Busy week

Sorry for the lack of updates this week! We have been busy and spring has arrived and with it came lots and lots of pollen! 

Here is a  rundown of what happened this past week  

Sunday- Joe was most happy to discover who was coming to church with him Sunday morning…. it was his sister Lexie! Lexie needed to hang around more kids and what better place to do that than kids church! Joe and Lexie ran around the backyard for about 10 minutes before we headed to church where they went for Joe’s routine Sunday morning walk before entering the building. Lexie was a little unsure about kids' church to begin with, but warmed up to it after a few minutes. All of my little girls loved having a girl puppy in church! I had quite a few people want to know how many puppies I was going to bring to church; Lexie was number 3 in the last month. After kids' church, Lexie and I went to big church where she curled up on my feet and went to sleep. We snuck out a few minutes early to go see some toddlers and babies. Lexie was not sure what to think of a 10 month old little boy or lots of toddlers running around, but somewhat warmed up to the idea that they are not too scary. Joe and Lexie got to play some more before Lexie went home that afternoon.

Joe and his sister Lexie the two black and tan pups in their litter.

Joe looks a lot bigger than Lexie in this picture! 

Joe and Lexie playing with a toy. It looks like Joe has an another tail and foot, but really it is just Lexie hiding behind him:-)

Monday- Allergies hit me hard, so we hung around the house and went for a walk. Joe seems to know when I am not feeling so great and is so sweet laying down beside me. 

Tuesday- Was a very busy day! Joe and I went for a walk early, then Ely and I headed to the vet to get his knee rechecked. Dr. Brian was very pleased at how Ely’s leg has healed. Ely was given 4 more weeks being on a leash and no running which is much better than 6 weeks (which is what he had last surgery). I guess Ely has been hanging around me too much because he seems to be allergic to the same things that I am. Ely had been scratching his face, which caused him to get an infection in his eye. He was put on two different meds and we talked about another step to help with his allergies. There are several options including allergy testing and shots and a very expensive allergy medicine. Dr. Brian suggested switching his food to a more hypoallergenic food first to see if that would help any. Ely has been eating Blue for the past 2 years and has not had any problems on it, so we are hoping a change in food will help his allergies. After we got home from the vet, Joe and I headed out to do some quick errands before I went off to work. There are some puppies who somewhat slow you down on a quick errand, but Joe is not one of those puppies! He keeps up with me and we are in and out in just a few minutes. Tuesday just happened to be my mom’s birthday so we went out to dinner, Home Depot and to get some ice cream. Joe did awesome the entire evening!

Wednesday- Joe and I went on a walk and did some stuff around the house before I went to work. Wednesday night Joe and I headed to church for communion. During the service there was a little boy sitting in front of us who kept trying to pet Joe; Joe did a great job with not reinforcing it by totally ignoring it! Joe did awesome when we went to do communion in a very crowed aisle. Afterwards he got to meet some toddlers and small children and he did great with them - even the more energetic ones! 

Joe is loving the warm weather!  

Thursday- Joe had some tummy problems, so we kept it a low key day. We did go for a walk, hung out in the yard and cleaned the house some (Joe thinks that he needs to stand right where I am trying to steam mop to supervise). After quite a bit of research, I decided on a food for Ely so we went and got him his first bag of food and treats of Natural Balance limited ingredient sweet potato and bison. Ely wanted to sleep in the kitchen Thursday night to keep an eye on it. He LOVES it! 

Friday- Friday was a day filled with friends both two and four legged! Another raiser sent me an e-mail to see if Joe would like a play date in the afternoon and to see if we wanted to go for a hike this morning; unfortunately it was supposed to be cold and raining(which was very true!) so we rescheduled for another day. Joe had a blast playing with Judy and Tillie. Judy used to be one of the babies in our group, but she has quickly grown up (just like they all do). After the girls left, we went and made a return to PetSmart, where he saw some of his friends. We then headed to Marshalls, where he got to see some of his favorite people. The Marshalls near us has some of the nicest people working there! All the managers love Joe, however, Joe has his favorite! He loves when Randy the manager is working. Joe also loves all the doggy stuff they have, however it is extremely dangerous for me to go in the doggy area.  They have some of the cutest doggy signs and pictures. I have run out of wall space in my doggy themed bathroom. Once we got home, one of Joe’s favorite friends, Cole, came over to play. Joe, the genius that he is, figured out how to get Cole to play his kind of game, chase. He waits for Cole to drop the toy then he grabs it and teases Cole till Cole starts chasing him. We then went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and he went under the table and laid down and went to sleep. 

The perfect sign for Joe! “Beware of affectionate dog”

Joe past out asleep under the table at dinner

Saturday- Today was a very lazy Saturday. It was cold and raining and I didn’t feel so great so we didn’t do much. Joe and I did go on a walk in the pouring down cold rain late this afternoon. He enjoys the rain and puddles a lot more than me! Since he was already wet and needed a bath we went straight to the tub for a bath. Ely also got a bath today since there has been so much pollen and he was on the itchy side