Finnick!

Remember years and years ago I posted that Jake and I had decided that eventually we were going to get a Golden Retriever? Yeah? No? Well we did. :)

We have been searching for just the right guy for about a year and a half. It's taken FOREVER, but we're so glad we waited. Finnick is a sweetie. We picked him up yesterday and so far, so good. He has always gone potty every time we take him out (although right now we're fighting the fact that he should poop out his lunch, and he doesn't want to), he only cries in the crate for about 2-4 minutes before settling down, and he's a smart boy. He is happy to play on his own or play with us. Fala is "eh" about him. She'll play with him, but only on her terms, and if his puppy teeth get too sharp she jumps on the couch. Fine by me. Belle has gone insane. She won't run away from him, but she won't defend herself. There have been multiple tackles made by Finnick where Belle just ends up flat on her back as he licks her to death. She screams bloody murder; but she won't run, and she won't swat at him. Weird. Also, when he cries in his crate, she sits by him and cries too. REALLY annoying when he keeps barking at her and I can't keep her away!

Finnick grew up outside (sort of) so that has introduced new problems to me that I'm not used to, having only raised for guide dogs before. He already knows and appreciates the benefits of shade, and would rather pull me down the lawn to go pee, then to go pee quickly in the sun and get back to the coolness of our apartment. I'm having a hard time with this. On one side, I do NOT want to let him get away with this. But on the other, how can I blame him? It's freaking hot outside.

We have open stairs leading up to our apartment and he does quite well with them. He mastered walking down them yesterday, and today he has walked up them all on his own every time except once. He gets a little anxious and expresses that by whining. But for such a little guy, who could easily fall through the cracks, he is so brave!

At his 6 week check up, Finnick weighed 12lb 6oz. Big boy!! I've never picked up a GDA puppy over 10lbs before. Now at 7 weeks he is 13lbs. His birthday is June 22nd (a day after my hubs'!) so he will be 8 weeks on Friday.

We are loving this little guy. Sure, he was up every hour last night, but he slept for TWO hours this morning so I got to sleep too which made me happy. It's completely disrupted our regular routine, but it is good for us! With my baby coming in just 5 short months, my main goal is to get his basic commands down reliably, and for him to be sleeping through the night. Oh and obviously potty trained completely. We shouldn't have an issue, but it's going to be a fun five months!