{25nov2011: Thank you}

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
Darwin has some thanking of her own to do. Our friends Baby Rocket Dog and Hootie (and their mom) sent over a surprise package.
Any package that we bring home, Darwin automatically thinks is hers. This time she was right. She tried to open it herself, but wasn't getting very far so I helped her out.




A cool giant wooden barbell!

The water in Seattle is too cold now for Darwin to play in, but this will be great for the summer! Of course Darwin wanted it now.... 

But I've hidden it away so she doesn't gnaw it to a toothpick before she actually gets to try it out!
So THANK YOU Baby Rocket Dog and Hootie!!!!

{23nov2011: wordless Wednesday}

the death of a stuffy edition.








Oh yes, and Darwin wasn't the smart doggy in our http://evolutionofdarwin.blogspot.com/2011/11/10nov2011-smart.html" target=_blank>last post. No way... She'd never try that... she won't even push a door open with her nose.
And thanks for the input on the day care situation. I tried asking them about putting her in the other room with less dogs, but they said that area is for dogs being boarded and not for general day care use. They said they'd put really shy dogs in there or new dogs that aren't used to being at daycare, but "Darwin is a seasoned pro". I've tried looking for other daycares (the ones near us seem to all be very crowded) and entertaining the idea of a dog walker (though I have to admit I don't know how comfortable I am with giving a "stranger" a key to our place), but for now we're sticking with once a week daycare and playdates with her brother when possible.

{10nov2011: smart}

Thank goodness, Darwin isn't this smart:

You can view it here if the video doesn't work.


A few things regarding Darwin's daycare entry video yesterday, she always enters that way. If no one is sitting at the front desk when she walks in she won't bark til they come out from the back. One time she walked in and the guy called her another dog's name (there are a couple blue Dane's that go there) and as soon as she "talked" to him and he knew it was her. hahaha While she's totally fine going into daycare (no pulling, resisting, etc), when we watch the webcam she always looks so unhappy. Every once in a blue moon she'll play with another dog for a few minutes, but most of the time she stands facing the door waiting to get picked up; head low, just standing. I wonder sometimes if she should get put in another area (they have multiple rooms). One camera shows a room with far less dogs and I think maybe she'd feel more relaxed with less dogs. 
Nala and Tanner, Darwin's been going to The Barking Lounge the last year or so. I like that they have a webcam. I don't like that the big dog area is always PACKED. 
Ollie, she goes almost once a week. Even with wogs (walk+jog) and big weekend park outings she still has a ton of energy during the week. We figure a day of day care is good for her.

{09nov2011: wordless Wednesday}

Darwin's arrival to daycare edition:



if the video isn't loading, you can watch it here.

{04nov2011: Barclay Lake}

One thing I love about living in Seattle is going to the pumpkin patch in the fall. We tie it in with a hike to make it a full day activity with something for everyone.
I have yet to find a dog friendly pumpkin patch, so while Jason and I find perfect pumpkins, poor Darwin has to wait in the car. We've been going to Craven Farm the last two years because there's so much more there than just pumpkins. This year we were cold and trying to get to a hike further away so we just stuck to pumpkins.

After getting my pumpkins we got Darwin out of the car so she could stretch her legs (and have a potty break) before heading out to the hiking spot.

Jason had picked a hike so we could see some fall colors, but as we were leaving Craven Farm we realized it was a lot further east than we wanted to go (2 hour drive from where we were) so we got out the iphone and looked up a closer hike. Jason chose Barclay Lake.

It was a fairly easy hike (pretty flat) but beautiful, as most Washington hikes are.

We tried to move off the main path when other people were passing, but sometimes Darwin just wasn't having it. Thankfully most of the people we passed were happy to give Darwin attention.

Usually when we hike (or go to the park) Darwin won't walk away from us, she'll walk right in front of us (literally, right in front where we have to push her along) or a few steps away. This time though she gathered up some courage and would walk ahead of us by a dozen feet (3-4m) or so.

We found a tree with a tunnel through it's trunk. I had Jason go through it first.

And surprisingly Darwin followed!

Then we got to one of Darwin's favorite things... a wooden bridge. She quickly ran ahead and ran across, then ran back to get us, then led the way over again.

We soon made it to the lake... 

and the sun managed to come out. So we found a couple logs and hung out for a bit.

We followed the trail past the lake and as far as it went, then turned around and headed back.

We ended the day at Diamond Knot Brewery for a post hike meal and beveridges.

{31oct2011: Happy Halloween}

Since Halloween is on a Monday this year, I dressed Darwin up yesterday to go to the park. I really was hoping to find her a tutu at Goodwill, so when that didn't pan out I found a large dog princess costume and some wings instead (note to self, make Darwin's costume as large costumes aren't really large enough for her).

We headed to the park and as soon as we walked in she found a friend.

It actually came with a cone hat, but that fell off and into the mud as soon as she got out of the car. 

{oh man i hope none of my friends see me like this}

{ok hurry up and take the picture!}

{why am i the only one dressed up?!}

After posing for some pictures we took it all off so she could play. She had fun running with this mastiff puppy.

And then we ran into her friend Rooney and her new sister Hines!

Hines is 4.5months old and full European Dane which means she'll be a lot bigger than her older sister.

Darwin Rooney and Hines had a blast chasing each other.

It won't be long til Hines is towering over her sister and Darwin.

Hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!