It has FINALLY paid off

Nate has been wanting to get a doggie door for Chloee for quite some time now but I never really have been a fan of the idea, until recently. The last couple of months Chloee has had more accidents in the house than she has the whole year and a half that we have had her. I think that might be her way of getting attention with the new little one in the house who is taking most of our attention. Nate and I were getting so frustrated and have tired many different things to get her go outside. We knew she knew better - we had her potty trained in less than a week and whenever she did have an accident and we found it her tail would go between her legs, and she would cower away! We had had just about enough and then remembered the doggie door idea. Once I realized that Nate was going to put it in our back door instead of in our wall I was all over the idea!

When we finally got one and put it in (about 2 weeks ago) Chloee wouldn't use it! I'll take that back, she would only use it if Nate held the plastic flap up for her - what a girl! About a week ago though she finally caught on to the idea and we ALL LOVE it! She can go in and out now as she pleases whether it's to go to the bathroom, run around or just to catch a little sun and some fresh air and we don't have to let her in and out all day or clean up her messes in the house. It is a total win/win situation. Plus, the door doesn't look to bad and I haven't noticed a draft from it yet either! The kids love going in and out it too!

Snuggling with Chloee.....

Or should we say Chloee was snuggling with him!

Chloee's not allowed on the couch, at least she's not when Nate's home! Hopefully he doesn't find out our little secret!

Chloee has been so good with Braxton. I think she has finally figured out over the last couple of weeks that he is here to stay! In the beginning, she was a little confused. She would sniff him up and down quite often. In the middle of the night, after waking up to Braxton crying, Chloee would be quite annoyed. After patiently waiting by our bedroom door to be let out she would make her way to the end of the hall and spend the rest of the night in the bathroom on the rug.

As time went on though she slowly became more and more protective of him. When ever he would cry while in his swing or pack and play she would run to his side until I could get to him, then she would run away.

Now day's whenever we get home and she makes her rounds to welcome us back Braxton is now included! After greeting Nate and I Chloee goes straight for the car seat, sticks her big nose between the flaps on the car seat cover and sniffs around - sometimes including a little lick or two! She is pretty jealous of the idea that she has to now share our attention and unfortunately for her it's not shared very evenly. There are times when were talking to Braxton while he's laying on the floor or sitting in his swing and before you know it she's right there in between us and the swing or blanket in just the right spot that we can't see Braxton so our attention has to go to her! Also, whenever we talk playfully with Braxton or make silly noises, Chloee takes it upon her self to include her self in the fun by running as fast as she can to find a toy and bring it back to us.

Chloee really is such a good dog. We can't wait for the day when Braxton can start interacting with her. They are going to be great buds!

Snow Buddies

With one of the big snow storms we got before Christmas, Nate and our neighbor decided to work together to get our driveways cleaned from the snow while our dogs played in it! The men got out the snow blower and went to town and the dogs just went to town. They had so much fun!!! (the dogs that is)

Happy Birthday Chloee!!

On Wednesday, November 11 Chloee turned 1 year old!! I can't believe it. She has gotten so big from when we got her on Christmas!

To show how cute and sensitive my adorable husband is, we decided to start taking Chloee to Doggy Day Camp once a week because we have to keep her locked up so much between us being at work and school. We started it this last week and Nate decided to take her both on Tuesday so she could get used to it and on Wednesday so she wouldn't be alone on her Birthday. He even paid a little extra for a special ice cream treat for her! She loved it, but I'm pretty sure those pore ladies were so glad to see us at the end of the day! They sent us home with a report card for her after both days. The first day she was to excited to rest, she "Romp 'n' Rolled" during play time (she wouldn't stop), and it took her a little coaxing to go potty because she didn't want to miss out on anything! They told us she was a "REAL party girl". The second day, she definitely didn't have as much energy. She napped really well, went potty great, and she rested a little while playing. Those poor dogs there were probably so annoyed by her and her energy but it was so nice to get her home and have her be tired!! She made two friends that she played tug-o-war and wrestled with a lot! They are Hope a Border Collie mix and Toona an Australian Cattle Dog. I was so glad to know that she was good, had a good time and made some good friends. We have such a good dog!!

Sami got Chloee Chocolate dipped dog bones from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! She LOVED them! She would only eat them outside for some reason.


Chloee and her presents



Dad and Chloee playing with her new rope!!



Chloee wanted to go out and play with her Frisbee so bad but it was time for bed!

What peach tree?

During the summer once we got our yard done we decided that we would try and leave CHloee outside for a couple of hours at a time until we could figure out if it was something she would get used to and eventually enjoy. Nate left her outside one morning when he left for work and came home for luch that day to let her back in lock her up. Because she had been really good in the back yard for a while now, Nate didn't take the time to look around and make sure because he was in a little bit of a hurry to get to his next bid. Our neighbors called us that night after we had been home for a little while to see if we wanted to get snow cones. Of course we did but
because we didn't want Chloee to be locked up again we decided we would let her stay outside. Much to our suprise, when we opened the door to let her outside Nate noticed a nice empty spot in our yard. Before I even noticed anything was wrong he said "Where's our tree?" Being really confused, I looked toward the direction he was and this is what I saw......






And the Culprit......

It's a good thing your cute and your lucky we love you~

Our yard has been a big muddy mess for the last couple of weeks which Chloee has just LOVED! We have also had to take part of our fence down for a little bit for part of the cement work, which Chloee also LOVES!! Her favorite thing to do is to run around in the mud and then excape!! She has getten very fast and very good at dodging us. I can just see her snickering inside as we run around like a bunch of crazies trying to catch our dog! Thank you so much to our Awesome neighbors the Gelters for being so good about keeping track of our dog. A lot of the time we haven't even realized Chloee has excapet before we hear a knock on the door and it's Aaron with Chloee! Thanks Aaron for helping us watch our dog. Thank you to Syndey also! He will see Chloee and start barking because he is jelous that he isn't out playing as well! That is how the Gelters always know she is out. I'm sure we have given them a couple laughs as they have watched us struggle with Chloee! Luckly that entertaining is almost finished, I hope!! We owe you guys big time!!! The best part is after she's done running around in the mud and she comes inside, more often than not before we can grab her to clean off her paws, she gets away and runs through the entire house!! Let's just say we have gone though a couple cans of carpet cleaning stuff and try and mop once a day and especially when we know people are coming over!

Our Dining Room









The outside of our door when she actually stays in our yard and scratches when she wants to come inside.



The bucket Nate decided to try and clean Chloee's feet off in everytime she came inside. It's a lot harder than it seemed and wasn't used very often!