Sean

So while the pup loves the snow we got last night, Veronica and I are not exactly fans. I am awaiting the days when we have an SUV capable of powering through the conditions with no problem.

Happy snow days!

Sean

Making cookies!

Hanging out!

This was also Enzo’s first Christmas as well as his first birthday. We have been raising Enzo since Feb 26th of 2010 so he’s almost been with us for a year. Below is a recap of his growth

Enzo comes home!

3 months old.

Approximately 6 months.

1 year old! Man how they grow! I can only imagine what it’s like having kids.

In other news, I am still going strong in Taekwondo and have joined the Leadership program so I can start on my journey to becoming an instructor in the future. The Leadership program is a welcome change as I get to spend time with adults instead of just training with 6-12 year old kids. As I get higher in rank I’ll be training with the adults but it’s fun right now seeing how kids learn.

Veronica is starting her classes back up again this coming Monday and I think she’s fairly excited.

All other things are going well and we are just enjoying our lives and rejoicing in how blessed we are to have come this far and been able to experience the things we have.

Until next time! Keep motivated on those Resolutions (or as I like to say Goals)

Sean

Veronica and I can now sit in the living room and enjoy a movie with Enzo laying on his bed enjoying a bully stick or his bone. Before it was a time wrought with frustration and many stop and starts of the movie. Progress. This also makes me somewhat understand why people seem to not know when their children really just grew up. We can never pinpoint that exact moment of change, but Enzo has shown how seamlessly it progresses.

When Enzo graduated intermediate obedience class, Veronica and I were conflicted about moving right into the advanced class. A couple things swayed our decision of opting to wait a couple of months.

1. The class started the week after we finished intermediate class.
2. It was on Tuesday evenings which didn’t fit with Veronica’s class schedule, and consequently doesn’t work with my Taekwondo schedule.
3. Enzo has some maturing to do.

Most of the decision was swayed by Enzo’s maturity. He still exhibits very puppy like behaviors and we thought it best to give him a few months of growing up and consistency on the intermediate front before we started him in the advanced class. Upon satisfactory completion of the the advanced course, Enzo can test for his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) certification. We are very hopeful that he and we will be able to complete the tasks for him to be considered at CGC.

Enzo’s current position in the household

We will keep you updated!

Sean

• Veronica has left Payless and started school
• I’ve started Taekwondo
• Enzo has graduated from intermediate obedience class
• Veronica has her own personal blog – seeveronicalearn

Other than that it has been one heck of a hot summer. The grass is finally starting to recover from my lack of watering and the lack of natural watering. Here’s hoping that next summer we can get our sprinkler system fixed or installed correctly.

Until next time (which I’m hoping is in a couple days),
Sean

Let’s flash back shall we?

Enzo was brought into our lives at 8 weeks old. He weighed just about as many pounds.

He was so small and kind of scared, but SOOO darn cute. We immediately went to work teaching him and guiding him as to how to acclimate to our lives. Little did we know how much of our lives we’d need to change to acclimate to his needs.

The first big change: Staying home from work for a week and working the evenings for a couple of the following weeks. I stayed home during the days to help house train Enzo and then during the evenings I put in 4-5 hours while Veronica watched the little guy. This little charade payed off however because to this day we’ve had only 2 accidents in the house. One was due to us not paying attention after he had been running around playing and the other was as he got older and could sleep through the night, we got him up in the morning without his leash.

Big change number 2: Our energy and attitude towards Enzo. There were times when the little guy was extremely stubborn and frustrating we had to check ourselves out and essentially swap duties. When Enzo was about 12 weeks old we started to let him hang out in the living room with us. This entailed getting his leash on and trying to get him to lay down and not constantly chew on things. Every day for about 2 weeks we’d spend 45 minutes or so correcting him and teaching him how to behave in the living room. Well it’s paid off because now we can have him curl up at our feet at night while we watch TV and there is little to no drama. How quickly they learn.

Some other changes we’ve made are going to the dog park and taking Enzo to daycare. The past couple of weeks he’s gone to doggie daycare at Swanson’s Streamway Dog Daycare and Park. They give the animals (2) 1 hour and 15 minute play sessions. This is a Godsend. Enzo is usually pooped out at the end of the day and it makes the evenings much more low key. I spoke with one of the trainers at Petsmart where we take puppy classes and he said for the first 2 years of a dogs life with us, it’s not a bad idea to get him to doggie daycare at least a couple times a week. They get the socialization they need as well as get to burn energy the right way. Not to mention it allows us humans to worry less while at work.

The dog park is a fantastic place too. Except when there are the dog owner’s who do not watch their dogs or care what they do. It’s essentially like parents dropping their kids off at the mall and letting them run wild.

However, Enzo has made a couple friends at the dog park. Most notably a Vizla named Jemma, and a Puggle named Lily. Both of these females made Enzo realize who was in charge, but they played most wonderfully and it was great to see him socializing so well with new dogs.
Puppy classes:

The puppy classes at Petsmart have been wonderful. The trainers really love dogs and really make it fun to teach and learn about a new puppy. Our puppy class had 3 other pups in it. Kinzie, a german shepherd, Beau, a bloodhound, and Barkley, a miniature australian shepherd. We felt kind of bad for Barkley as he is the same age as all of the other pups in class, but he was a good 3 to 4 times smaller in size and weight. He bounded with the best of them though and at one point he managed to hurdle Enzo in the middle of play. I can’t say that Enzo aced puppy class but he sure did well. On graduation day we managed to show off how he can stay at a distance and wait for us to signal him to be released. (A skill taught in intermediate class)

Now we have a little bit of summer break before the next level of puppy classes start. It’s nice to have the weekends with a bit more freedom. It will be fun to keep excelling in our obedience and learning.

Every day is a new and exciting challenge and experience with Enzo. Some days he is so laid back we wonder if he’s alright. Then other days we wonder when he may eventually calm down. Usually he is more calm than anything. Like right now for instance he is laying at our feet under the desk just chewing away on his rawhide. He’s the best!

Until next time!

Following are some pics of Enzo I took with it. (he’s 13 weeks old now)

I know that they say puppies are puppies until roughly 6 months, but Enzo is a quick learner. He has started testing the limits of where he can go and what he can jump towards but Veronica and I both have been steady with our discipline and he’s learning what he can and cannot do. For instance, the kitchen has an island in it and his boundaries are to stay out of the ‘L’ shape that has the stove and dishwasher in it. 80% of the time he manages this on his own. The other 20% of the time we have to correct him. It only takes a couple of corrections and he scoots on out of there. Another sign of maturity is his ability to sit when asked as well as stay. He’s learned down and will do most of these commands the first or third time you ask.

We recently (last Sunday) started puppy obedience classes at PetSmart. This is a basic introductory class and teaches simple commands as well as basic puppy things (potty training, bite inhibition, etc.). Our homework this week was to “load” our clickers so that our puppies will respond to the click as an understanding that they did a good job. The clicker also bridges the gap between their brains understanding they did the right thing and us getting them a treat. That 1.x second can be the make it or break it period. To say the least, Enzo has picked this up quickly. So quickly in fact he knows to look away after he gets his treat and look right back before the click. (Our instructions were to click when he’s not paying attention so he’ll react to it). Veronica and I are both very excited to keep up the classes and learn and grow with Enzo.

Another milestone this past weekend was Enzo graduating from his small travel kennel to his big wire kennel. We bought him a bed in hopes that we could move it in the living room and he would sleep on it during the evening when we watch TV. So far it has been a test of who can last longer him or us on keeping him from chewing on the couch cushions. He loves his bed, that is definitely not the problem. The day we bought it and brought it home, he jumped on it and LOVES being there. The only thing that tears him away from that is the sunbeam (Which he is currently basking/sleeping in). We decided to help him deal with is new bigger kennel we’d lay his new snazzy bed in there. That was the trick. He comfortably sleeps there most of the night and we keep getting a little bit more sleep. Soon Enzo will make it through the night without having to be taken out.

His walks are going swimmingly as well once we get him away from the house. He has some sort of barrier in his brain where he doesn’t like leaving the view of the house. Once past that he walks on a loose leash either right beside us or behind us. YAHOO! we’ve got him walking properly and it’s only been 4 weeks. I can’t imagine what 4 months will bring.

Until next time here are our most recent pictures.

Laughter

Red Wine

Cupcakes

Family

These are the signs of a wonderful evening!

My mom and Stan came last night to meet Enzo for the first time and have dinner with Sean and I. It was a truly wonderful evening! The wine was flowing, the food was grilled, and we laughed… a lot.

Veronica

Enzo does not know how to play.

He doesn’t understand the concept of fetch.

His idea of running around the yard is to attack our ankles.

He thinks that biting feet and pants and fingers is a fun game. We do not.

So in an effort to play with Enzo and still keep all out fingers and toes, the Duck-On-A-Stick was born.

Veronica