Meet Samantha

About a month ago we added to our family:

A real cutie, right? Sam is our 12 week old German shepherd. Seth loves dogs, so while I was content with only owning a fish in my infamous wall-mounted fish bowl for the next three years, Seth yearned for a dog. So we agreed that if we got a dog it would be a family affair - we'd all pick him/her out, we'd all take care of it, we'd all agree on a name. My only request was that he give me a few months to get settled in with work, the house, and get the kids here. During the search I shot down several puppies he showed me as I had a few must-haves:
I wanted to either get a puppy for Christmas for the kids, because how awesome of a memory would that be to open a box and see a cute little puppy inside to love. Or...
I wanted a litter of puppies that we could all go see, play with, and then choose from.So when he found a litter of 6 puppies we jumped on the chance to check them out. We all interacted with them and narrowed it down to two, but we were torn. Then, out walked Samantha and all five of us said, "I want that one!" Seriously, it was unanimous. And so she was the one that came home with us.

I plan to take weekly photos of her for a while to track her growth. I thought it'd be cool to look back on how little she once was when she's older and larger. Plus I'm kinda yearning for a baby and this is totally the thing I'd do if I had a newborn, take a photo of him or her weekly to have something sappy to look back on during the celebration of their first year of life, so maybe I'm going a bit overboard but don't you worry, I'm not one of those people that thinks my dog is a human - those people need evaluated. By a psychiatrist. While in a straight jacket. After being given intravenous drugs. 

She's definitely gotten bigger, as have her ears. Grow Sammy grow...into your ears so that you don't look like a little jack rabbit for the rest of your life. 

Potty training is going well. She finally sleeps through the night rather than needing to go out at 2am and then again a few hours later like she did for a while. She's learning to heel and does pretty well, I think the daily walks help with that. She's good at Sit Stay. And we've just begun teaching 'down' because in the last week or so she jumps on us when she wants attention. Oh, and the perks of having a girl dog? Buying fun girly accessories for her, of course. I'm a bit of a girly girl, so I loved finding her chevron collar and pink treat bag; it was like Christmas in July.

She started teething a few weeks ago and would gnaw on everything in sight. She's gotten much better. Her new bad habit? Smelling food and putting her paws on the cabinets in an attempt to see what's on the counter. That's another reason we've begun teaching 'down'. Today, as I was in the office planning the details of a trip we are taking this month, I heard noises from the kitchen. I knew the kids weren't in there so I figured Sam was up to no good. I walked in the kitchen. Nada. So I continued into the laundry room. Nothing there either. So I went back to the office. As soon as I sat down I heard the noises again. I grabbed my phone knowing she had to be doing something very sneaky for me not to notice her the last time I checked and this is what I crept up on. Oh Sam, I hope you don't give me my first gray hair...

So there's the story of Sam. And her awesome collar. And her love of bacon on Sunday Mornings. Glad you could meet.