11 weeks old and 3 weeks in!

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Hi everyone. What can I say? Penny is definitely part of the family now...as she should be, considering how much of my time she occupies when she's awake...which is a lot! I've had work in this week too, talk about time management!

I bought one of those one piece slip collars and leashes the other day, and Penny quickly "got it!", she walks even better now. About every other day, one neighbor or another comes out when we're walking asking what breed she is, and commenting on how well she walks on the leash - "Proud Daddy!" - Isn't it funny that you have to say the word "Goldendoodle" more than once when someone asks? We've lived in this house for 4 years, and we've met more neighbors since getting Penny, she is very friendly to both humans and dogs...not met any kids up close and personal yet....I'm good with that, hee hee!

Penny gets her final shots on Tuesday, so time to get her out and about more. We have a lot of trails around reservoirs and lakes, so looking forward to introducing her to the water. With that in mind, we bought a pool the other day, it's about 8' x 5' and the water is about 16" deep. It's an inflatable one, my wife found a hard plastic one, but couldn't get it in the car, unlike most Americans, we don't have an SUV or a truck, must be the Brit in me, ha ha! So the inflatable it is, we've been in it twice with Penny so far, and while holding her under her tummy she does attempt to swim, but let go and see how quick she is to try and get out. She doesn't seem frightened, just confused, as to why we'd do that to her, she always sleeps well well after a dip though, even going to sleep on Jeri's lap, which is a first,

We keep the pool covered with a tarp so she can't get in it alone, and less likely to burst the pool with claws and teeth when we're not looking. Last night she climbed on top of it and walked across the surface when the tarp was on, looked just a water bed, and she was jumping on the waves, funny stuff, sadly I was too late with the camera.
Two of our three cats are getting braver with her, but when Penny is face to face with them she lunges at them to play, but barks too....not good! We're trying various ways to stop that, but nothing is working so far, any suggestions? She only wants to play, and I'm sure they would be more tolerant if she would just stop yipping at them.

Penny prefers to be in the back yard than the house during the day, probably because she has more freedom to do what she wants, like playing in the sprinkler, then digging holes (see photo)

but she does like to come in when the AC is on, and as we're experiencing temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's at the moment it is on! She's smart though, finds shade as the sun move around, unlike Jeri's last Doberman, who used to lie in the sun and pant...Dumb? Maybe!
We're looking forward to Penny getting too big to get behind the couches, so the secret chewing of electrical, telephone and speaker cables will stop. It's not that we don't pay attention, but just turn away for a second from an apparently sleeping pup, and they're gone! We've noticed that her legs seem to getting longer daily, she now bumps her head when walking under furniture that she had no problem with just a few days ago, we just hear "thud" and "clunk", not that it seems to bother her of course.

That's it for this week folks, have a great 4th of July everyone, of course I won't be celebrating you guys kicking our collective a**** over 200 years ago....well not much anyway, ha ha! Oh yes, just to prove they are not cute all the time, see this last photo taken while she was asleep...attractive huh?

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Peny is adorable...would love to see pics of her on top of the pool and in the pool. Be carefull in the winter time...they love to ice skate on top of pools...lol.

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Is there any other thing than the real stuff when you're talking Guinness? It's an acquired taste, better on tap than a can any day. Not a big fan myself, but had a few in my time, I like my beer yellow, before I drink it that is, they're all yellow coming out - ha ha!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We're Irish and developed a real taste for Guinness (the real stuff) on a couple of vacations we took in Ireland. Always thought it would be a great name for a dog. Even though he's not the color of the actual beer, his fluffy coat looks just like the layer of foam on the top of the glass when you get Guinness on tap.

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Thanks Katie, I'll keep 'em coming!

[Katie and Twinkie!]

I just love your blogs! Great Pics!!

[Jeri]

Puppies add a dimention to life that cannot be explained. Like being up really early to potty, eat and play. Fortunately for me Sam our LD joins in on the fun and keeps her occupied. Jaeger saves his play time for later and sleeps in. Although I supervise as he is only 1 1/2 and does not realize how BIG he is.(86 #)Thanks for sharing. I too take a lot of pics, you do forget how small they were.

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I love that last picture! Priceless! LOL! Glad you are enjoying Penny.

[Michele Barton]

Great photos Kevin! I'm glad to know that Gus isn't the only one who sleeps with his eyes half open and his tongue sticking out! I'm going to attempt the grooming myself too, I'm too cheap to pay someone else. I usually cut my own hair, so it can't be that much different, right?

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Thank you for the photo praise. I'm a little snap happy at the moment, it's been so long since we had a puppy, and I figure they're not puppies for very long, I've looked back with my other dogs and regretted taking more pix. I also like to shoot the 'non-posing' photos a lot, way more character that way. You're Guinness is beautiful, why the name when she's so pale? By the way, we just let Penny out in the rain on her own, we keep our eye on her, but she's not bothered. We have one of those gentle flip-flop sprinklers, and Penny likes to try and outguess when the water's coming, then runs away when it gets her, she's not bothered though, looks like a game to me. As for the grooming, my mom had a toy poodle when I was a kid, I hated the poofy hair and the cheap hooker pefume, groomers do it to piss us off I'm sure! We're going to give it a go ourselves, but no need to yet. Even when Penny got green and slimy playing in wet moss last week, she dried within 30 minutes with no staining. Enjoy your puppy, she'll be grown up soon.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

These are the best pictures ever! We've also had our puppy for three weeks. Things will never be the same.