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.

Sandy met her cousins Arlo and Finn last weekend. It may have been in the 60’s, but that didn’t stop Sandy from finding the last remaining snow pile and wrestling in it. She and Arlo really hit it off, as both puppies played for the better part of 2 hours.

The past week was nice weather, and Sandy took advantage of it, playing for hours outside. Most of us may not look forward to the changing of the clocks, but Sandy sure enjoyded he extra hour of sunlight. Her lunch time walks have frequently involved running into Daisy, an 8 year old dog from the neighborhood.

Last weekend, Sandy thoroughly enjoyed the great outdoors, going for a long walk with family around Fawn Lake and playing in Somerville with Addie and friends. She also started sitting in the backseat of the car all by herself! Another big upgrade - girl got a queen size bed! She took to it immediately, including turning it over to scratch the hell out of it. She may be getting bigger by the day, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to hang out in her favorite cubby. Won’t be long…

Last Saturday, Kyle and Cappa came over in the rain for some puppy playtime. Once again, it didn’t take long for Sandy to become more interested in the rhododendron than the humans or canines. Afterwards, she was a hot stinkin’ mess, and we convinced her to stay in the bath long enough for her first wash. All it took was a tub wall smeared with cream cheese and topped with some kibble.

Third week with Sandy and she keeps learning and getting bigger! This champion sleeper despises getting out of her crate at midnight for her potty break. She also is still working on the concept of catching items thrown at her (food, balls, or toys). She’s taken to lettuce and carrots, but mostly to just shredding them instead of eating. Her favorite sound is the ice dispenser, which she runs to sit next to you every time, hoping to get a piece that misses your glass.

Second week with Sandy is in the books! She’s gotten much better with some of her tricks, and even ventured into some new ones, like “paw” and “look at me”. She’s also starting to venture out further on walks, even going by the big park to watch the kids skate. Though when the walking gets rough, there’s always a human to carry her, as she sometimes prefers.

The first week with Sandy has both crawled and flown by. I may constantly be annoyed by her biting and barking, but she has some admirable traits that shouldn’t be ignored.