We're almost there!

As I must these days, I'll start with a Zelda update. She gets her final parvo shot this weekend. That means that her exile from the outdoors and other dogs is almost over. YAY!!! This also means that we will be able to start taking her on walks. I've convinced myself that this will cut down on a lot of her biting Matt and I. She does it the most when she gets really excited and playful. If she's exhausted from walking she won't get like that, plus she gets more exercise than we can give her right now. I don't know if I mentioned it before but the medicine the vet gave her did it's job and her poop is now lovely and firm. Just what you wanted to know. She does this silly little dance when its feeding time that Matt just loves. I'm going to have to get a video of it this weekend because it is pretty cute.
Steph is out of town this week for a Ladies Family Weekend. Linda couldn't go because she started her new grad program this week (go Linda!). So we invited her over to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Its our favorite show, this also includes Matt who has learned quite a bit about critiqueing dances now. To go along with the show I made a delicious blueberry bread pudding with brown sugar rum sauce. It was divine. Linda brought some vanilla ice cream to go with it. mmmm, I love dessert. We had a great time and she might be joining us for the results show tonight if she gets all her work done. If you haven't seen the show let me break it down for you. Its kind of like American Idol, except with dancers, and way better. You can only do so much with singing but dancing can be completely different from one dance to the next. They start off with twenty people-- ten guys, ten girls. Each week they're assigned a random dance style and they get five hours with a choreographer that shows them what they'll be doing. Its pretty amazing. My favorite girl got voted off last week which was really sad but her partner, Brandon, is still on and going strong. Let me direct you to some of the dances from this season. Brandon/Janette tango (hot!!) Brandon/Janette jazz (seriously awsome) and let me warn you about this last one, it made everyone on the show cry, I cried, Jacob cried, its very touching and beautiful Ade/Melissa contemporary piece about breast cancer. Don't say I didn't warn you (I'm getting a little misty thinking about it).
I have two weeks of work left which is insane. Looking for a job sucks, especially in this economy. Nobody is hiring. Oh well, maybe I'll just get started on my Esty.com career sooner than I had dreamed of.

Finally more pictures

Sorry about the lack of pictures.  We've been taking them but I couldn't find my cable for the camera.  Matt says he thinks she's grown since we brought her home.  I can't tell.  Let's see.  We had to take Zelda back to the vet last Wednesday because she was having diarrhe.  Our vet didn't see anything in her poop sample but he thought it sounded like coccidiosis which is a type of bacteria thats usually found in the gut.  Sometimes when puppies get stressed the bacteria overgrows and causes intestinal problems.  He gave her some medicine that she loves, it kinda smells like minty white chocolate.  She's also started going through a biting phase, which I'm told could last a year.  Hopefully it won't.  She does seen to be getting better at understanding that we don't like it.  At least she's stopping faster than she was before.  We took her over to Jess and Jacob's a while ago and she got to meet their cats, Gandalf and Sauron.  Sauron wouldn't come by but Gandalf finally plucked up the courage and Gandalf and Zelda touched noses and then licked each other.  It was adorable.  Here are some pictures.  I think my favorite is the one of her in one of her t-shirts posing in front of her potty.  Enjoy!

 

  

  

  

 

IDENTIFYING MECHANISMS REGULATING WNT SIGNALING DURING POSTEMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT" has been accepted

Truly frightening.  Well, I guess thats that.  I just have to get Mark to give me the last signature and I'm done!  I'm also suddenly extremely exhausted.  I'll write more later.  I just thought you'd all like to know.  I have lots of Zelda pics/stories to post but that'll have to wait till I'm home.  Suffice to say she has become the center of the universe and Matt and I have become those people who can only talk about their dog.

Potty training success!

Its something we don't really have yet. But not for lack of trying. She did use her potty twice today all by herself, which is pretty impressive considering she's only been at it for two days. I think Zelda is getting more adorable by the day. Pretty soon she's going to be a cute overload. She's such a little cuddle bug too. We had her first vet appointment this morning. Our vet came with high recommendations from some of our friends, and they were right, he's awesome. Zelda appears to be in good health, we set up a schedule to finish her vaccines and take care of flea and heartworm medicines. He took a moment to weigh her for the records...she came in at a whopping 4lbs. Oh yeah! She's a big girl.

My defense is looming on the horizon. Less than 48hours are between me and what I hope will be victory. I went over my slides with Mark this afternoon and he said it looked really good. He changed a few things, told me to add some other stuff, but the overview was good. He also told me not to freak out (lol) that he knows I'm going to do great. Its weird when he says that, I'm not used to that many words of encouragement from him. I'm still super nervous, which is dumb because I know this material, its my work. Steph, Linda, and Matt are going to play the audience tomorrow night for a trial talk. I'm going to be home most of tomorrow practicing so hopefully I'll have it down by the evening.

**Matt says that someone might have accidentaly taught Zelda that when you make kissy noises near her head its time to roll over for someone to rub her belly. I'm sure it was completely inadvertant. It does remind of another doxie I know that still loves to be kissed on the side of his head the way he did when he was little. Maybe we shouldn't encourage it...but she has such a lovely tummy...

Happy Fourth of July!!

Yes, I know that was yesterday but we were a little preoccupied and I didn't get to the blog. Well, it has finally happened, Princess Zelda has come home. We picked her up a little before 1:30pm yesterday and drove her home. She was very confused and upset for most of the drive home but Mary had sent a blanket that smelled like Zelda's mom Summer so that seemed to help her quite a bit. She really didn't know what to do once we let her out of her carrier. The longer she's here though, the more comfortable she's become. **I had to run away on an emergency, someone pooped on her potty for the first time.** We've had a few accidents but we're doing better. We bought Zelda a potty for her so that we don't have to run her up and down the stairs every half hour. Plus then when she's alone she doesn't have to hold it, she can just go on her potty. She's not perfect at it yet but she's getting there. We make a huge deal of it when she gets it right and she has these amazing treats taht are only for potty training. They have no grain, no fillers, and are made of USDA beef. They actually just look and smell like jerkey. For some reason she hates her crate. We've tried to put her in there but she just freaks out. She is a great napper, although she fights it like a little kid. Her eyes get all heavey but she keeps struggling to keep them open. She also loves to give puppy kisses. She also loves her toys, especially the one her grandparents from Las Vegas sent her. She only figured out this morning that she can chew both ends. My absolute favorite things she does is run. I put in a video of it in case you wanted to see. Its too funny. She doesn't have very good control of her limbs still so when she runs she bounds around and sometimes her back legs catch up with her front and she ends up running forward while her body is sideways. Its hilarious.