Savannah is growing and coming along

We took our Lab Savannah to her first obedience class at Petsmart an hour away yesterday on Saturday. The minute we got out of the car she was so anxious to get inside the store. I think she smelled the other animals. We all met up inside and there were 5 other pups and their owners in our class and they were adorable. Best of all, all of them let her lick them and smell their noses and none of them bit her. She made friends and she was so happy. The class was mostly informational the first day and we are to go for 7 more sessions. Her biting is already getting so much better, thanks to my youngest daughter's boyfriend who gave me some really good pointers and a good, humane method of getting her to stop and we are being very consistent. I have learned you really have to become dedicated to your Lab once you have one. Dogs are not like cats, who always just know. Dogs have to be taught so many things. But I knew this. She has become a huge part of my life and my husband loves her too.

Here are some pics of her in our yard today. It's really hard to get a good pic of her as she is always moving. lol!

Bringing up baby pup sure is tough!

Well, let me first start off by saying I love my little chocolate covered Lab baby. However, she is rather a tough one to train. First of all, she play bites. Yeah, it's called play biting but it hurts like heck and makes me bleed. I have to wear band aides on my hands when I go to work so people won't thing I have leprosy or am a self mutilator. 2nd of all, I'm having a tough time house training her for potty. You really have to watch them like a hawk in order to get an idea of when they have to poop or pee or they will poop and pee all over your floor and rug. I just simply get exhausted trying to drag her out a million times a night, so I fall short of catching her signals all the time. However yesterday was the first time we went all day without the first accident. Yeah!!! You have no idea of what an accomplishment this is. I could not even start to count how many times I've cleaned poop and pee up off my floor. When she goes and does her business outside, I praise her and give her a treat. They say I got her too young and is why I'm having problems with the biting, she was 6 weeks. They say it's best to wait at least until they are 8 weeks so they can learn bite inhibition from their mother. But I didn't know. The owner said they were all "ready to go."

Anyway, I love her and I'm sure all of this will be worth it. I won't even go into all the crate training we've been doing but she's done wonderful with that. We put her in her crate at night at 9 and she sleeps all night til 5:30 a.m. and she has not wet or pooed.

Oh the things a dog owner will talk about!! haha!

Here are some new pics. If you look closely, you will see on my carpet some stains of cleaned poop and pee (does not always come up well) and some leaves that were brought in by the constant going in and out. Thankfully, we will be getting new carpet when she's trained. (we had planned this even before getting her). I've also included some pics of my hands, you ought to see under the bandages and on my arms that are covered up. They never said puppy-hood with a Lab would be this rough. But I'm betting it will be worth it. I hope so anyway.

More cute pics of my chocolate covered sweetie

How could you NOT love me?????

My new Lab Puppy!!!

Yesterday, after months of reading, researching, and yesterday and the day before buying all the supplies I would need, I picked up my new 7 week old Lab puppy! She was in a big pen with her mother and she picked me out and I couldn't resist her! But she smelled SO bad!! I put her in the pet carrier and she cried and yelped all the way home, 45 minutes, except for the time we stopped at my parents' to show her to them. My pup immediately fell in love with my mother, as all animals do. Then it was on the way back home again and she immediately started the crying again. She came from a litter of 7 pups, so this is all new to her.

I got her home and gave her a good bath and now she smells good. She's so sweet. However, when I put her in her crate last night, she cried 45 minutes before going to sleep, then slept about an hour and a half, cried again so I took her to potty, which she did. This whole thing lasted all night long.(the crying, potty, sleeping, crying, potty). We have a long way to go in our training but it will be worth it.

Her name is Savannah. She is a chocolate lab. It's hard to get a good pic of her because she rarely stays still. She looks a little sad because she misses her mama I guess.

My first ride on back of our Ultra

Today and yesterday were 2 beautiful days in the 70s and 80s here. My husband felt like he had practiced enough on his own on our Ultra Classic that he felt comfortable with me on back and we had a great time! Yesterday we rode through the countryside and wound up in Myrtle Beach. I was surprised because I thought he was just going in the country down some simple roads with little traffic, but no, he hit the big time and he did very well. We had an absolute wonderful time and it was like a dose of good medicine for both of us. We stopped at Krispy Kreme and sinned greatly and then it was on the way home. We also stopped at the Harley dealership in Myrtle beach. We had no trouble from the police with the new laws since we always wear helmets anyway and our exhaust is still stock and sound very quiet now anyway. We rode for about 5 hours.

Today, we rode down to Southport, a very nice ride which took us through miles of the Green Swamp, a refuge for wildlife and lots of trees and swamp area. Southport is a very old Port town and very historic. We ate at a nice restaurant there and we both had stuffed flounder that was delicious. The restaurant sits right in front of the ocean and we had seats right there with a great view watching the boats and seagulls. Then we rode to Wilmington to that Harley dealership and then out into the country. We rode about 6 hours.

The air was filled with the promise spring. The air was fresh, and smelled good, things were starting to bloom, and many fields had been plowed in preparation for planting time. I cannot tell you what healing this did to my soul.

And the Ultra, Oh WOW, we just LOVE it!!! It was so comfortable and my butt or legs did not hurt once during any part of the rides. And the music!!! Guess what the first song on the radio was" "You shook me all night long." And that really got us going. Then lo and behold "Born to be Wild" came on. And the music continued to be that good the whole time. I give the Ultra AAAAAAAA all the way and we should have bought one years ago.

Can't wait to be go on some really long trips!! My gosh we had a great time!!!!!!

His first ride

Today Allyn was able to ride our new Ultra for the very first time! Why has it taken so long to ride? He's been working 60 hours a week lately and has not had time to ride. He took it out today and said he loves it. Still a little on the tall side, but he's going to have someone do some work on the seat to get it a little lower. I'm waiting for when he feels comfortable on the bike before I get on the back. Hopefully not long from now......