Faith is now 5 months old and I gotta say, she's a pretty good dog. Things are getting better and she is turning out to be okay. I thought for awhile that she was going to be such a handful, but she has improved and is going with the flow. She's 90% potty trained but has the occassional accident in the house. Why? I don't know, can't figure it out because she knows to go outside. She has been training on the invisible fence so now she has lots of room to run. She and Sam get along well but still fight over bones, toys, etc. Just have to keep them seperated at times. She's great with our family and being much more gentle with Alex. He likes her more now.

She's been going to puppy classes which are a breeze for her. She's VERY smart and extremely well behaved at class. She knows sit, down, leave it, get your leash, come, get it, bring it. Pretty good. I am enjoying her much more and love that she is showing signs of being a protective shepherd. Faith is happy go lucky, but will watch for things she may not want near her house. Love it!

18 Weeks
HUGE EARS!

17 Weeks

She's getting so big and she is such a good puppy. I really enjoy having her around. She is rarely peeing in her crate (a problem she acquired due to her urinary tract infection, etc.) and she slept all night last night. Honestly, I don't think she's ready to be sleeping all night without being let out, but I didn't wake up in the middle of the night on my own like I usually do. What can I say, she's been great. Not chasing Alex around to bite him, not biting us as much, but still chasing and biting Lola. She and Sam get along very well and like to play alot during the day. She likes her neighbor dog, Sampson, a boxer who is 8 months old. They play well together.

She starts her first training class in 2 days. She'll learn basic commands and socialization, but she really has the commands down now even before her class. It'll be easy for her!

Took Faith took the pet store yesterday and didn't get out of there for more than an hour or so. She was so good and so popular! You meet so many people at the pet store and it's good socialization for her. She's very happy-go-lucky and friendly. She enjoys meeting other dogs and other people. I hope it stays that way as she gets older, but she is still a puppy.

We have a nighttime/morning schedule for the most part. She goes to bed in her crate about 10pm. I get up about 2:30-3:00am and take her out to go potty and then she'll sleep till about 6:30-7am. I'd say that's pretty good considering her age. She wakes up, eats, goes outside, and then we play for an hour or so. She brings me whatever toy she wants me to throw, usually a ball.

She starts puppy classes on Wednesday. I am so excited to get going with that. I'd like to even start agility in the spring. I've never done that so it would be a new experience. Today is Easter and family is coming over for dinner. She'll have lots of people to play with today! My dad and Dave's dad LOVE her! Should hopefully be a busy day to get her super tired!

Faith and Sam

Faith at 15 weeks

She's doing well, bladder issues are better, but she seems to forget about going outside a little more often now. I have to watch her better. I feel so guilty about her being in her crate, I'll let her hang out with me, but she always escapes to somewhere. I still have a love-hate relationship with her! Of course I care about her, but when I am cleaning up overturned plants, and urine in the crate, etc. I get angry and she then goes to the bottom of my list of favorite things! Her ears are hilarious though. They are huge! I know she'll grow into them.

Dave has been taking her (and Sam on occasion) for long walks at night. She walks very well on a leash thankfully. She starts puppy training classes next week and I hope they are well worth it because we've been waiting so long for this class to start. Soon, the campgrounds will open up for the season and it will be interesting to see how we handle two big dogs in our camper - one of which is kind of in the tearing up things stage! Ugh....

Faith spent 5 days with my mom and dad due to the fact that Dave was out of town and she was a handful! Hard for me to take care of her, Sam, Alex, Lola, and my house. I needed a little break and thankfully my parents were nice enough to help me out. Here she is at 13 weeks. She weighs just about 30 lbs and is growing fast. She has her moments, but overall is okay. She is still having bladder issues even on her antibiotics. Dr. Randall said the biopsy came back showing signs of E-Coli in the bladder and some scarring. She still has crystals in her bladder but no stones. I just hope the medication clears her up because if she were better, she'd be almost completely potty trained.

Recent picture of Sam - 9 years old

Ahhhh.......the silence.

She's back from the hospital having had her surgery. Everything went well and she is fine. Of course tired and groggy. But the silence in the house is wonderful. I really must care about her more than I think because I was worried today and thought alot about her. I was excited to go pick her up and bring her home. She's so much work and sometimes I think I can't take another day, and that's why on occasion I feel that I don't care as much. But I know I do. In the past I have had to give up so many dogs for different reasons and I didn't want to get too attached to her. I never feel like it's permanent since we always have so much trouble. Dave likes her, I like her, now we just have to work on Alex liking her. Hope he comes around soon. It's hard to split up my time between Faith and Alex. Alex doesn't want to spend his time doing things with her. Faith play bites him most of the time anyway. They stay seperated alot. I hope one day we'll look back on this and Alex and Faith will be the best of friends and this will be funny. He may not even remember that at one point he didn't like her.

I should say something about Sam too. He's doing really well. He's lazy as ever and that's fine with us. He's such a good boy and loves going to camp and laying around watching the world go by. Bunnies are a reason for him to get up and run though. Those three legs move pretty fast for a bunny! Couldn't ask for a better dog than Sam. We are very lucky to have him.

Sam and Faith, for a moment, getting along in the pictures. Most of the time Sam avoids her, which is fine, but then break out a treat, he's all over taking hers away. It's exhausting. Trying to balance my time between the animals and my son is very hard. I never want Alex to think I like the animals more. Faith just needs attention obviously. Have to watch her every move when she's not in the crate. But, it is what it is, and he'll have to deal with it. I keep telling him that when she's bigger, she'll be better and she'll protect us and our home. He really doesn't care. He says he doesn't like her. But I think he will eventually. She's been outside getting in lots of walks and playtime at the dog park. Sometimes she gets tired afterward, sometimes she doesn't :(

She's 12 weeks old now and tomorrow is her spay surgery. In addition, she'll have a biopsy done on her bladder. She is still having some urination problems and only does well with that when she is on antibiotics. We have to find out what is the real cause of all this and get her better. I feel terrible that she's having the surgery, but on the other hand, it'll be a nice and quiet day at home.

As of right this minute, she is such a good girl. She is really doing well and I am very impressed at how much she knows in her short 3 weeks with us. She does drive me crazy at times, but I like having her around.

Faith is now 11 weeks old and weighs 23.3 lbs. Apparently, if you take a puppy's weight at 12 weeks old and triple it, that will tell you the approximate weight full grown. Sounds like she's going to be a BIG girl! She's getting into everything and still has some housetraining issues but getting better. Her biting is improving but seems bored with her toys already. We have to get her into some training classes soon. I think she'll do well in training and obedience classes. She does listen pretty well, we just have to always be consistent. We don't have the best track record with training, so this time around we are determined to do it right.

In two weeks, she has her appointment to be spayed. That will be nice to have it done and over with early. So within the next few weeks, we will get her into training, have her spayed, finish her vaccinations and maybe start to train her on the invisible fence.

She's a ton of work and most times I feel like I'll lose my mind, but I have to remind myself that it won't last forever.

She is now 10 weeks old and her ears are starting to stand. We have found out that she has some medical issues which makes it a little hard to potty train her. She has crystals in her urine which are causing some more peeing than usual! We'll find out next week what exactly has caused this and can hopefully start treatment for it then.

She's a great puppy and easy to train, but needs so much work in the biting department. Puppies bite, but she's a little crazy with that. We need her to LISTEN to us when she's biting things that are inappropriate - LIKE ALEX!

All I can say is she's driving me crazy! Biting me (and not listening when I tell her "NO"), chewing furniture, escaping to have a quick pee while no one is looking, etc. I know it's all normal puppy stuff, but I am ready to open the door and let her run out!

Faith came home with us on Valentine's Day at 8 weeks old. Are we crazy? New puppy and a 4 year old son, not to mention having our 3 legged couch hound and a cat. Crazy household, but a house filled with unconditional love.

The first week wasn't too bad. She learned sit in a matter of minutes. She learned that outside is for going potty, but doesn't realize inside isn't. She spent her time learning her eating, sleeping, etc. schedules. We started crate training immediately. The crate is the best invention. The first and second night she slept 5 hours straight. We were happy for that! Other than that, she needs to go out every 2-3 hours during the night which isn't the most fun, but will improve over time.

She had a vet appointment and had a clean bill of health although now that we are into our second week, we think she has a urinary tract infection. That might be why she drinks so much water and squats to pee and nothing comes out. She has another vet appointment tomorrow and will hopefully start some medication. If this is the case, it will be easier with potty training and keeping her crate clean.

We have had her 10 days now, and she's a quick learner. She is very smart and easy to train with treats. We have to master going potty outside and get her to stop biting us. The whole puppy biting is out of control! It hurts and although we tell her "no" or "ouch", she doesn't let up. We have been very stubborn with her and I know she'll learn. As time goes on, these things will get better but of course we'll have a whole new set of issues. We are looking forward to taking her to camp with us, and summers outside so she can run around the yard and get some energy out.