Tag: st. bernard

  • Saint Bernard Puppy Update

    Saint Bernard Puppy Update

    saint bernard puppy

    Saint Bernard puppy

    surprised by her first snowfall

    camera? inside.

    Yeah, I wrote you puppy haiku.

    Late last Friday night was Karma’s first snow. If you weren’t outside that night, it was that really cold snow where each fallen snowflake is perfect and whole; so crystallized that you could hear the snowflakes colliding with each other and crashing to the ground. Karma was afraid to come outside at first and then spent ten minutes snapping ineffectually at the swirling air. I hadn’t realized it was snowing before I opened the door to let her out, so no camera on hand. It’s a real bummer. I wish you could have been there.

    Anyway, I’ve had a number of people asking for more Saint Bernard Puppy updates 🙂

    Thankfully, Karma eventually overcame her urinary tract infection. Housebreaking was successful, and she now sleeps for six hours straight without wetting anything. THANK EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY.

    In related news, Jeff tore the carpet out of half the house.

    Karma is so very cute and sweet, but she’s mischievous as all get-out too. She is very routine-oriented; if I try to hit the snooze button on my alarm she yanks the covers off the bed. And she has decided that once the kids go to sleep, it’s Mommy and Puppy Playtime, which is immensely frustrating when I’m trying to get something done so I can get to bed at a decent hour. But I hate to tell her no.

    The nice thing about Saint Bernards is that their disposition mellows in proportion to their size. If this dog was this big and still nipping and raising Cain I don’t know what I’d do. Our Zooey (black lab) was a hellion until he was at least five, and up to no good until the day he died.

    Karma loves Cassidy with an intensity that is almost frightening. Jake comes home an hour before Mav and Cass do, and she is generally pleased to see him, sitting up to watch him come down the hill and wagging her tail. But when she hears the brakes of that later bus, boy howdy, she is up, she is ready, she is coiled and throws herself at the door, hurtling up to give Cass hugs and kisses.

    Which is quite a spectacle when the dog is as big as the girl.

    You see. Remember the little puppy?

    karma casino

    adolescent saint bernard

     

    That’s her at the vet last week. She weighed in at 80 pounds.

    “Oh, Robin,” I can hear you sighing. (I can hear it very clearly, which is odd because no one ever actually calls me by name. Even Siri on my iPhone calls me Honey Badger Mom.) “That picture doesn’t give me any perspective on how big she is.”

    Perspective? You want perspective?

    OK. Jeez, all you had to do was ask.

    Well, here she was as a puppy with Jimmy, aka The Dogness. (I’ve decided Karma is the Duchess of Dog, if anyone needs to update their spreadsheets.)

    st_bernard_puppy

     

    And here they are now.

     

    saint bernard and beagle

     

    Here she is with Cassie and Jake at 7 weeks–

     

     

    And with Cass now at 7 months.

     

     

     

    She’s a big girl.

     

    _____________________________

    Hey, this blog’s going to the dogs!

    I’ve got a few more pup-related posts to close out this week, including a giveaway.

    So y’all come on back now, you hear?

     

     

  • Saint Bernard Puppy Update: Super Size Me

    Saint Bernard Puppy Update: Super Size Me

    st bernard puppy

    Dogs are miracles with paws.
    Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy

    I missed the last puppy update; we did weigh her but the weather was uncooperative for photos and has been nothing but a wet and woolly rollercoaster ride since.

    I am in the midst of crate-training; housebreaking seemed to be going really well until we went to the beach for a weekend. She had exactly ZERO accidents at the beach house, but then several yesterday before I’d even got out of bed (my morning to sleep in). Regression? Or just the fact that I read her cues better than the rest of the family?

    Not sure, but I hope we’re back on track soon. I have to take Maverick for a physical later this week, meaning I’m going to have to leave her on her own for several hours for the first time. I’m nervous.

    Here’s the growth update, and it’s ZOMG-worthy. I actually made Jacob bring me the scale so I could double-check.

    July 9th, 8 weeks old. Welcomed 12 pound puppy into our home.
    July 23, 10 weeks old. 15 pounds. Weight increase, +25%
    August 6th, 12 weeks old. 20 pounds. +33%
    August 19th, 14 weeks old. 25 pounds. +25%
    September 3rd, 16 weeks old. 38 pounds. +52%

    FIFTY. TWO. PERCENT. INCREASE over the last two weeks.

    Hey, remember this little sweet thing from 8 short weeks ago?

    boy with st bernard

    dog and puppy

    Yeah. She looks like this now.

    two dogs

     

    She’s still playful, which is nice, but her behavior is improving as she grows, which is a tremendous relief. I was a little panicky about having a full-size, gangly adolescent Saint Bernard tearing about with all the toothy exuberance of a puppy.

    (I still need to buy her a Saint Bernard sized bed, she has already outgrown Jimmy’s, who has taken to sleeping in Cassidy’s room. Between that and vet visits and another round of replacement Nylabones and rope toys, it’s going to be an expensive month for puppy mommy.)

    I can see the gentle giant emerging. But I’ll be honest: she’s got a bit of the devil in her.

    Still cute. And she loves me best… so smart, too.

     

    puppy closeup

  • Saint Bernard Puppy Update: Karma, Week 12

    Saint Bernard Puppy Update: Karma, Week 12

    karma

    I like dogs
    Big dogs
    Little dogs
    Fat dogs
    Doggy dogs
    Old dogs
    Puppy dogs
    I like dogs
    A dog that is barking over the hill
    A dog that is dreaming very still
    A dog that is running wherever he will
    I like dogs.

    — Margaret Wise Brown,
    The Friendly Book

    We’ve now been proud puppy owners for four weeks and have waged full-out war on fleas, dealt with a urinary tract infection, and despair of ever housetraining successfully.

    I know it can be done— if I managed to potty train the most stubborn kids on earth I can housetrain a puppy— but the urinary tract infection had her going every five minutes and on top of work and the heat and summertime kid bickering and middle-of-the-night walks I’ve been really, really close to the breaking point.

    So please, in the name of everything holy I’m taking advice on housetraining puppies.

    Please and thank you.

    Puppy update, week 12:

    green pets

    st bernard pup

     

    That’s right folks, we’ve had another 25% weight increase over the past two weeks. At this rate Karma’ll weigh more than my car before you know it.

    She’s also nearly as big as The Dogness, who was twice her size when we got her. It’s like she’s got telescopic legs.

    But it’s hard to complain, too much.

    She’s still pretty darn cute.

    beach bernard