Maude's First Co-ed Slumber Party

Meet Blue, Maude's boyfriend.  He is staying with us for a few days and she is loving it.  He is a Catahoula Blue Heeler mix.  They enjoy each other's company immensely.

Saturday Skiing

Here are a couple shots of today's Saturday morning ski:

Who's the retriever in our family?

After accidentally throwing Maude's frisbee into a little water culvert under a walking bridge, Brian went to great lengths to retrieve it.  With the creative help of our dog-walking friend and neighbor, Chris, and a long metal ladder from another neighbor, they got it.  I watched uncomfortably and took these bad iPhone pics.  

Maude is a lucky canine-lady to have such a good puppy-papa!

Family Manners

Here are some more glimpses into Manners Class.  We are getting good!

Down!

Sit!

Good down!

Good girl,  Maude!

Loose-leash walking with treats as bait to stay at my hip.

"Where's my treat, mama???"

Loose-leash walking at its finest :)

We learned that people who show dogs and hold their hand like I am in this picture are technically ok, but it's kind of looked upon as cheating, because they're tricking their dog into thinking a treat is there.  

No dog shows are in Maude's future, so we're totally fine with tricking her :)

Maude, fetch!

After six months of playing fetch with ourselves, Maude is finally catching on to the whole concept of the game.  It's much more entertaining for all involved now :)

Here is a little glimpse into our lunch-hour play:

Maude's "Manners Class"

A couple weeks ago we started "Manners Class" with Maude and about seven other dogs, all ranging in size, age and temperament.  Maude is the youngest dog in the class; she's now going on 7 months!  

So far we've worked on loose-leash walking, sit, down, and stand.  It's all treat-based, so we feed Maude a reduced dinner before the class, knowing she's going to get about a bazillion treats.  Needless, to say, we think she enjoys herself.  We have six more classes to go.

Here is a little glimpse into last weeks' class:  

Maude's New Dog Bed

Maude's Christmas present from her grandparents in Germany finally arrived this week!  

Here is her old dog bed, which she quickly outgrew and we never officially replaced. In the meantime, she has been using our couch as her dog bed :)  

Maude can't wait to see what's inside!

Oh yeah.  This is comfy.

Now she gets to sleep on her new bed inside our bedroom.

Such a cozy space.  Thank you!

It has only taken a few nights for her to learn that her bed is her bed and our bed is our bed and we don't allow mixing.  Last night she slept all night on her own bed without jumping up onto our's once.