Most Recent pics of Cole (and one of his smart and good-looking owners)

"I rehabilitate dogs, I train people" (Cesar, of course)

We were off to a very slow start with training Cole on the treadmill, but that has changed. Cole has no problem walking on the treadmill. We want to get to the point where we don't have to be there with Cole while he's walking/running on it. We'll use the treadmill as a supplement to our daily walks outside and when the weather is crappy.

Another comparison

Cole at 9 weeks old modeling his baggy yet very stylist waterproof jacket:

Here's Cole at 20 weeks old modeling the same stylist waterproof jacket, but it's no longer baggy, in fact it barely Velro's around him.

It's not a purse, it's a dude bag.

I bought this treat bag so my hands could be free when I'm walking and training Cole. It's especially handy in puppy class. Shawn's man hands can't fit in my treat bag so he's been putting crumbly dog treats in his jacket and pants pockets and now his pockets are quite gross.

This was his solution.

I just started laughing, then Shawn got really embarrassed and he refused to use it. So there.

Fencing 101 (and not the sport)

Shawn and I have many big projects in mind for the house. The first big one that we decided to start first was fencing in the backyard. We looked at a few different types of fences, privacy, vinyl, picket, but then we settled on a split-rail fence for a couple of reasons. First, split-rail fences are very cost effective compared to vinyl and especially privacy fences. Second, we wanted to create a defined area for Cole (and eventually kids) without it feeling closed off. Third, I'm not sure if we had a third reason. But anyway, the project started last Saturday with Shawn, my mom, and Mark making the 1.5 hour trip to Honeybrook, PA on a rainy morning to pick up 46 posts and 120 11' rails. The bulk of the fence was put in by Shawn and his Dad over the course of one day during the week. A lot of the fence was also done yesterday, but we're still not quite done. You see, Shawn and I want to cut out a 14" wide trench under the fence so we don't have to maintain the grass, instead we'll put decorative stone there. Cutting out the trench wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have 450 ft worth of fencing. We're excited it's almost finished and it'll be so nice to let Cole run wild in the backyard.

The first section of the fence

The two front gates.

The vinyl-coated wire is the keep Cole IN and other dogs OUT!

There will be a gate in the back as well.

Our fence reminds me of a dude ranch, so anytime you're free, come on over to the Bear Ranch!

There's a first for everything

As soon as Cole turned 5 months old, the price of PetSmart's doggie bath increased from $11 to $32! As a young puppy, we took Cole to get bathed every other week or so for socialization and to make him smell good. We're definitely not paying $32 to pay someone else to give Cole a bath, so I wanted to do it myself (with my mom's help). We took Cole out back and pretty much just hosed him down, it took less than 10 minutes and cost me $19 for a really big bottle of dog shampoo.