her in the car for a minute. Mocha was much more open with Mav at this point, and we had the three out chasing each other around in no time.

     After all this activity and staying up late with me to watch the Timberwolves show the Nuggets who the real playoff team is, little Mocha was pretty tired and zonked out with no whining at all in her crate.

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4-27-04  7:00am       Zac

     As far as we can tell, Mocha made it through an 8 hour night with no accidents in her crate! She woke up about 3-4 times during the night and we could hear her chewing her bone, but no whining at all. She is very playful in the morning. Maybe she'll help me get out of bed at a reasonable time! We made some unscientific measurements (you try to measure a moving puppy!!)...

     Weight:  15 lbs

     Height at shoulders:  10 inches

     Length, nose to tail:  27 inches

     Length, not including tail:  20 inches

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4-26-04  2:30pm       Zac

     The trip home yesterday with Mocha went very smoothly, although we didn't reach home until about 1:30am. We stopped every couple hours for both humans and dogs to stretch and take bio breaks. The little girl only whimpered a little when we would get going initially, but slept about 80% of the time and spent most of the other 20% of the time chewing her toys in her crate. She rode for an hour or two in my lap while Cari drove, and slept most of that also.

     We took a longer stop in Madison, WI to see Cari's cousins, Eric and Jen, and their yellow lab named Homer. Homer and Mocha got a long pretty well, but Mocha had a little accident in Eric and Jen's bedroom (sorry Eric & Jen!!). Mocha had some more fun exploring their yard afterward, and we hit the road again.

     When we got home, night #1 went pretty smoothly. We spent a little time showing her the house and unpacking the car, and then we got her settled into her crate in our bedroom. She whined for a couple of minutes and threw in a Fox & The Hound howl once or twice, but she conked out after a couple of minutes and we never heard another peep.

     Day 1 at home has been spent exploring the yard and the rest of the house. It's about 2:30pm, and I think she's on nap #3 while Cari and I attempt to be productive. This is definitely going to be a life changing experience... We've only had 2 accidents in the house, but she has gone outside 5-10 times, so that's a pretty good start on the housetraining. She loves chew toys, and we're already working on not chewing hands, feet, ears, etc.