10 December 2009

{09dec2009: Christmas decoration

Here's a peek at our Christmas decorations for Darwin's first Christmas!

I went to a couple stores looking for a cute stocking for Darwin.  Couldn't find one that didn't have a brown or white puppy on it, and that just wouldn't do.  I was torn on what to do and then I saw the perfect stocking hanger!

A silver Christmas doggy!  The only one left on the shelf!  It was meant to be!  Here's the end result:


And here's our tiny tree!  So far Darwin has been pretty good about leaving it alone.  She makes attempts at taking a snowflake off, but for the most part leaves it be.  During the days shes contained to the kitchen, but at night she has access to the whole house, and yet once we say it's bedtime she usually just sleeps... on the couch where she's not supposed to.  But the tree is always in one piece in the morning!  Knock on wood that it stays that way!

An update on the doggy day care:
We took her last week, and she was much better about going in, but again when we picked her up she was in a kennel because she was getting anxious when other dogs started leaving.  Come to yesterday.  We dropped her off, and she was pretty good about getting dropped off.  When we picked her up though, the staff said she had a "bad" day.  Apparently she seemed stressed out so they tried to get her to go to into a kennel for a rest time, but they would call her over and she'd bark at them and then run away. Not horrible bad, but she is not listening to commands as well.  Is this part of her 10month old adolescent phase?  She was also very hyper and anxious when we picked her up, and was jumping up and putting her feet on their counter, and she doesn't usually jump up like that.  We're going to try this place out a few more times, but if things don't improve I may look into trying some place new.

7 comments:

  1. Love the stocking hanger!
    Sorry to hear about the day care situation. Jack gets TOO excited when he has to go stay, so it's just the opposite. I'm afraid one day they will say he needs to calm down or just go home!
    Does anyone near you do in-home doggy day care?

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  2. Perfect stocking hanger! On our walks we see a day care called Super Fun Happy Dog. They come and pick up and deliver the dog back home. Have you checked them out. We live in Southwest Seattle. http://www.superfunhappydog.com/Gallery/Day_Care.html
    This may not be the one for you but maybe they can help.
    Wags
    Ernie & Sasha

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  3. Oh dear. We do not know about Darwin, but both me and my beautiful Raja turned into total scaredy dogs when we became teenagers. Raja still went to daycare because she did enjoy snuggling with the humans there and yelling at any doggies that ran too fast. I got kicked out because when I am scared I tend to big dog. Sigh.

    Slobbers,
    Mango

    P.S. Sounds like staying for the day is too much. Any way to just go there with momma and get cookies and then go home again?

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  4. We love that stocking hanger! It's perfect!
    I had a hard time leaving the tree alone my first year here. I was a WILD man when I was adopted (a year and a half old and had never been in a house - long story!). Mom put a tiny brass bell ornament on the tree right at snooter level and called it a Zim Detection Device. Ha roo roo roo. Anyway, she knew EVERY time I was near the tree that way and could tell me "Ah-ah!" I learned pretty fast.
    Play bows,
    Zim
    PS: Thanks for the comments on our blog! We're going to be off-line for a few days (after today's post) then we'd love to be regular visitors to yours!

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  5. Sorry about day care troubles. Very puzzling to get upset at that time. Has she been crate trained at home? I can totally understand them wanting to kennel her because that can relieve stress for some dogs but if she is not familiar with it in a relaxed setting I wonder if she has not come to associate it with the stressful time at day car so that is why she would run away and bark. Training a command to 'kennel up' can make it easier for them to get her in there and make it a more attractive place to be. I may be way off base but it is just a thought.
    Poor baby girl. I wish I understood what dogs were thinking!
    Moose + Dana

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  6. oh and awesome stocking hanger! Sometimes they can be too cutesy for my taste but that one is very nice!

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  7. do you really need doggy day care? I'm not a fan of mixin' it up w/random dogs (meaning leaving my dogs to mingle with just any random dog, supervised or not). dog parks, doggy day care= just like kiddie day care. lots of germs get spread. yes, dogs can get sick from other dogs. no matter what shots they have and what their owner says they've done. dogs are so pack driven that being in a new pack stresses them out. seeing dogs get picked up out of her pack probably stresses Darwin out a lot, it's a change in pack strucutre and it probably really freaks her out. Is there a way you can have a dog sitter come and walk her once/day or something other than doggie day care? (sorry dog care people. its just my humble opinion). I don't see how dog day care centers can actually be good for dogs.

    good for your x-mas deco's still in good working order!
    ~wags-n-wiggles~
    wild ding

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