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Nolan is 46 weeks old, and went in for his 10-month weight check this past week. He is 17 lb 7 oz now, which puts him solidly in the growth curve for the 3rd percentile. Length we measured ourselves, and he appears to be about 28.5″, which is at least in the 25th percentile. All of the poor kid’s pants are either too baggy or too short. What else is new?

Nolan had his first haircut this past week, pretty much just a trim over his forehead and ears. He was looking really scruffy, and now we don’t have to constantly push his hair out of his eyes. Most of these pics are pre-trim, however. We finally found a finger food he is willing and able to pick up and eat all by himself: organic cinnamon-oatmeal alphabet cookie squares. He crunches at them with all those little teeth, and makes a pretty good mess of his face and hands. Keeps him busy while I’m making dinner. And yes, he still eats everything we offer him. This week was daddy’s birthday, so he got to try out braised lamb and German chocolate cake. We also finally got him to hold onto his bottle and feed himself, but so far it appears to have been a one-time deal.

This picture cracked us up because they almost seem to have the same expression. Our beautiful pup will be two years old in just over a week.

It’s hard to believe, but our little pup is a whole year old today. While she’s busy chawing on her birthday bone, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few choice photos documenting her growth.

Freyja was one of a litter of 11 born on February 18, 2007 to Vom Holtzberg’s Ernie and Briya.

We brought her home on April 9th at the tender age of 7 weeks, with adorable floppy ears and an incessant whine, all of 12 pounds.

But she grew like a weed (and ate quite a few of them in our backyard for good measure).

Jeremy tried hard to take advantage of her lapdog size while it lasted, but she is much too active to hold still and cuddle for long!

Eventually her ears made an effort to stand up, but she was a good 4 months old before they stayed up for real.

Here she is discovering that the beach is a very fun place for puppies.

She also quickly discovered the joys of having a buddy to romp around with every so often. Freyja and Spencer are still the best of pals.

Before we knew it, our little girl wasn’t so little anymore. At 7 months old, she was already over 60 pounds.

It hasn’t stopped Jeremy from pretending she’s his little lapdog, however!

I’m not sure Freyja has quite come to terms with her grown-up size yet, either.

She still has a bit of filling out yet to do, but it is pretty obvious that she has grown up to be a smart, beautiful, affectionate, regal and very energetic young German shepherd dog. We couldn’t possibly ask for more. Happy birthday, Freyja!

Another weekend, another post full of romping puppies. Last week’s playdate was so fun that we set up another one for yesterday afternoon, and the dogs had a blast sprinting around at top speed after their toys.

Spencer has almost caught up with Freyja in height, but she is still longer, and I dare say heavier, than he is yet. I think she has an edge on him in speed too, but that could be because she has a stronger prey drive than he does, and really goes after those toys for all she’s worth. Spencer isn’t quite so invested in the chase.

Also, we noticed that Freyja gets really streamlined when she runs, with her ears back and her body all grounded, very graceful. Spencer is all limbs and flying ears and tongue somehow sticking straight forward—it’s adorable (and I swear every third shot we got of him was just like that!).

Freyja is showing a few alpha dog tendencies with Spencer, which is a new thing for her, as she has always done the “I’m such a harmless little puppy” submission thing around other dogs in the past. Her confidence level is definitely growing. Every single time she heard Spencer getting a drink of water, she had to go get some herself… good thing Spencer is good at sharing!

And now for some “happy dog” shots to finish off this picture-heavy post. Enjoy!

More photos, from this weekend’s play session with Freyja and Spencer. They haven’t gotten together to play in quite some time, although they were both in the same obedience classes. Yet the second they saw each other in the yard at TIUA (where we hold our playdates as it’s reasonably enclosed), it was like they had never been apart. Play commenced at lightning-speed and continued for a solid half hour or more, after which both puppies were totally pooped out. Below, you’ll find some of our attempts to photograph the little speed demons in the act.

Everybody loves Spencer!

We found that Freyja was very keen on chasing her balls and frisbees (strong prey drive in that one!), while Spencer was more interested in chasing Freyja, so many of the photos involve Freyja running around with a toy in her mouth and Spence hot on her heels. The remaining photos involved Spencer rolling around on the ground getting love and tummy rubs from everybody, followed a few frames later by Freyja coming over to break up the party and find out what all the fuss was. Amazing how different their personalities are!

It’s been a while since we posted any photos of Freyja, so I thought I would write a short update to let you know that she’s still doing great, smart as a whip and growing like a weed at nearly 60 pounds. We just finished an obedience training course that lasted 7 weeks. Freyja was a bit young (just over 5 mos. old) when the class started and we were consequently told not to expect her to be at the top of the class; by the end, the instructors were telling us to expect more from her, and she really responded when we did. She has learned some commands better than others so far, and still needs regular practice, being an energetic puppy, but she is really doing great.

Now that Freyja is 6 months old, it was time to take her to the vet to be spayed, and that was taken care of nearly two weeks ago. She still has stitches in place (to be removed this weekend), so we are still trying to keep her from excessive running and jumping. With a German shepherd pup, though, that’s like trying to hold your breath underwater (it can be done, but not for very long)– especially now that she’s not in pain from the surgery. That doesn’t stop her from taking full advantage of Jeremy spoiling her like she’s still a sickie, and letting her cuddle up with him on the sofa, though.

This is what we’ve been doing instead of updating the blog lately….

Freyja’s entrance on the scene was the death knell for our carpets, which were already the worse for wear thanks to the machinations of 5 ferrets over the course of 6 years. Actually, the ferret smells in the carpet were giving Freyja some difficulty with housebreaking, and we finally had enough of scrubbing at puppy piddle marks. We decided to install laminate flooring in the front rooms of the house, so Jeremy pulled up the carpet in the corner to see what condition the subfloor was in. Turns out it was actually a pretty nice hardwood floor, in need of refinishing.

The discovery was an exciting one, and Jeremy could hardly wait to start ripping out carpet. It and its tacking strips came out without too many problems, though Freyja was not exactly pleased by this development. She lay down wherever there was a bit of carpet left, looking on forlornly.

Jeremy did all the work of the refinishing himself. I wanted to help, but about all I could manage was helping move furniture and dogsitting. We rented a random orbital sander to use for the main stripping/sanding work, which took Jeremy all of a Saturday to complete (and many boxes of sandpaper). The floors, under their previous coats of varnish, turned out to be (we believe) Douglas fir, which isn’t exactly the hardest hardwood flooring, but was very commonly used in this area because of proximity.

Then Jeremy cleaned the floors and applied coats of clear poly to seal the floor, right at the end of the day so they could dry overnight and allow us to leave our bedroom in the morning. He did that twice, a few days apart, with some scuffing of the first coat to adhere the second better. Then we let the poly cure for a week before replacing some of the furniture, protecting the floor with felt furniture pads underneath everything.

The verdict? The floors are so much better than the carpets, even though they already have some doggie scratch marks on them. The house smells better, and is cleaner because now we can really see every drift of dog hair gathering in the corners; plus, it reduces some of our flea problems, which I am loving. We purchased a gorgeous hand-tufted wool area rug for the home theater room, and are currently reimagining the arrangement of the front room, which is a rather awkward space. When we can afford it, we’ll get some more rugs so that Freyja isn’t sliding all over the place.

Actually, the sliding is a little funny, and she has adapted the way she runs in the house to suit it, slowing down well before she approaches a wall, or aiming to end up on a carpet where she can get some traction. She loves the fact that the front room is so big and empty right now—perfect for puppy play. Plus, the floors are cooler in the summertime for hot dogs.

Freyja is 18 weeks old now, and getting bigger and more beautiful every day. We got her together again this weekend with Spencer the Dobie pup, and they had an awesome time playing. This time we let Freyja off leash, so the two puppies really got to go at it, chasing each other back and forth, running after balls and frisbees, and wrestling. Here are some pics of the fun:

Spencer is growing up quick, and he is already starting to get that characteristic Doberman look. Ruby, as always, was eager to ensure that the dogs were well hydrated. Spencer is still quite a bit smaller than Freyja, so he couldn’t quite keep up with her, but that sure didn’t stop him from trying. He’s a confident little guy!

I love the way that mischievous little imp is gnawing on Freyja’s sturdy ankle, and she doesn’t seem to mind a bit.

Freyja’s favorite outdoor toy is the frisbee, hands down. When she sees that come out, she knows she’s in for some fun–you should see the way she immediately perks up and tries to come get it. She’s still working on her catches, but in the meantime, all the running back and forth is a great way to wear her out!

Here Ruby is getting a frisbee lesson from her dad, while Freyja politely offers her assistance.

They played for an hour straight, and even though they were both clearly exhausted, I think they would have kept trying to play as long as they were together. They absolutely had a blast, and it was just an ideal socializing experience. We couldn’t be happier, and will definitely have to keep up these playdates.

Our eighth wedding anniversary was yesterday, so we took the opportunity to take part of the week off and spend a little quality time with each other and Freyja and the new car. On Monday we went on an afternoon trip to Silver Creek Falls for some hiking. We forgot to bring along the camera, but we had a very good time, hiking about three miles along one of the dog-friendly trails and letting Freyja have an ecstatic romp in the river afterwards.

Yesterday, after a breakfast of homemade banana pancakes, we harnessed Freyja in the back seat and headed off for a day at the beach. We originally had it in mind to go to Newport, but when we got as far as Lincoln City, Freyja was about bursting to get some exercise, so we ended up just going to the beach there.

It was a gorgeous day. We could hardly have asked for nicer weather—70 degrees with a slight breeze and a beautiful blue sky, not too hot or too cold. The ocean was cold, of course, but that’s just how Oregon beaches are. Freyja had a great time, getting used to the sand, running into the shallows, meeting and greeting the various people and dogs around us. Here are a few more pictures of the fun:

When we looked back through the hundreds of pictures we took yesterday, it was cracking me up how a large percentage of them included Freyja looking or running straight at the camera. She worked very hard the whole day to keep the three of us right together, and every time Jeremy or I backed up to get a wider shot, she would come and shepherd us back in a hurry.

She had a great time exploring and sniffing everything, and met a very friendly 1.5 year old yellow lab who played with her for a while, so it was definitely a good experience that we’ll have to duplicate soon. We think, however, that Freyja still prefers fresh water to the ocean. She seemed a little uncertain what to make of the waves coming and going, and the water must have been really cold for her, short as she still is. Fortunately, we came at the right time of day for tide pools, so we spent a lot of time hanging around one that had less wave action and warmer water, and she seemed to have more fun with that.

A friend and co-worker of mine got a long-anticipated 12-week old Doberman puppy last week, and at the first opportunity, we got him together with Freyja for a little puppy play-date. Socialization is so important for young dogs, both for interactions with people and other dogs, and we definitely want our pups well socialized. First a few introductions:

Right now, Spencer weighs about 15 pounds to Freyja’s 30+, though we anticipate that by the time they are both full grown, they’ll be about even in terms of weight, somewhere in the vicinity of 70 lbs. But because she’s currently twice his size, Spencer was a little tentative of Freyja’s play solicitations.

Before long, they started getting the hang of playing pretty nicely with each other. We kept Freyja on her leash this time, just in case, though. She can be pretty enthusiastic, and we didn’t want her to bowl over Spencer or little Ruby, who is 3 years old. Ruby was a great help making sure the puppies had plenty of water and treats available, as well as pointing out whose toys belonged to whom. (Below she’s letting Freyja know that is Spencer’s ball.)

I think a good time was had by all, and we’d definitely like to get the pups together for more play-dates in the future, especially as Spencer gets a little larger. It won’t take long…I hear he’s already up to 17 lbs.!

We have a pressboard barrier between the living room and the bedroom/bathroom area that has been there ever since we got the ferrets. One way we’ve been gauging Freyja’s growth is how tall she is compared to that barrier: When we got her, she could just barely peek over the top if she put her paws up on it. Now she can basically look over the top of it just sitting down.This morning while Jeremy took his shower, I was brushing my teeth and throwing a rope ball for Freyja, who kept bringing it back and dropping it over the barrier for me to throw again. After 5 or 6 repetitions of this, she came back without the ball, put her elbows over the barrier like she usually does to get a better view of what we’re doing, and then just leaned forward until she was able to slide her front paws to the ground and her back ones over the top of the barrier. No leaping or faceplants, like we were anticipating… just a big calm dog overcoming an obstacle and sauntering into the bedroom like she owns the place. None of our clothes and shoes are safe now… (gulp!)