Long time no blog...

So, there's been alot going on in the last couple of weeks. The basement kitchen is nearly done, the rest of the basement now has it's subfloor. Tonight it will get insulation. These are the reasons that all has been very quiet on the puppyblog front...sorry. So, Maggie is now 13 weeks old, and very much over her kennel cough. She briefly passed it onto Shadow, who in turn, through frequent visits, passed it onto my mom's dog Toots. On a positive note, going to the vet for the kennel cough brought about the discovery of a narrow trachea and some sort of liver disorder that has apparently been there for a number of years. The puppy-raising skills are still different between Nadja and myself, but we're also learning to work as a team. Maggie has discovered an extremely fun new game. This involves running away as fast as possible when asked to come back into the house after being let outside. The only way to end this game seems to be to just walk back into the house and send Shadow and Hannah out to fetch her. This brings me to the newest bit of news in Maggie's world: she has started puppy classes! Yes, a couple days ago she made her first trek to the Twin Cities Obedience Training Center. In week one of classes, homework included luring her into a sit position (mastered), learning not to pull on the leash (almost there), letting go of toys when asked (working on it), sitting quietly at our feet when needed (she's a puppy), and letting strangers pet her without jumping up or shying away (mastered). She seemed to love puppy play time and was quick to tell everyone that she was the queen bee of the group, but not in an aggressive way. Her personality is coming out a little more everyday, and she is one of the happiest, most curioius, generally well behaved and intelligent dogs I have ever met. Believe it or not, I say this with complete unbias. She loves to play with her older sisters, and they are both doing a phenomenal job of teaching her how to be a good dog. She is taking to the house training well, and our newest 'problem' is chewing everything in sight. Shoes, chairs, rugs, plants, Shadow, Hannah, leashes, even her own knees are fair game. It seems that the bigger her mouth grows, the larger her available chewing apparatus. As I write, she is terrorizing Shadow and Hannah in the Game room on the 3rd floor, and they are ganging up on her. This is an amazing development, since Hannah is lower than Shadow on the ladder, and until recently, she would aquiesce to Shadow in all Maggie related matters. Now she is confident in her position and ability to discipline and play with Maggie, and Shadow seems to definetely approve of the occasional reprieve from 'puppy play duty'. Hopefully life will allow time to write more sooner rather than later!