Adventures of Albus!

I am so pumped for the weather to get better because that means oh-so-many more walks with everyone's favorite little monster. Last year, they opened a new pedestrian bridge that connected my house with the Marietta Square, it's a quick little almost a mile walk down to all of our favorite places. If you follow me on instagram you'll know that we basically live at the Glover Park Brewery. 

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My mom makes fun of me, because she says I have a diaper bag for when we go on our little walks. It's true though, I have this cute little kavu bag that I bought a few years ago for when we went on hiking adventures, but now it's my go to when we're walking for fun too. I can pack a couple of bags of treats, a spare roll of poop bags, my wallet, a house key, and whatever other things I need to take with me on the walk. I haven't bought a bag of treats since I signed Albus up for the BarkBox - since he gets two full sized bags of treats in the box, that's usually how many bags we need to get through a month. 

I also have a post saved in my drafts about whether or not I'm sure my dog needed a certain kind of collar. Albus used to have one of the prong collars, because it was the only thing that gave me full control over him AND allowed for an even correction. He's always been stronger than me and we were really concerned about his safety and my rotator cuff... I used to get VERY defensive about it to the people who felt like they knew better than me and my trainer. I can't imagine what it's like to be the mom of a human child if so many people feel like they can comment on what's up with my pup.

We had worked with the trainer and had developed a plan to move from that back to the harness, and that's what we're slowly transitioning to now! Albus has finally learned not to drag me and will almost stay within the leash's length of me. We've literally been working on this for almost his entire life. We use the Pet-Safe Easy Walk harness which works great. It's a little too big on him, but the smaller size was too small. I know he's almost three, but I figure he'll probably grow into it. 

Since the last Albus post, we have taught him to bark when you say "Albus, say GO DAWGS!" which is my favorite trick and I show EVERYONE we meet that trick. He also has a doggy fitbit. I'm serious. We switched to Banfield for vet services and they're doing some kind of case study with the people at Whistle Labs -- they gave it to us for free as long as we keep up with our annual appointments and Albus wears it on his collar every day. It's actually a really cool little tracker, I can tell that making sure he hits his "activity" goal makes him better behaved. This isn't even a sales pitch and that link to Whistle is just a link to their website, it's just a cool thing that we have to play with now. I don't know if I would have ever bough my dog a fitness tracker, but now I'm glad I have one. haha

So, if you're not following along, you can follow Albus on his very own instagram account (still waiting for the day he starts getting free food and bandannas...) He's a very social little guy who thinks he's the bouncer for any place we go. "You must pet the pup before entering this place" We will be going on so many more adventures this summer, so stay tuned! Do you have any funny puppy stories? Please tell me all of your funny puppy stories (heavy on the destructive or not letting you sleep through the night phases because I have puppy fever right now.)

Albus 9 Month Pupdate

So, yesterday, Albus got his BarkBox for March (I typed January and February before settling on March, in case you were wondering). He was SO EXCITED. I used to think he could tell that it was for him, but recently I've discovered he thinks any and all mail is for him. ANYWAYS. So he tears through it, chews on a bone for a while, takes the toy that was in it and buried it in the backyard, and ends up playing with the box. Yep. The box. Sometimes I think he's part cat.

NINE MONTHS. This little monster is going to be NINE MONTHS OLD ON THURSDAY. I will be busy being a terrible mom and seeing Beauty and the Beast at the release. NINE MONTHS OLD THOUGH. So nine months, we've accomplished some milestones! 

He's convinced me that he doesn't need to be in the crate while I'm at work. Yes, you read that right. The tiny tornado is loose in the house. Sometimes, when I get home, he's still in his crate waiting for me. It's adorable really. He's only chewed up one pair of my shoes in the whole process. A floor covered in his toys (we're still working on putting them away)

We switched to a no-pull harness, which is helping a little bit. Somehow, at SEVENTY POUNDS, he's an in-between size. He's too big for a small, too small for a medium. Juuuusut barely. So he gets to pull a little bit in his harness. Our teacher thinks that I should make sure to have treats all the time on or walks, so that will be something I add to our walks, once the frigid weather goes away. 

He's been acting very much like a teenager. I'll say "Albus, sit!" and he will BARK BACK AT ME. He's talking back! Little punk. He's being very defiant lately, looking me in the eye when he refuses to do what he's told. His 5K time is getting better, by that I mean my 5K time is getting better, he'd love to go faster. 

Last, but not least, he's becoming an instagram superstar. He was even featured by one of those little pup instagram accounts with his 8 month chalkboard! You'll have to follow along with his adventures, he even has his own hashtag! Do you have any puppy stories for me? I love puppy stories!

Albus: 8 Month Pupdate

So, yesterday, Albus turned EIGHT MONTHS OLD. It's crazy because he was born the day before I closed on my house, which means today I've officially been a homeowner for 8 months. When we hit July 17th, this will officially be the longest time I've lived in the same place since I moved out for college. Just putting that one out there. 

ANYWAYS. So Albus is eight months old now. He's currently in a phase where he wants to attack any and all fluff. His favorite activity is fetch, but we've discovered the hard way that the ball will go through the fence if you throw it just right. So we're waiting on more balls from Amazon. (ps. if you're a chuckit person, definitely get the balls from Amazon. They're easily half price of anywhere I've seen them in stores.) In the meantime, he's on a mission to cover the house in fluff. Mean mom that I am, I stopped buying toys with fluff in them. Now he's defluffed his bed. 

We're slowly working on him being home alone outside of the crate, but usually when I let him stay out of the crate, I find him in the crate anyways. You know, it's his safe space. He's a digger though, so I don't know if we'll ever get to the point where I leave him the option of the backyard. 

He's also, finally, found a brand of food that he likes that's available more places than Tractor Supply. It's a little more expensive than the tractor supply food, but I can have it delivered fo'free with Amazon or pick it up at PetSmart which is NOT forty five minutes away. Now, if we could just master the loose leash walking we would be golden! 

Do you have any pup training tricks? Anything fun planned for this weekend? I'll be spending the entire weekend in the yard trying to make it look like the cover of a Southern Living magazine....

Five Things That Changed With a Puppy

Listen, before I piss of any moms out there, I realize that a puppy is not the same thing as a baby. HOWEVER, I have noticed a lot of similarities between this little monster and the hilarious stories people tell about their toddlers. So I think it makes complete sense that people get puppies before they decide to have babies. Albus has so much freaking personality, sometimes I can't handle it.

1. Everything is a chew toy. I subscribe the little monster to BarkBox but his favorite things to chew on are: my hair, empty water bottles, bras, the ChuckIt, the buttons on our throw pillows, my comforter, really just anything he's not supposed to play with, he wants to play with it.

2. Priorities change. I don't know if this is going to be true for everyone, but man I feel some kind of guilt if I do something after work that the pup can't come to. If I know I'm going to have to work late or have to go somewhere he's not allowed to go, I take him to daycare. You read that right, he goes to doggy daycare.

3. Sleeping in? Dream on. I keep waiting for Albus to adopt mom's sleep schedule, but here we are, 6 months in, and he still wants to get up at 5:30 am every morning. He lets me know it's time to get up by jumping up on the bed & laying directly on my head. It's a great tactic, because it's really hard to go back to sleep when you can't breathe..

4. Hair. Everywhere. First of all, as a human, I shed constantly. Like, every shower I think "yep. this is it, this is the day I go bald." COMBINE that with tiny little dog hair everywhere? I am constantly covered in dog hair. I already have lint rollers everywhere, but it's a constant battle.

5. Coming home is the best. Y'all. It doesn't matter if I have been gone for five minutes or four hours, he is SO EXCITED to see me. Like OMG MOM YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOREVER I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NEVER BE BACK! It's a really fantastic feeling.

Do you have a little monster? I promise that's a term of endearment, most of the time.