Good morning, Pam!

We have renamed “Crash” and he responds well to his new name of Ryder. As a Lab/Husky mix and a young pup he has LOADS of energy! Thankfully we live out in a wooded area with a nice long driveway that we could start him walking on and the past couple of weeks we have also begun to walk him on the roads by our home. Ryder had no problem transitioning to our home, has a great appetite for life and his food! He loves to take naps in a large fenced training pen that we set up in our kitchen and more recently, he chooses to take naps in his wire crate. Ryder’s potty training is going really well, though it was tough the first week as he likes to play hard, drink, and had a very short “holding time” on his bladder. With consistent training and encouragement he now goes to the door in our entry way and signals to go out. Ryder is also a very lovey dog and we couldn’t be happier with him!

As you know, we also adopted “Dusti” (Border Collie Mix) on Friday, Nov. 29, 2019. We renamed her Ava and she’s a great fit into our family of two older dogs and Ryder. She has the perfect personality for our family as she LOVES to chase around and wrestle with Ryder, yet she can lay calmly with either of our two older dogs (Lucy, our Havanese, age 7 years, and Jax, our Yorkie/Maltese mix, age 8 years). The only real difficulty we have had is that the big snow storm started the night we brought her home and continued for two more days which meant LOTS of snow removal. She wakes more frequently during the nights and signals to get out of her crate to potty so we get up to let her do that which of course, means a lot of interrupted sleep! That said, she is a fast learner and has already begun to run to the door when she needs to go out.

As I just turned 65 years old in November and my hubby is 61, we are probably unlikely candidates to want to add a couple of frisky pups to our lives, and yet, they add so much joy and love. And they need lots of exercise, so the fact that we have always taken walks with our older dogs, by ourselves, and now get to walk even more with the two new pups!

Here’s a few photos that we have been able to snap recently (though that can be a challenge as they move fast at times!)