One Month!

One month ago today we adopted our sweet little Grady! I can't believe time goes so quickly. Grady is growing and his personality is really becoming apparent. He is feisty and sweet and loves to always be with us and Griffin. He is very playful and so silly. 

Grady's is teething and chews everything he can get his little jaws on, he especially loves human skin and Griffin's tail...much to our dismay. I think he lost a tooth because there seems to be an empty space in his mouth where I believe a tooth once was. 

Grady loves to play outside. He lives to chase Griffin and runs with all of his heart, even though he is still so small that he has trouble keeping up with Griffin, the speedy Gonzalez. We are still working on walks. It has been so cold and it gets dark so early that Grady has only been on a handful of walks. He gets very cold outside, even in his sweater and is scared of cars when they drive by, so I usually just end up carrying him most of the way when we do go on a walk. I am looking forward to Christmas break when I will be off work and hopefully, if the weather is decent, we will be able to go out a little bit more. 

Potty training is going pretty well, Grady is doing better about accidents and I think his bladder control is improving. He still hates being crated and I don't know what to do about it. He cries and cries when I crate him on my way out the door for work. Today I put a peanut butter kong in with him and it seemed to help a little bit, but he was still crying when I left. It breaks my heart hearing his little cries so if he doesn't get better soon we may have to think of something else.  I don't remember Griffin crying so much in his crate when he was a baby.

Grady began his puppy training class last Saturday. He is working on sit, and name recognition. Grady knows his name very well and almost always responds, but we are working on having him look at us in the eyes when he hears his name. He is also doing will with sit and loves to get treats!

Grady will get to meet his Grandma and Grandpa, as well as his "uncle" Rafferty in a few days for Christmas! We are very excited and can't wait for the holidays!

Here are some pictures of the past week.

 Grady and a fellow Agape rescue, Casper, at training class on Saturday!

 Two white blurs! They love to play!

 Grady has so much fur! Even though he is 2 lbs lighter that Casper, he looks much bigger haha!!

 Christmas Shopping with Mama...

 Someone fell asleep in TJ Maxx!

 Grady melts my heart with that cute little face!

 Mr. Whisker Face, Griffin, showing off his gigantic whiskers... he didn't want to be left out of the pictures.

 Griffin teaching Grady to beg for food... Grady seems better behaved than Griffin in this picture!

The Weather Outside is Frightful...

I can't believe how much Grady has grown in the past 3 weeks. It seems like he has doubled in size, although I doubt that is true. He is an extremely playful little pup and is becoming much more adventurous. He loves to run in the backyard and tries to go as fast as Griffin, but is still too little to keep up. He is also becoming better about climbing and can get into the elevated flower bed in our yard, and jump off the ledge to get down. (This is not a tall ledge, probably 6 inches, but he could not do it when we first got him, so I am proud of his bravery for trying). 

The weather has been awful all week. We had an ice storm and discovered that Grady does not like to go potty when it is pouring freezing rain outside. Who could blame him! We would take him outside while this was happening and he would cry and cry to be picked back up again. The cold does not seem to bother him as much as the sleet, because he loves playing outside.

This was the first week that Grady had to be crated for the majority of the weekdays. Up until now, either Mike or myself have been off work for various things and have been able to avoid crating him much during the day. He does not like to be crated and I feel so bad when he starts crying as soon as I put him in. We start puppy training class on Saturday, so hopefully our trainer will be able to give me some advice to help him. Even though I go home at lunch to let Griffin and Grady potty, I feel bad having him cooped up all day. 

In addition to the ice storm, Griffin had a teeth cleaning and a growth removed from his side over the weekend. He has not been as playful as normal because of this. Grady did not understand why his brother would possibly not want to play with him, but handled everything well. He loves chasing his toys, playing with his tennis ball and chewing bones!

Here are some pictures of the past week...

 My poor anesthetized baby!

 Grady had a little trim of the fur around his eyes. I think he has trouble seeing out of all that fur, and his eyes get very watery. This seemed to help.

 Such cuties...

 Trying to stay warm while watching Christmas movies with Mama

 Always chewing...

 Snuggle time!

 A battle of epic proportion!

Griffin is momentarily distracted... Grady is not...

Back to the battle...

 Haha!! Griffin's tongue... Poor boy is trying to stay upright as his brother zooms under his legs...

 A moment of peace...

 A good hearty chew never hurt...

 Grady loves his Kong...

 Our resident hoarder strikes again... trying to keep his bone and steal the Kong!

 We may have another hoarder on our hands...

Sleepy time with Daddy.

Grady's First Two Weeks

Grady is growing quickly! I can't believe we have already had him for almost two weeks! He is the cutest little guy and so sweet. All he wants is to be just like his big brother Griffin and follows him around all day mimicking his every move. Griffin is sometimes annoyed by this behavior, but overall he seems to enjoy having a baby brother... just don't mess with him while he is sleeping! (Or eating...) 

Grady had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to meet his Aunt Laura, Uncle Will and fur cousins, Mr. Darcy and Remy. He was a little bit scared at first because Mr. Darcy is much larger than he is and Remy is very active, but after a few minutes of adjustment he jumped in and started playing with everyone. He was especially fond of Mr. Darcy who loves puppies and followed him around all day. Grady also got a bite of turkey which he loved!

Grady had his first appointment with our veterinarian and was proclaimed to be in good health! He has to go back next month for his third round of puppy vaccines. When he was weighed he came in at 2.6 lbs and I am very confident that he has grown since that time. I can't wait to see what he weighs the next time we see the vet. 

Grady's favorite activities include following Griffin around, playing with bones, squeaky toys and his rope, running around the backyard and investigating new smells. He also loves to snuggle and go on walks. He has done very well with leash training, but sometimes needs to be carried if he gets tired on a walk. We are also excited for him to start puppy training class in a couple of weeks!

Below are some pictures of Grady's first two weeks with us. 

 Grady loves to play in the toy box!

 Grady's favorite sleeping position is on his back

 Snuggles with brother

 Grady loves Tigger and got a new Tigger sweater and toy when he ventured out to Petsmart on Black Friday!

 Grady discovered the Christmas tree

 Nap time with Daddy!

 Watching TV with brother

 Snuggles

 Little Cutie Bear!

They both love this bone!

 Playing with cousin Remy on Thanksgiving

 A bite of Thanksgiving Turkey! He did not hesitiate to grab this bite!

 With Mommy... I love Griffin's face down in the corner haha!

First Bath!

Welcome Grady!

Grady was welcomed home on November 22, 2013 at 2:00 in the afternoon after weeks of anticipation. He was the first of his litter to be adopted and was also the largest of the bunch. We chose him because of his calm and submissive temperament which we felt would be a good fit with Griffin's more dominant personality. Grady was adopted through Agape Animal Rescue and I really appreciate the process that we went through which was dedicated to making sure that this would be a good fit for our family and that Grady would have a safe forever home. Our first family photo was taken a few days before the adoption when we had our home visit.Here are some pictures of our first night together.

Doesnt Griffin look thrilled here haha!

Baby Grady is so tiny

Brothers

So cute

Chubby Puppy

 Handsome Boy