Hi Kristi and Chad,
Happy New Year! I hope you both had a great holiday season. Dougal and I had a great month of December. I had the entire month off and we spent it up in Canada with my family. Dougal adapted to the snow immediately (he likes it much much better than rain, which he really doesn't like much at all) and definitely settled in well up in Toronto. He absolutely loves my parents' Newfoundland, Paterson. Every day Dougal would go after Paterson by pulling on his jowls and ears and trying to get him to play. Paterson was usually slow to get started, but once he got going, he was right there with Dougal playing away (though slightly less movement came from his side--mostly he just lay on the floor and batted Dougal around a bit :) Here are a few videos of the two of them having lots of fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_CqQEYCMU8; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2NU1l_Ze4 We spent some time in the country and Dougal got to romp around on lots of hiking trails. He does so well when we're out and about--charging through the woods, but never going too far. He's very trustworthy and just so much fun to have around.
Dougal is now 49lbs and almost 8 months old! Even though it's only been 5 months, I feel as though he has always been a part of my life. Do you have a sense of how much more weight he's likely to gain (the more the better, I like big puppies!)? He's eating well and is up to about 4 cups a day. Is this appropriate for his age? I just upped him from about 3-3 1/2 cups/day and he seems to be eating almost all of it, though can be a bit slow at times, so I take it it's about the right amount--I certainly don't want to be over-feeding him, and the guidelines on the bag seem pretty high for his weight class to me. He has recovered nicely from his neutering and is in great health. I've attached a few pictures. The one with the bandage is just from his heartworm test--no harm done, but I thought it was too cute for words. He's got a shaved area there from the IV from his neuter and people are always commenting about it so I couldn't help but document it being all wrapped up!
He is really becoming a big retriever--he loves his ball and has started to become a better tracker when he loses sight of the ball. Until recently he'd just give up if he couldn't find it immediately, but just this week he has started to search obsessively for it when he doesn't initially see where it lands. Very cute (and nice for me since I have to "fetch" a little less myself!)
Still having lots of fun and seeing how well he did with Paterson I think he'll need a brother sometime in the next few years when he is old enough to be a good "big brother" :)
All the best,
Hanna & Dougal
