Wooftalker

Its been a bit since we blogged – life has been good!  Even though we had to rush Christmas more than usual we had a great time. Millie loved it and we even got her to co-operate for some great pictures under the tree:

Our Little Millie Reindeer with our beautiful tree.

and this one:

Meet Ms. Millie Reindeer - Adorable!

Amazingly enough these pictures took about 5 minutes to take because she was so cooperative. Perhaps she is so smart that she figured it out – if she lets us get the photos she doesnt have to wear the silly outfit for long! SMART MILLIE!!!  Thank you sweet girl.

Millie was very good about her Christmas tree and never played with a single ornament on it nor did she tug or chew a branch.  She is such a good girl.

Millie’s FarMor (Grandmother) came for Christmas and stayed two nights. Millie was in heaven! They loved each other instantly and FarMor was a great playmate! Mom and Dad liked this too as we had time to tend to all the necessities of Christmas and Christmas Dinner. These are a few pictures from around the house:

Millie had a great Christmas Dinner with Liver Pate and yoghurt. She thought it was the best!!!

Yoghurt Nose!

Millie also got a bunch of toys – and still has a few she hasnt opened yet! Although she loved the Christmas Toys that were around – This is Nellie’s favourite Christmas Toy that I think Millie has inherited as she enjoys it as much:

She also loved Dennis’ Christmas Dog:

We didnt have snow so we have made a family vow to keep the Christmas Tree up until there is snow! Millie doesnt really know what snow is! WE hope we get some very SOON!! Please do a snowdance for us!!

A couple of days ago we took Millie to the vet for her 12 week check up etc. The wee munchkin weighed in at 14.75 Kilos or aprox. 32 lbs!!!!!!! She is gaining on average a kilo a week!!! Mind you I think I gained that much over Christmas too! She got a very healthy report card from the vet and she is super pup – we already knew that! 😉

Dennis and I went to Ikea in Copenhagen one day. We took Millie for a long walk and gave her a small snack before tucking her in her little home. She did great – she didnt even go bezerk when we came home. She was happy to see us but it was no big deal that we had left her for four hours. Good GOOD Millie! While at Ikea we bought her a new toy, of course! Check out Millie the LIONberger playing with her new friend:

and after her play she helped Dad build his new Ikea bench for at the foot of our bed:

Helping Dad

Millie is such a good girl!!! A real joy to have and we love her so much!

Yesterday Millie had a BIG FIRST EXPERIENCE!!! We took her to the BEACH!!! See what she thought of it:

She was so cute! Play bowing at the waves! She also got to dig a hole to China which was FABULOUS!!!

We then stopped by the dog park for just a wee visit because she is a wee girl. She met a golden retriever mix and a lab mix. They were very polite with Millie and Millie was a good girl but when she got a bit too excited as puppies can the older dogs showed her that she had to have manners. Millie was a VERY GOOD learner! She has been with every dog we have met. We are very happy she is already pretty good with other dogs.

When a bunch of older dogs arrived at the Dog Park we decided this was too much for our wee girl and headed home. She ate a big hearty meal, had a big sloshy drink and slept for three hours straight! YAY Millie! Dennis will put up pictures from the dog park soon!

Our next post should be interesting as we are so happy that Millie has a place in Puppy Training with our first choice of trainer – Lone Nielsen. We start January 11th!

So LIFE is GOOD! We hope this finds everybody enjoying the fresh start a New Year brings… we know we are…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Since everything has happened so quickly around here we weren’t expecting to be Christmassing with a new puppy. Also, all the events that led up to this have put us way behind in our Christmas preparations. Top that with Dennis being in the middle of a crazy work schedule that has him working nights on and off.. we have a bit of catch up to do.

We LOVE Christmas and all the traditions we love to partake in. This year with Millie on board some things will be tapered back but she has been most helpful of late.

Saturday Millie went to the local Garden Centre with us. She charmed everybody and loved the Christmas Decoration shop which led to the Pet Supply shop where she showed us some things she wanted on her Christmas List to Santa. We reminded her that we were there for a very important job – to pick up the Christmas Tree!

Here is Millie with her tree choice!

Millie's 1st Christmas Tree

We are hoping to put it up tomorrow and decorate it on Saturday. I think we are going to have to be creative with the decorations in order to prevent possible disasters when Millie explores her Christmas tree. No train under the tree this year. Its all okay though because having Millie for Christmas is so much better than so many of Christmas’ traditions. Next year there will be time and place for all that.. and she has been a really good puppy helping where she can. Today she helped me bake the gingerbread cookies. She did some taste testing and was very encouraging with her wiggles and yarps.

Millie helps with the Christmas Baking

We have watched several of my favourite Christmas Movies together and she agrees whole heartedly with me -they are great!  Tonight I think we will watch The Snowman. We save A Child’s Christmas in Wales until much closer to Christmas and Dennis and I have a lovely quiet dinner together in the candlelight and watch it enjoying every little detail. This time Millie will be part of that evening too! I think she will love the part with the cats… or the dog barking at the postman. We are both doing Snowdances for snow even though Millie doesnt know what snow is she trusts me when I tell her she is going to LOVE IT!

Please join us in our snowdances so Millie can have her first snow experience. I promise we will write about it and include pictures and possibly video!!

When we ordered a bunch of stuff for Millie (xpen, crate, crate pads, toys, etc. for Millie from a German company they sent Millie a doggy advent Calendar. Each door has a little dog treat in it. This has been great fun for us and Millie. The little treats are things like dried tripe etc. It is so cute!

Millie's 1st Advent Calendar

We are pretty laid back about Christmas. We try to just let it happen every year and what gets done gets done. If it gets too crazy nobody enjoys it. We just go from Christmas moment to moment and try to enjoy each one to the fullest. Millie is making us laugh and she loves a good cuddle which is so sweet.

Hoping you are all enjoying a Merry Christmas Season or whatever you celebrate at this time of year may the joy of your celebration radiate from within.. warming your friends with the glow of your spirit.

Hi Everyone,

Already I am behind on this blog.. and Millie has been giving us many fabulous “Millie Minutes”.

So I am going to send you to links and post stuff where you can see what Life with Millie has been like this first week! A week almost already! WOW Time flies when you have a puppy!

Here is the place where Dennis posts his pictures… you can download and share any and all.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjx7up3D

I post videos from my Iphone to YouTube and you can watch those here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/tilt2027?feature=mhee#p/u

One of the cutest moments we have had is when Dennis’ decided Millie needed a bath. It wasnt because he thought she was dirty but because he thought she should start young getting use to being bathed. Smart man.

So first he stoked the fire in the wood stove and then he ran a lovely warm bath for her and put her little blue rubber ducky in it. I got all the towels ready and brought him Millie. We didnt use shampoo – this was just a “get use the the water” bath. Check out the pictures:

Millie's First Bath

Poor little girl! She looks a bit pathetic! She sat there and was very very very good and sniffed the water and let Dennis gently rub her with a soaking facecloth and she loved little blue rubber duck.. NO SPLASHING::: YET!!!

So after her bath we towelled her off and I wrapped her in a big fleecy blanket and gave her back to Dennis. Dennis took her downstairs and sat on the floor cuddling her in front of the fire. She fell fast asleep and and was so sweet! She was so comfy and cozy and adorable. After about 40 minutes I asked Dennis if he was okay. He said his foot was asleep.. poor man!! I think his back was sore too. So I got myself settled in our big chair and Dennis handed her off where she slept in my arms for another 30 minutes… she had such a great great great sleep and she woke up so happy and bright. She is such a lovely puppy!

Millie cozy after 1st bath

Millie has been enjoying all her many meals. She loves A38 on them. To you who don’t know what A38 is it is like a high probiotic yoghurt. She loves it!

Millie munches down dinner!

She loves her toys….

Millie sucking on Monkey but she loves toys..

We have been finding things she likes to eat and one thing we discovered is she loves frozen banana…

and she likes frozen carrots too… and of course dried tripe is an absolute favourite.

I have been getting myself organized and doing some training with her besides the obvious house training and bite inhibition stuff. We are doing name recognition which she seems to be getting very well and a bunch of little things to make life easier for all of us. She seems quite smart and I love that she is not relentless about things. She is pretty commonsense. If something isnt working she moves on. Now it is just directing her to what she should move on to… or where she should move on to.

I will have to get more organized with my posting but I just wanted to make sure “Millie Minutes” were getting out to everyone … as she is one very special girl!

We are getting a storm tomorrow and I so hope we get snow.. for Millie and I!!!!!

Millie the Magnificent

Our Magnificent Ms. Millicent (Kiramoon’s Aida) commonly known as “Millie”! Millie is our very special new Leonberger puppy.  In regards to the circumstances in which she entered our lives we know Millie is a gift to us from our previous Leo, Nellie (Ms. Nells).  This makes Millie even more of special puppy to us.  If you want to read more about who Millie is and how she came to us continue reading this post. If you want to skip to her day to day life you may want to pass this post as it is going to be fairly long..but it is a GREAT GREAT story that should not be missed.

Firstly we need to thank Suzanne Vorsaa of Kennel Kiramoon (http://www.kiramoon.dk/ click on Hvalpe in the side bar for puppy pictures) for trusting us with one of her awesome puppies.  Millie’s Mom is a very special lady, Khaimas girl, Marika (Khamais’ Saturday Autumn – http://ileodata.com/pedinfo.php?id=95571).  Pia and Jørgen Hansen have Kennel Khaimas and we love their dogs!

Below is a picture of Marika on the day we picked up Millie  (December 2, 20119 with a couple of the other pups.

Marika and a couple of her pups the day we picked up Millie

In September 2010, Dennis and I went on a wonderful trip through Germany and ended up visiting the German Leonberger Club show in Leonberg. We had such a great time seeing so many wonderful Leonbergers and meeting so many wonderful Leonberger people. We met a great dog there. His name is Forest (http://www.leonberger-hunde.de/zucht/rueden/b1/Forrest_Leo_vom_Jerichower_Land.html). Forest has many championships under his belt but thats not what stood out about him to us. Forest has a really really great temperment. He is such a lovely stable dog, a great Leonberger. So when we heard Forest was Millie’s Dad we were very happy!

Millie's Dad - Forest Leo vom Jerichower Land

So how did Millie come to us? Read on:

In September 2011 after many years of hopping the pond from Nova Scotia to Denmark I finally moved over to be with Dennis in our Pinecone Cottage in Mogenstrup, Denmark. I brought with me my heartdog, Ms. Nells/Nellie. Nellie was thought to be having a hard time getting over ACL surgery from back in mid-July. She was aproximately 7.5 years old – a senior. After having some issues getting settled here in Denmark we finally got Nells to an orthopaedic veterinarian thanks to the help of Pia and Jørgen Hansen (Kennel Khaimas – http://www.khaimas.dk/khaimas_uk.htm). What we thought was trouble getting over ACL surgery turned out to be much more devastating. Ms. Nells had advanced osteosarcoma. We only had a little time left with her. We were shocked and heartbroken.  I cannot describe in words what she meant and still means to me.  Nells took care of us as we all did our best to enjoy the time we all had left together but it did not stop the day from comming when Nells told us it was her time to go and be a star in the universe to look down on us always. We had a little time to prepare ourselves to face that but Nells knew how to help us through and she passed peacefully – We couldnt have asked for more.  Yet, Nells gave us more.

Nellie at Smiley's Provincial Park in Nova Scotia after some fun in the water!

Sweet Nells

Nells and her Cape Breton Menaces

Nells in Denmark with her Massive Monkey!

Nellie and her Posse!

The house was so dead without a dog in it.. especially without Nells. Nells was one of those larger than life characters. She owned our hearts. We were very sad. Since we knew we would be getting another dog we started the search right away. We know no dog could ever replace Nells but that doesnt mean a new dog cant come into our lives and make their own way with us. We just had to find “our” dog and let her find her way with us..and to let her grow into her own.

We actually knew we wanted a Kennel Khamais pup. Our first experience with Leonbergers was at Pia and Jørgen’s home meeting their very special dogs. Pia and Jørgen have been such good friends to us and helped me find Nells through Lori Dzingala in Canada. Lori directed me to Pauline Labreque of Vonlinderhof Kennel and through her and Isabelle Renaud Nells came into our lives. I could never repay any of them enough.

Below is a picture from the day I first met Leos. This is Pia and Jørgen’s Plet (Spot). He was a gorgeous boy.. we loved him! Below is Nana who we just saw about a month ago. She is such a lovely gently lady!

Me, Plet and Nana

Over the years we kept in touch with Pia and Jørgen and have become good friends. Since the first day we met I knew I would someday have a Khaimas pup. So this is what we wanted after Nells passing. With luck we found out that Pia and Jørgen were having a litter in late December. YAY! This would mean waiting until February to bring our new pup home though.. a very long wait in a very empty house!  We could do it for a Khamais pup and thats what we decided.

Well in his sadness Dennis was surfing the net around Denmark looking at Leonbergers etc. He found one. An adult female in need of rehoming. She was very tempting but not a Khaimas Leo. We talked about it and waited a day before calling to decide if we got her would we still get a puppy. We decided YES and called…lucky for the Leo she had already found a good home. Sad for us – still having to wait til February but something to look forward to. We were both still having tears over Nells as she was so close to us and even though she was only at our Pinecone Cottage for a short time she had made an indelible mark on it and our lives here. It was only a few days after she had passed and emotions were very raw. We looked up at the sky every night and saw her star…shining down on us. Nells was not finished helping us yet…

We decided we needed a Leo fix. Dennis went to the Danish Leonberger Club website (http://www.leonberger.dk/index_uk.htm) hoping to find out there would be a Leowalk soon that we could go to.  Of course we immediately skipped to the puppy site! THERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF US – A litter born October 5th 2o11 with a Khamais Mom and Forest for the Dad!!!! WOW! Were there any pups available..any females!?!?!?!?!  We got in touch with Suzanne and she had three females available! We saw them that friday! .. One was ours.. Ms. PINKY/Lyserød!!!  How did we decide? Dennis took lots of pictures. We knew which pup we favoured while visiting them.  We took a look at Nells’ puppy pictures. She didnt really look like any of the pups BUT there was a look.. a sweet sweet sweet look.. that both Nells and Ms. PINKY shared. Thats how we decided. Nells showed us which pup she had chosen for us! Taking care of us again!

This is how Millie came to us. She is a very special gift of love from Nells. Now you can follow Millie as she grows up not with Nells’ paws to fill but with her own paws to fill. We hope we can do the best by her to help her become just who she is meant to be in this world. We will love her every bit of the way! Nells made room in our hearts for Millie and we will always be so very thankful for that. Nells can now rest among the stars as Millie’s guarden angel and watching over all of us and all who knew her as she has done forever.

Nells and Sucky Monkey - The day we picked her up!

This is a picture of Nells the day my sister, Ann, and I picked her up from Isabelle in Quebec and brought her home. Nells’ was Vonlinderhof’s Godiva the Lady. Nells had sucky monkey from the day Ann gave it to her til the day she died. She had a backup Monkey that on the day we brought Millie into the house and she was exploring she found the toys. The first thing she did was plonk down on Monkey and start sucking!  Another Suckberger!

Millie the Suckberger on Nellie's Backup Monkey

How much more could this little girl tell us to impress us that she is truly a gift from Nells.  Follow our blog and watch Millie grow into herself.

Millie is now waking up from a very long puppy nap – YAY! I get to hang out with Millie… Mighty Millie, Silly Millie, Mastermind Millie, Millie Vanilli when she is making her squawking noises that all puppies make (we consider it bad lip synching as Millie wouldnt make those noises right?), MadMax Millie when she is on a wild and crazy adventure out in the big big world.. and I am sure she is going to introduce us to many many many more “Millies” as we grow as a family together… for now ..she is our sweet sweet sweet Millie – Gift from Nells.

If you got this far.. thanks for reading. You have an insight of how much this sweet girl means to us.

We love comments on our blog and tell us about your Leonberger experiences, your dog experiences.. life in general. We love to hear from you!

HeatherM

It’s my first post and I am so excited …not because I get to post but what I am posting about – our new Leonberger puppy who we pick up today! The picture is of when we went to see the pups last week and pick our sweet girl out! The truth is she picked us. We are so happy she did.

There is a longish background story to today that I am going to save for another post. Family and friends will read this blog the most and they already know the story..but there will be newcomers and droppers by that really will need to read the background of how this puppy came to be to understand just how incredibly special she is.

What am I doing posting when it is puppy day???????? Well, I am just waiting for Dennis to show up from work so we can go pick her up. The car is already, I have her special new coming home day toy ready, her new to her leash etc. etc. etc. I am sure I am forgetting something but, well, my brain is a bit overwhelmed with excitement and trepidation. Its been a long while since I have had my own puppy to raise and Dennis has never raised a puppy. We will do our best.. and learn and listen and take cues from our sweet girl.

You are right.. no name yet… because we are going to let her pick her name. We have a list and we will try them out and she can tell us which one is her.

I think I heard Dennis…. YAY… will update as soon as possible! SO EXCITED!!!!! Wish us luck!