Checking in on Bauer
One of Annie’s puppies, Bauer has been practicing his swimming and agility. Here are some pictures, videos and stories of his life to date. I am always so touched and happy to receive updates on my little ones. Thank you to everyone who sends them!!
Hey Kristin! It’s been a while…..months!
Bauer at 11 months old
Today is Bauer’s birthday, and I thought you might enjoy some recent pictures we’ve taken of him.
He’s grown up to be such a good dog. He still gets excited when he meets new people, but he tries to listen – I’ll tell him sternly to sit or down, and he does this awkward “I’m trying really hard to sit, but I’m so excited I can stop wiggling my butt” flop. He doesn’t jump up on people now unless they open their arms up as he’s coming to them, so I’m always careful to tell people to keep their hands in front of them. We tried the whole just ignoring him until he settles down, but he just kept flopping at our feet. We’ve moved on to the standing still while he flops, and when he calms down for a second, we pet him. The instant he starts his flopping, we stand still again. It seems to be working! I think he’s reached his max weight…a whopping 71 lbs.
He’s great at the dog park…we go to the one off of commerce drive in St. Charles that your were told about by that one person in your playgroup…). Anyhow, he LOVES to swim….he will swim out as far as I can throw the ball – the only funny thing is that he will only retrieve his ball – a green squeaky one – he wants nothing to do with tennis balls! They have little obstacles set up there too – a tunnel to crawl through, a ramp to climb up and down, and then poles to jump over that can be set at 3 heights….Bauer does it all! Who though my awkward little puppy would be able to learn so much! It’s took a little while to teach him how to do it all, and now he loves to show off! Last Saturday when we went He was running through the obstacle course with another dog along his side…it kind of made me feel a little like a dog whisperer 🙂 .
[flashvideo file=/images/BauerRamp11mos.flv height=240 width=320 /]
We keep him on a pretty strict diet – We went though months of thinking something was wrong with him because every food we tried to give him gave him diarrhea. Even plain beef and rice and boiled chicken and rice caused him problems. We switched him to an allergy/grain free formula, and he’s been great ever since!
He loves to chew….rawhide is too easy, and it scares me because he tries to eat it whole, so I’ve found these bones that don’t splinter and last FOREVER that I give him…..the one he’s on now is at least 6 months old. We still crate him when we go to work…he loves his “bed” and will lay in it while we’re home as long as it’s open. We leave him out at night in our bedroom with the door closed, and he lays in his “spot” every night – an old pappason cushion on the floor on my side of the bed. He tried to sleep in bed with us all night, but I was having no part of that…he’s too big! He still will hop up in the morning to cuddle though….even at his size, he is a true cuddler. I swear, he thinks he’s a 5 pound lap dog! If he’s being too “in my face” I have taught him it’s not nice to be “rude” and he will back off….I didn’t realize I even taught him “rude” until my friend pointed it out to me – apparently I’ve told him he’s rude on several occasions! 🙂
[flashvideo file=/images/Bauerswimming11mos.flv height=240 width=320 /]
Anyhow, he’s earned complete freedom at night….we’ve tried letting him have freedom from the crate during the day, but he always manages to find something of mine to chew (J- tried to make me feel better by saying he picks my stuff because he loves me more…..), so needless to say, when we’re at work, he’s in his crate – which is large enough for two dogs probably, but he doesn’t have any accidents in there, so we figure the extra space is probably nice for him. He still uses his bell to let us know when he has to go out, and when we’re at our friend’s he’ll sit by the door patiently to let us know he needs to go.
He still loves to go on long, long walks (especially on the weekend when I can get out for 2 hours at a time!) – My next investment for Bauer and I is a bike for next spring….I have a feeling he’d be a good bike companion! We did attempt rollerblading, but I’m not very good at the stopping, and while Bauer would stop when I would tell him to, I couldn’t! Oh! He’s also learned to “stop” when I’ve recalled him – the look on his face is priceless….semi-confused as to why I would call him to me and then tell him to stop, but he does it anyhow.
I hope you like the new photos! We took them just for you!! 🙂 Thanks again for letting us bring him home…I can’t even remember what it was like before we had him! 🙂
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