Now we're off to Chicago!

An exhausted Emmy sleeps upside down in her crate! Silly puppy!

Now that our visit in New York is over, we are headed to Chicago to spend New Year's and Bill's birthday with his family in Chicago. Emmy did very well on the trip again...and actually slept even more on this trip...probably because she was tuckered out from our time in New York.

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day!

Playing with frozen peanut butter kong at Amy's grandma's.

Play time!

Merry Christmas everyone! Today was another day filled with lots of excitement. This morning, Emmy got to be with the McEwan's as they opened presents on Christmas morning...and Emmy even got a few herself! Oh boy! Her favorite gift was a nice soft play mat that Amy's parents got for her (see video of Emmy opening it!). Later that day, we went to Amy's grandma's house to celebrate with the immediate family on the McEwan side. Emmy brought her play mat and her puppy kong filled with frozen peanut butter! What a treat!

Visit to Health Clinic

Making quick friends with "Grandmom McEwan's" co-worker Teri!

At the lab with Amy. Emmy may very well see a place like this again once she's working!

EXHAUSTED!!!

Today Emmy paid a visit to St. Mary's Family Health Center, where Amy's mom works. We went and visited the girls in the lab, Teri and Taya to show they what a good future assistance dog Emmy is. Boy did she have a great time! While were were there we tried to weigh Emmy on the scale as many of you have been commenting on how big she is getting. From our rough estimates (boy what a wiggle worm she is on the scale!) she seemed to be around 20 pounds already!

After all the excitement of the past few days, Emmy had started not only to settle in at Amy's parents house, but also started to get tired out! So, we let Emmy have a more low key day, knowing that Christmas is coming tomorrow!

Nursing Home & Barn Vists

"Super Dog" Emmy on her way to the Nursing Home to bring a smile to everyone's faces!

In the lobby of the Nursing Home by their pretty fire place and fake cat!

Out in the barn, ready to explore. This is Emmy with Amy's dad in the milk house.

Emmy quietly checking everything out. She's not so sure about those cows!

Emmy does eventually make friends with a baby calf...probably because they are much closer in size...

I mean...isn't this one huge from Emmy's perspective?

Today was another big day for Emmy. After church, we took Emmy to Palatine Nursing Home in Palatine Bridge, NY. We went there to visit Amy's great Aunt and Uncle. Emmy put on her cape and became "super dog" which makes her trot around all proud and such. The staff and patients and the nursing home adored her. She did a wonderful job greeting people and being calm. What a wonderful treat for them!

Later that day, Emmy went out to visit Amy's parent's barn where there were lots of things to explore- mainly COWS!!! Emmy first checked out the milk house where all the milk machines are. Then we ventured into a new world...the actual barn where Amy's parents have 24 younger cows (only 3 old enough to milk). Emmy got to meet all the different sized cows and decided that the newborn calves were the best. Big cows were definitely not her favorite! She also got to meet some barn cats, who weren't huge fans of her, much like the house cats. It was all a lot of fun!

Christmas Party and Snow playing

At the Schwabrow Christmas

Playing in the snow

Today Amy's parents hosted a Christmas party for her mom's side of the family- the Schwabrows. Emmy enjoyed meeting lots of dog lovers and was definitely the life of the party. Earlier in the day, Emmy also got a chance to go out and play in all the snow. Being Amy's parents own a farm there was lots of yard and land to play on...plus they had over a foot of fluffy snow! Emmy had a blast and did really well all day. She really wants to play with the two cats but they don't seem to be very fond of Emmy. Oh well!

Emmy's Trip To New York

Emmy did SOOOOOOO well on the 12 hour drive to New York. We used a travel crate that can collapse so it was easier to travel with. Emmy seemed to really like it and enjoyed sleeping most of the trip and playing in her kennel. She was teething quite a bit during the trip, so she definitely enjoyed it when we stopped in Syracuse, NY to get her a big ol' cup of ice! YAY!

First Road Trip

Emmy with her kong "jack" from Bill's family

Emmy has a new puppy friend...and boy does she like him!

We LOVE snow!

Exhausted from a weekend in Chicago!

This weekend was Emmy's first road trip. We headed to Bill's parents to celebrate Christmas and be there for a family party. Emmy did a great job in the car, sleeping most of the trip. Once we got there not only did Bill and Amy get some gifts for Christmas, but Emmy got gifts from Bill's family. The big blue dog and the red jack were her gifts from Bill's brothers and parents, thanks guys, they are so much fun!!!! Also when we were in Chicago we got a foot of snow on Saturday night!!!! This was Emmy's first time to play in powdery snow, and she loved it. It was like watching a kid in a candy store. Emmy ran and jumped, of course ate lots of snow, but really just had a lot of fun. This week Emmy also had her first visit to the vet to get a few shots, and we receive comments from the vets that she was so well behaved and easy to work with. A few more days and we head East to Amy's parents and Emmy gets to try a 12 hours car ride....

Emmy Prepares to Travel

Over Christmas, Emmy will become quite the traveller, with her first trip starting tonight. We will be headed to Chicago (near where Emmy was born!) to Bill's parents house in Palos Heights, IL for a family Christmas party on Saturday. Emmy will get to meet a whole lot of people during that time...but we have a suspiscion that she will love it!

Next week, we're leaving Michigan to spend Christmas with Amy's family in upstate New York. It will be about a 12 hour car ride to get to New York...so that will definitly be an adventure for all three of us! After Christmas, we'll head out from New York and straight to Chicago for New Years with Bill's family...and then back to Michigan! WHEW!!! Emmy will definitly have the whole car travel thing down by the end of the holidays! We are so excited for her to meet our families as well...and they seem to be excited too!

We cannot believe how big Emmy is getting! She's pretty much growing before our very eyes! Her adult fur has started to come in along her spine...boy are we going to miss that puppy fuzz! She's been working really hard on her commands and has been exceeding our expectations. Probably one of her favorite games is the kennel game in which we throw her food/treats into the back of her kennel and then praise/cheer/say "yes" when she goes in the kennel. If nothing else I think she gets a kick out of us making fools of ourselves!

On Wednesday, Emmy spent 3 hours at work with me in the Admissions ofice. She did a pretty good job (definitly much more controlled then in past trips), but she wasn't too thrilled when I had to do some phoning. So, she ended up spending some time with Barb downstairs in her office. She did very well listening and Barb just loved her of course because she misses the puppy stages.

Marianne has also posted on CheetoBreeder's blog that they have made a calendar of Cheeto's two litters- the O's and the E's. And, our little Emmy is the cover girl! We of course have ordered the calendar and matching notecards! When the calendars are purchased, $2 of the proceeds go directly to PAWS! Here is the website: http://www.cafepress.com/cheetopups Enjoy!

Lots of Socialization Today!

Today was a preety busy day for Emmy. This afternoon, Amy invited the Admissions Tour Guides over for a study break (they are getting ready for finals this week) and a few came to visit Emmy and play. Then, Emmy went on her first "official outing" off of Hope's campus. We needed to pick up some things from Walgreens to Emmy went with us! We weren't there very long, but she did very well! And, she certainly did attract some attention! But then again, how often do you see a dog at Walgreens? After dinner, Bill's brother, Bobby stopped by to play and let Emmy release some energy...and well...she had a lot of energy to get rid of (see video!).

Emmy has been doing so well for us...she's getting less "mouthy" with both Bill and Amy and she is responding to her name about 85% of the time. We've also got "sit" pretty strong, but "down" is a bit of a struggle still but we're expecting that (all of these without verbal commands of course).We have also included a little clip of what "tummy time" looks like for Emmy...it is very calming for her although she tried really hard to wiggle out of this session.

More visitors!

Today Emmy was visited by our puppy mentor, Deb. Deb had such a fun time meeting Emmy and she taught us so many things! We were so impressed with all of the things that Emmy can do when she puts her mind to it. Deb taught us a lot more about "down", "heel", and even "leave it"...which Emmy thought was a very fun game by the way. Honestly, we learned that we can be even stronger in telling her "NO" and how to control her biting of everything under the sun. Thanks Deb for all your insight!

A little while after that Emmy and Amy went to visit our friends the Fritz's. Their son, Tucker, just recently lost his dog, Bardy and we knew this would be a welcomed treat of puppy love. Tucker was SO surprised and just LOVED Emmy to pieces. Emmy was most thankful for someone closer to her size! Unfortunately, we left our camera at home, so we didn't get any pictures of the two of them playing...but we promised many more visits in the future! It was so wonderful to put such a joyful smile on Tuck's face! Emmy was so exhausted from all the excitement that she fell asleep in the car before we'd even pulled out of their driveway!

First Puppy Class

Emmy's sister, Emma (hard not to confuse them I know!) sitting very well!

Emmy working with Amy on sits

Tonight Emmy and Amy attended their first puppy class at PAWS. Emmy did...well...ok. Actually she did great...she's almost 8 weeks old...what can you expect from here but enthusiasm for her siblings and wanting to put everything in her mouth. We learned more about eye contact, name recognition, sitting, downs, and a little about heeling. We also got to meet lots of other puppies who are in all different stages of the program. We'll have a few weeks off due to the holidays and then head back to class in the beginning of January. By then Emmy will have grown so much and will hopefully know her name a little better! Here are some pictures of Emmy and her sister Emma at class!

Snow and Christmas parties

Emmy has almost been with us one week already!!!! It has been so much fun to watch how much she has grown and is adapting in this first week. Emmy is quickly learning her name when called, she is able to respond to a command to sit when she is inspired (often when she is hungry). Since her second night home Emmy has been sleeping through the night each day with no complaining or other issues. Tonight is her first night at puppy classes, so it will be an adventure.

Last night was the building Christmas party and Emmy had a chance to meet lots of people!!! She clearly was the guest of honor at the party, or at least the one that everyone wanted to interact with. Now that the party is over she now has some more apartment to explore with all the presents out. She LOVES the snow, it is clearly a highlight of her day to go out and romp in the snow, and of course if we romp in the snow we might get to meet new people, which is clearly something that Emmy loves to do.

First Taste of Snow

Emmy slept through last night with only one potty trip at 4:30am. She seems to be adjusting very quickly...at least we hope! Today, she had a pretty laid back day which was wonderful for her. She mainly slept and played while Bill worked on some homework. You'll see a video below of her playing with her first Christmas present from Amy's friend/colleague, & former PAWS Raiser, Barb Miller (Collen & Duke were her puppies).

This afternoon, Amy brought Emmy to the last session of a Hope Visit Day. It was a small group mingle session and Emmy did very well. She wore her cape and did a pretty good job at controlled greetings. The hardest part was not jumping on people, but she learned very quickly. After about 30 min of that, she passed out while Amy finished talking with families. She did a great job on her first official outing as a "Future Assistance Dog".

Tonight, Emmy experienced her first snowfall too! She wasn't quite sure what to think of that frozen stuff...but like any good dog, she put it in her mouth to find out what it's all about! The only problem is, she got really cold outside and was shivering...so we had to do some warming up- which she didn't seem to mind at all.

Emmy is still not eating a ton- still eating less than 1/2 cup meals 3 times a day. We're continuing to do a mixture of hand-feeding and eating out of the bowl...but she seems to lose interest in the food before she's done. Hopefully as she gets more familiar with us and her new home she'll get better about eating more.