A Project in Progress

It's been ages since I have written anything about Lucy but she is a full-time job and between that and my knitting, I have all I can handle. DH has been taking Lucy to puppy charm school and this past Saturday she graduated. There was a lot of fanfare but enough to make all the dogs (3) in her class act up just a tad.

Lucy was bouncing off the walls but the trainer, Teresa got her under control by talking to her in low soft tones with a treat in her hand waved in front of Lucy's nose. Lucy gave Teresa her total attention.

Everyone was very wiggly so getting something in focus to document the occasion was impossible. I did however manage to get one good in focus picture of our graduate because of Teresa's low calm voice of reason.
We are so proud of Lucy for doing her best. It's been 8 weeks of bribes for good behavior and we are pleased with the end result. Lucy is still a work in progress but at least she is headed down the right path.

Here are some blurry pictures of the rest of the class. I hate they are blurry but at least you can sort of tell who was in the class.

This is Sam and his mom. He sat much better than Lucy did! And here is Avery. Avery is a very special girl. She is a rescue. Avery is an Argentine Dogo and was one of 10 dogs up for adoption. Avery's mom said that all the dogs were neglected and seemed about the same age so she thinks they were litter mates. When Avery was adopted she didn't have very much muscle ton in her back legs so sitting or laying down was most comfortable for her. She didn't get much exercise so she wasn't strong enough to hold up her own weight. Despite Avery's 105 pounds, she seems like such a good girl. Lucy loved her and didn't care that Avery was 2, she just wanted to play.
There is an intermediate class but our trainer is moving to a different department and we are trying to decide what the next step will be for Lucy. Meanwhile we will continue to work with her making her behave.

Positions

When you have little dogs whose bodies are long you learn all the different positions they can assume. Larger dogs are no different but since this is our first large dog in 12 years, we had forgotten what they are like. I watch Lucy and am amazed at how she is all legs and curl up her body in such a small little circle. Then there are other times like these...
Lucy drapes herself on anyone of the doxies who are in her way. Below hose long legs are three other dogs. The black dog in the front is Sadie then the reddish brown dog under her legs is Eddy, but the one you will really have to strain to see is Moose. He is the one at her back. you can see a very small part of him (look for the two black bumps on Lucy's back). She doesn't mind laying on anyone or anything as long as she can stretch out. Then there is this position...

Lucy has gotten so big that she really isn't fitting into my lap as well as she used to. That does not stop her from finding some way to sit where the doxies sleep. As long as she is with her buds, she will fold up like a folding table to fit in.

What is this place??

Our dear sweet Lucy has been to the vet every three weeks since we got her. Shots seem to take forever. Every three weeks for nine weeks. Two weeks after the last set of shots Lucy will be going under the knife. Yes, the knife. We have decided to make sure that the population will not be expanding at our house. Five dogs is enough!

The last visit to the vet proved that we are being eaten out of house and home. When we first got Lucy she weighed seven pounds. At three weeks with us she weighed 14 pounds. We are about to make an appointment for our last set of shots and I can't wait to see how much she weighs. I can see that she has at least doubled physically in size since we got her back in Feb. My lap in not big enough for her anymore! Lucy is growing by leaps and bounds. She can't squeeze herself into this sweater anymore either... Our baby is growing up!

BFF

I belong to a site where we talk about our smooshy faced dogs. Boxers are definitely smooshy faced dogs. It's our first dog with a stunted nose. The rest of the herd have extra long noses. Do you suppose that balances out things in the universe?

Anyway one of the thread topics was what kind of a kind would be a good companion for boxers? Do you need a submissive breed or one that will hold it's own when pounced upon by a very excited boxer. A vet suggested to someone that they check out Boston Terriers, but I think a Dachshund would be a wonderful breed for a boxer companion or at least it is at my house.

We brought our little Lucy into a herd of very spoiled aging Dachshunds. They range from 12 down to 8 years old. Everyone has their own little special personalities and while we do love them each for who they are, we were a bit nervous about one in particular-Sadie. Sadie is a mommy's girl and is very protective of me and her space in my chair. I was worried that she would be ugly to Lucy and see her as a threat. She does but it gets less ad less everyday.

Here is the oldest of the herd, Eddy and Lucy have an afternoon snooze. I really never thought that Eddy would be a problem but it sure is nice to see them being together. They were asleep in the chair just like that for an hour. The moment they heard me with the camera, it was over. Lucky for me there are lots more naps to be had...

Lucy and Sadie having a nap together until I moved to reach for the camera and Sadie hopped up. She hates having her picture taken. I don't blame her but she's a dog. How does she know it will make her look ten pounds heavier??

Who Needs Pet Toys?

Who Needs Pet Toys?

It's been a busy few weeks since Lucy came into our household. We miss sleep, quiet times sleeping in front of the TV and papertowels. I have to say though, she certainly has kept us on our toes. We are so committed to helping this dog stay healthy and fit that we have even been walking her. We try to do it everyday. This past weekend we took Lucy to the park and walked her for 45 mintues around a dirt path. I had thought we would be more exhausted than her but as it turned out, she slept off the fresh air and excercise most of the day. I really wish I had the time everyday to take her out like that. It would get me going and she would get the excercise they say her breed needs.

I know that having a puppy has very sharp teeth and a driving desire to use them on everything it can. Lucy is no exception. Everything has to be "mouthed" just like a human infant. We have spent a fortune at two different pet stores buying up different toys that we think would appeal to Lucy.

Lucy has other thoughts...

We only pick the best toys for our new love. Wanna guess what this expensive toy this is??

Sorry about the darkness of the picture. It's hard to chase a puppy to catch the perfect picture. Do you have a better idea of what the perfect toy is?? Lowes here I come!

The Lucy Brown Chronicles

Welcome to The Lucy Brown Chronicles. My family and I have always loved dogs and I have been accused of getting carried away, being nuts and just plain silly for having so many dogs. Our family (currently consisting of DH and son #2) take care of four doxies and one brand new baby boxer. After a very scary event outside one of living room windows a few weeks ago, we decided a much larger dog was needed in this household. We nearly adopted one of my co-workers bloodhound but he decided that he really wanted to hang on to him so we started looking for another large dog.

We have been watching this show and this show so that we would be more prepared for a larger

breed of dog. DH wanted a short haired dog so we checked out tons of breeds via the net and books from book stores. We talked about four or five breeds we thought we would be compatible with. The Boxer breed won. They are active dogs and we need to be more active so we got ourselves a boxer.

The doxies have been adjusting as well as they can. We have been adjusting but I think the dogs are doing much better than us. They have not lost sleep...as best we can tell. One doxie impaticularly, Moose has taken a shying to Lucy and it's been fun watching the relationship develop. Moose thinks Lucy is a chew toy and she loves his attention. So here is our the newest addition to our family...

Lucy Brown

Lucy is a fawn Boxer with a black muzzle. She has a tad of white on her nose just like her father. Her father weighs about 55 pounds and her mother about 65. So we are not sure what Lucy will weigh since she was the runt. Her feet are getting noticeably larger even in the last two weeks she has been here. I am almost afraid to know how large she is going to get or how much she will eat!

We are very excited to have Lucy join our family and hope that you will stay with us while we watch Lucy grow up. I know it will be like people babies-they just grow up way too fast!