This past month started off with a bang, spending the weekend in NH with Trey and Elonna along with my parents. The fall foliage was in full force, with Sandy taking in the views from North and Middle Sugarloaf peaks.

Sandy is a woman! She just started her heat and has been acting quite differently over the past week plus. First she was scared of other dogs, now all she wants to do is find a mate! Thankfully she’s kept her innocence so no puppies for Sandy. We can now confidently schedule her surgery for early December to get spayed.

Sandy had quite the month. It started out with a bang, as she met up with her sister Ruby for some fun playtime at Maudslay State Park. She’s basically a regular at Barewolf Brewery in Amesbury. Then the next week we were all down the cape with the rest of the Merlos. She played a ton with her pal Tucker, and her fun-size cousins, Hadley and Paxton. Lots of sand, beaches, and water (and still scared of waves). Barely had the energy for sunrise hikes, but had plenty of energy to jump up on…

This past weekend, Sandy reunited with her long lost (ok, not quite, they’ve been instagram friends since day 1…) littermate, Ruby! They had soooo much fun running around and playing with each other. Hopefully Sandy can learn some of Ruby’s best behaviors, like being an angel off leash and giving plenty of kisses!

Sandy had quite a few visitors this past month, as the humans went down the cape for 2 long weekends, meaning Gabby then Addie each had this fur monster for awhile. All reports were that she was very good, though some of her “perks”, like not finishing her food and needing to smell all the smells and lay down in the middle of road on walks, are not unique to just us.

Sandy’s Canadian blood is really showing, with her distaste for the hot weather showing earlier this month. The one plus side she sees in the heat is the abundant use of the garden hose nozzle! She can’t stop drinking from it.

Sandy has really blossomed as a puppy teenager over the past month. She’s swimming further and further every day in the Town Forest. All the dogs she played with before aren’t quite as towering over her the first time around. And she’s really getting the hang of catching a frisbee in the air!

This past month has flown by, with Sandy experiencing so many new adventures. Haley has her on a swimming program, frequently bringing her to the town forrest to fetch sticks. Every time she’s gotten more and confidence and waded out further and further. Today she finally got all 4 paws stroking in the water! On top of loving swimming in the river, she has gotten over her fear of the bathtub (probably from lots of stick mats full of cream cheese). She’s now perfectly content to come…

Since she is now fully vaccinated, Sandy got to venture out to Breakheart Reservation. She tried the water again, this time without waves, but still isn’t quite keen on it yet. She’ll come around eventually. Just walking the trails and smelling all the smells made her day. She even found a goldendoodle towards the end that she couldn’t help but play with.

This past weekend we celebrated Haley’s birthday outside with the fantastic weather. Sandy’s still struggling to respect her elders, knocking over poor Aunt Bella while trying to get her to play. Sandy’s lost a couple teeth already, so she’s happiest with a salmon no-hide stick to chomp away at.