puppy pride

meet our newest member of the family: shirley! she was born on 27 jan 2010, and is the sweetest little great dane puppy!! her mother is 36" tall (i met her, and her neck hits at my waist) and weighs 142 pounds, while here father is 39" tall and weighs 200 pounds! our sweet girl is going to be big just like her parents - she just went to the vet today but only weighs in at a mere 18 pounds and 18" tall right now. shirley was actually the runt of a 13-puppy litter, but so was her mother so time will tell how big she'll grow!

she is spunky and definitely a handful but so much fun to watch...she doesn't quite know how to carry her big feet yet so she is extremely klutzy and falls over her front paws often. haha so stumbly but even more snuggly...she'll climb into our laps and cuddle up...don't know how long she'll be able to do that though...she loves to grab our shoes for a good chew before we can scold her, and our new chaise is especially tempting for her teeth (we know, uh oh!).

since our house is structured upon stilts, we have an outside staircase that shirley has not quite mastered. with mike's help she can climb up all the way (the height of each stair is still a little too tall for her to climb over gracefully), but she has problems on the way down and usually ends up rolling and faceplanting on the last stair since she can't control her momentum yet (AND despite her puppy stubbornness in wanting to try going down all the time).

shirley is working on her crate and potty training but is making progress. we stocked up on some good chew toys for her but she still prefers mike's boxers (she sneaks them out of the hamper) and/or his socks. she has taken a liking to his combat boots, too..... :) she is very clever and pushes our buttons on what she should not be doing, but learns quickly nonetheless. when she's not playing, she's napping...and SNORING. loudly. hah but we both are very happy about our new puppy and are so excited to have her around!


shirley's early puppy days before we knew she existed. she was known as "noel" at this time. you can totally tell she's the runt here


captive runt in the puppy pen


big girl in her new home!


big paw!


cuddling in alissa's lap


she had an itch!


mischievous


tired from playing all day...life is rough, shirley, eh?


cuddling with mike 'n ike


thinking liss's foot is chew-worthy


ooooh, eyeing up ducky


holding ducky hostage


toothpick legs that oscar is gonna love to chase in minnesota!

warning to shirley's new MN pals (oscar, heidi, bosco and bud): shirley says watch out 'cause she's got a secret weapon...her height...she just has to grow into it...but just you all wait!!