Elway goes bed shopping

It is really hard for my mom to find the perfect work bed for me. She likes it small, so it's not taking up much desk space. I like it to have tall walls to use a pillows. I did not like this cat bed. Luckily she found a bigger dog bed for me to try. Not sure if I like it yet.

Elway still loves snow

Elway had a great time playing with Spencer (Dr. Clark's dog) Monday at work. Spencer had been unwilling to test the snow, but Elway was happy to show him all the wonderful benefits to running and playing in snow. Spencer then laughed at Elway when I had to run Elway under hot water to remove the giant snowballs that had attached to all of Elway's extremities.

Two days later and Elway is still excited every time he gets to go outside.

Fuzzy

Elway is very fuzzy, but he still loves my fuzzy blanket!


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Kittens!

These kittens have stolen my bed. There is always a kitten in my bed! And she bites my tail hair, grrrrr.



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Location:McMonigle Vet Hosp

Elway meets Oliver

Garrett's best friend had an engagement party this weekend, and Elway got to meet Daniel and Joy Anna's puppy, Oliver. Considering Elway's past dislike of all dogs smaller than him, Garrett and I were nervous. Elway surprised us! They got along great, taking turns chasing each other around the yard. (note: Although Oliver recently had surgery, Elway did not in any way contribute to Oliver's ignoring of drs orders to take it easy.)

Oliver showed us all that being a tiny 5 lb maltese does not limit him in his jumping height! He easily jumps 4 feet with no trouble!

Daniel is behind Oliver, trouncing Garrett in Madden.

Elway is trying to figure out where the tiny puppy gets all his energy.

Elways first Christmas Tree

Michele grew up with strict Christmas traditions. She always has to go to a candle light service Christmas Eve. She MUST have a freshly cut Christmas tree! Garrett so far has been happy to indulge her, and this was Elway's first trip to the Tree Farm. It was beyond cold, but he didn't mind. Michele pretty much picked the first Nobel she saw (too big? never!) so that Garrett could retreat from cold ASAP. Elway was very happy with the selection, and he even abstained from peeing on it, while it was still in the ground, or after, at home.

Elway's holiday photo shoot

Like all important public figures, Elway had photos taken for the holidays.

I'll never win a championship now!

Apparently, Michele had been thinking of turning me into some kind of "show dog". My hair hadn't been trimmed in Months! I couldn't see, and I drug so much grass, sticks and dirt inside. I could understand why she thought that might be a good idea, I am awfully cute!

Luckily for me, we went to a dog show last weekend. The other Lhasa Apso's looked so regal with all their hair. Everyone loved me, of course. After Michele talked to the owners about upkeep of the look, she decided that day to give up the fight against my hair.


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Why won't the cats love me?

All I want is for the cats to play with me. I'm furry, they're furry. We should all be best friends.



You can tell they are both glaring at me from the cat tree. Why? I just want to be everyones friend.


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Elway loves sleep

At work-




While watching me read-



Watching Garrett play video games-





On his toy-



In my spot-



Cuddling with me on the couch-



In his bed-




Watching the game-

Elway and Hobbes

It is quite funny to watch Elway and his best friend Hobbes playing. A stranger would be concerned for Elway's life-Hobbes is much bigger and they get rough! I can't even describe how much fun they have playing together-so I'll let a few pics show it!

Elway's First Birthday

I have some really cute pics of Elway and Hobbes playing, but that will have to be another time.

Elway turned one on April 11th, and to celebrate we got him a VERY expensive doggie bed (his first) AND a new toy. He appreciated the new toy very much. However....he refused to lay in the bed. Of course. So it was promptly returned and traded in for a cheaper model that resembles his bed at work.

He also got switched to Adult food mixed in to his puppy kibble. Soon it will be all adult food. He was so excited for his birthday that he destroyed my new strawberry potter. Dug all the plants right out, looked really proud of his work too.

First Snow

For the past 24 hour it has been slowing slightly. This is actually a rather rare occurrence in the Seattle area. Given Elway's breed, Michele was eager to see what he'd do in the snow. As these picture show, he seems go get along fairly well with the white fluffy stuff. Actually, it wasn't long until Elway was gleefully tearing through the snow, fresh powder flying everywhere.

First Puppy Grooming

Ah, the joy of being a Lhasa Apso. Enough fur to keep warm all winter. Unfortunately, that means being brushed daily. And still having matts. So it was decided that Elway was going to spend some time with the traveling groomer, Chris. He spent 2 hours and managed to not only please Michele (who has strong opinions on how her puppy should look), but made Elway look adorable (and smell great!). People are raving about being able to see his eyes again.

It followed me home!

Elway was trying very hard to convince us that we should adopt a stray kitten for him to play with at home. The perfect little kitty even showed up at work, needing a home. Kitty and Elway were best friends from the start. She slept best curled up with her new furry protector.

Michele decided to bring the kitty home for the weekend, the cuteness of the two together was just too much to pass up. Alas, allergy's got in the way of Elway getting to keep his new pet.



Elway had to say good bye to the kitty after the weekend, but he gets to see her every once in a while. She was adopted by Michele's coworker and visits the clinic and Elway periodically.

Elway is once again any only-puppy.

It was a dark and stormy night...

...when we decided to carve pumpkins. Garrett spent a long time trying to draw a good looking imitation of Elway, but in the end it was Michele who settled on this modern interpretation of the Lhasa Apso form. As Elway's uncertain look indicates, he was none too happy to have this pumpkin sitting on his back porch! Over the three days that it sat there, he barked at it several times and would run by quickly on the way to his daily bathroom breaks in the back yard. To say that he misses that pumpkin would be a gross overstatement.

Elway Gets a 7

Elway has been a great dog. As his name would suggest, he loves watching football and is generally just a great member of the family. Unfortunately the lack of Broncos games on local TV means he rarely gets to watch a Broncos game. However, in keeping with game day tradition Elway, like the rest of his family, finally got his own Jersey. As you can see in the following pictures, it clearly shows his name and number. We did have some brief discussion on whether he should actually have a 7 or double zero on the jersey. In the end we decided that if other people can run around trying to impersonate John Elway with replica jerseys while having never seen Colorado, Elway the dog could certainly be allowed the number 7 on his jersey.

Elway's bad day at work

When clients walk into the veterinary hospital that I help manage, they are greeted by Elway's smiling face. He has quite the following among our clients, many will ask where he is if I have him in the back. He loves his counter spot, watching over me while I work and inspecting all the dogs that come in.

Today started out like a normal day of work for Elway. He raced from the parking lot to the clinic, excited to see everyone and start his day. Unfortunately for him, Michele had made a quick decision yesterday, and he was on the schedule for his castration and dewclaw removal.

Michele stayed with Elway during the procedure, helping out when needed and making sure he was doing ok.

He did really good, and he was awake enough afterwards to protest being put in a kennel. He put up a fight so Michele would cave and let him sleep on the front desk counter like normal.

After leaving work with his new bandages (Denver colors of course) Elway deserved to get extra love. Rough day for a puppy.

Baths, I hate baths

Elway the dog does not like baths. It doesn't matter if he's cold, dirty, and wet already. He wants nothing to do with lukewarm water and his special puppy shampoo. Just look at that face. It's saying, "Get me out of here! How can you just stand there and take a picture? Can't you see I'm getting a bath here?" Somehow we doubt that is going to change with age. His ability to get the one bathing him wet with a well timed shake will increase with hair length, and with added size he will become more and more of a trouble to rinse (It took both Garrett and Michele both working together to get him bathed last time). After all, he did try and "tub break" on more than one occasion. Unfortunately for Elway, it is a long way to the floor for such a small dog. Climbing wet tub walls while covered in slippery suds is also something of a problem.

Pomp and...well... a bandanna

Our little puppy just graduated from puppy kindergarten today with yellow bandanna honors.

Today was the last day of puppy kindergarten and each dog was supposed to present one trick of the owners choice. Being a droopy eared Lhasa, Elway's ears frequently flip back, leaving him a little bedraggled looking. As such, we've taken to teaching him the command, "Ears," upon which he will shake his head and correct any misaligned ears. Amid a sea of "shake", "sit", "kiss", and "high five", Elway's trick was unique. As a result the instructor rewarded him with the yellow doggy bandanna saying, "That is the most unique trick I've seen!" Elway was such a champ!

Of course being a champ at class has become Elway's moto. I had the pleasure of taking him to one of his makeup classes (He missed the class so as to not miss the Monday night Broncos game) at which he was all but the smallest dog. This wasn't his typical class but rather the large dog class held at the local ranch. In a room of Rotweilers, Great Danes, Golden Retrievers, and Giant Snauzers Elway didn't really stick out. To make things worse he was attending a more advanced week than the one he missed.

The exercise of the day was the "recall" on a long line. In this exercise the owner stands 30 feet from the dog and, while the instructor distracts the dog with treats, the owner attempts to call the dog. Elway and I watch as dog after dog, when called, either reluctantly walked slowly away from the instructor, or, more frequently, was dragged away by the owner like a large four legged fish. Elway sat like a little gentleman watching the entire show before confidently trotting up in front of the class.

The instructor soon had Elway distracted with a tastey treat and signalled that I should call him. Upon hearing his name, and before even being ordered to come, Elway dropped the treat from his mouth and, hair blowing back from his little face, came tearing across the room faster than I could pull in the line. The instructor was so impressed with Elway! What a great little dog.