Spring!

>> 5.05.2011

A few recent images from this spring, taken at our house:

The boys proudly carry around sticks in the backyard

The boys peeing. I only photographed this because I think it's so funny when Lance lifts his leg. They usually both squat like Jackson is doing. And (thank goodness) they haven't started "marking their territory" like other male dogs do!

Lance peering at me in the backyard.

Lance chases Jackson (Jackson has a small branch in his mouth to tease Lance).

 Running Jackson! He's so fast, he's almost a blur!

Lance finds a stinkbug to play with.

I have to vacuum almost daily because of the massive amount of hair these dogs shed. This is Jackson hiding from the "vacuum monster." (Lance is even more terrifed of the vacuum- he was in another room or upstairs hiding.)

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Photo comparison- 1 year difference!

>> 3.21.2011

There might actually be about 13 months difference between these two photos. It's amazing to see how much they've changed!

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Spring has arrived!




Winter is finally over- hooray! But spring greets us with a thunderstorm and LOTS of rain today... not really the way I like to start off such a wonderful season (or a Monday morning, for that matter)! But, hey- it could be worse. It could be SNOW. Things have been busy, busy, busy for the last few months. We are now very settled into our new home and are just absolutely in love with it. The boys just love having the backyard and it's so nice for them to be able to burn off so much energy! I have missed taking them for walks and regular hikes during the winter months, but since it's been so mild for the last few weeks, we've managed to get plenty of outdoor time. I've gotten in the habit of taking either Jackson or Lance for a run after work. We usually just go about 4 or 5 miles, and luckily there's a path down our street that cuts right through to our old neighborhood. I've noticed that the boys (Lance especially) have digressed a little bit in the obedience department when it comes to leash walking. He was really great when we were walking the boys every single day, but when it was cold, they would go for weeks and weeks without a leash walk (thank goodness for the backyard or they would have never gotten exercise)! I'm trying to work with him a lot, but it's frustrating. He pulls- a lot!
Jackson is a lot better, but still has a horrible habit of getting overly excited when we pass another dog. And really, it's only bad when the L&J are together- much more managable when I just have one of them out with me. Lance continues to get insanely excited when he sees a squirrel or rabbit (or a robin, even) and is on constant "watch" over the backyard. He loves to just lay in front of the sliding glass door and observe. I always say that he's "watching over the backyard" for us. He also looks out of the windows on either side of the front door, since there's a lot of action with people walking down the street.
Jackson doesn't seem to see the appeal that Lance does (and isn't nearly as vocal), but he's always interested to see what Lance is squealing at when he sees something.

I'd love to have Cesar Milan come to our house and treat the boys how to behave around other animals, period. We also have an issue of them getting overly excited when people come over. They don't act crazy when one of us walks through the door, but anyone else- forget it! Most of our friends and family love dogs, so it's not a big deal, but I'm a little worried when someone comes to the door that is not so keen on being jumped on. Again... something we are continuing to work on.

Other than that, the boys are just great. They are still growing and, as you can see, are pretty handsome young men. Although Lance looks a little silly in the photo on the right- but he is a big goofball.

We'll be taking them to get their new vaccines and next check-up very soon, so I'll be interested again to see how much they weigh and how the vet thinks their development is going overall.

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New Year's day/birthday hike

>> 1.07.2011

It took me long enough to post these... I guess my New Year's resolution should have been to update my blog more, huh?

New Year's day is Greg's birthday. It was unseasonably warm that day (despite my wearing a hat- my head was definitely hot by the end of the hike) so we took the boys to Appalachian trail to hike to Annapolis rock.
I miss hiking sooo much in the winter. I yearn for warmer weather so that I can take them out whenever I want. It's especially hard since we live within minutes of Gambrill and the Watershed, where there are several great hiking trails. It's just been too darn cold. We even attempted to hike one Sunday back in December when it was below freezing and windy, and lasted 12 whole minutes. Maybe I'm a fair-weather hiker, but I just don't enjoy it when my feet and hands are frozen and I can't feel my face.

Anyway- here are a few photos captured with my phone:

The boys on the way to Annapolis rock:


Greg and Lance at the top of Annapolis rock:


Me and Jackson at the top of Annapolis rock:


Come on, spring!!!

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Take your doggie to work day(s)!

>> 12.08.2010

The kids in the veterinary science class do dog-grooming periodically, and staff can bring in their dogs to be groomed by the kids. I planned on bringing the boys in on the same day at first, but then thought better of it- they would be a lot better behaved individually. :)
I brought Jackson with me yesterday and he hung out in my classroom for part of 1st period, and then was off to be groomed. He ran around the classroom and the kids LOVED him. He was brought back to me a few hours later, looking handsome as ever! They bathed, trimmed, clipped and pampered him. The kids did a great job and the best part is, it was free! Here are some photos of Jackson from the day:

Running around my classroom before leaving to be groomed:


Right after his grooming (not so great at posing for the "after" picture):


Completely conked out... too much fun
 

Lance came in today for his turn to be groomed. He was a little nervous about all of the people crowding the hallways and all of the attention and stayed by my side for a while. He lightened up and played with the kids and then went off  for his grooming. I was told that he did a great job and had a ball.

Here's a photo of Lance before his beauty treatment:


And after (such a handsome boy!!):


Another exhausted pup. :)



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Birthday photos

>> 12.03.2010

Here are some photos that I took of the boys yesterday afternoon/evening:

The boys playing in the backyard:


Patiently waiting for the birthday festivities to begin:


Sharing a new hemp bone!! (It lasted barely 20 minutes. This is why we only buy WestPaw or Kong toys.)


Lance with the new toy before the boys tore a big hole in it:


The birthday cake (from Two Paws Up). We even sang "Happy Birthday.":


Greg cut the cake in half. The boys wait eagerly for a slice:


And they dig in!

Mmmmmm.... cake.......

Lance got it all over himself.

Jackson had peanut butter all over his tounge. It was hilarious!!

Lance has peanut butter all over his face:

Can I have some more??


Happy Birthday, boys!!


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Happy Birthday to Lance and Jackson!!

>> 12.02.2010

I've been really horrible about keeping up with blog posts. I can blame it on nothing else but having an incredibly busy life that leaves me exhausted and not wanting to blog at the end of the day.
But, today is the boys' first birthday- and it definitely deserves a blog post!

I can't believe they are already a year old- as cliche as it sounds, it seems like only yesterday we were picking them up at just eight weeks old! They've grown SO much in that time- it's just amazing. I haven't weighed either of the boys in a while, but would guess that they are around 75 lbs. each. (They were just over 10 lbs. when we brought them home). I look back at the photos and my heart melts when I see a photo of me holding one (or both!) of them - I definitely can't do that now! (Like this photo below):

While I miss their young puppy stage and being able to pick them up and cuddle, I love where they are at now. They are definitely still puppies- they have crazy amounts of energy and still do some "bad" puppy things. But, they really have matured a great deal in the past year. Lance and Jackson still get REALLY excited when people come over, but they calm down quickly. They are able to just sit around and be calm inside most of the time and finally do not destroy everything in sight.

Here's a photo of the sleepy boys this morning right after they woke up:


Anyway, so the big news for us is that we bought a house! We still own the townhouse (and have a tenant renting it) but we are living in our new single-family home and loving it! We moved on November 13th. I need to take some new photos of the house since we moved in, but older photos can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27484689@N05/sets/72157624924258265/ (I also posted this same link back in October- it's the same photos!)

The pups absolutely LOVE the new house. They made themselves at home right away. The best thing is the backyard- it's big and fenced in and they just love to run around and play. And we love it because it leaves them tired and exhausted at the end of the day!

I will try to take more photos today and post them later, and really hope to be better about blogging more often!

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Punkin' Ale!

>> 11.08.2010

Greg and I are big fans of Dogfish's seasonal brew Punkin Ale. Unfortunately, it goes off the shelf way too early- it's nearly impossible to find by Halloween. Thanks to a tip from my friend Brie, I was able to find a case of it at a liquor store right outside of Frederick. Greg took this picture of Lance sitting by the box o' beer on Saturday.



















Big changes are happening in our family - stay tuned to find out! (And no, it's not what you think... there will not be any additional members to our family anytime soon!)

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Lance and Jackson as Jack O' Lanterns

>> 11.03.2010

Greg and I always like to carve out interesting designs on our pumpkins for Halloween. It's no surprise what we chose as the design for this year:

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Big baby!

>> 10.19.2010

Although Jackson is close to 70 lbs. now, he still wants Greg to pick him up all the time!
He's such a daddy's boy (and a big baby)!!

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About This Blog

This blog was set up by Lauren and Greg to chronicle our day-to-day adventures raising two Golden Retriever pups. Lance and Jackson were born on December 2, 2009 and came into our lives 8 weeks later.
This blog is maintained by Lauren.

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