Puppy Love: The Adventures of Belle

Our beautiful double doodle (Labradoodle and Goldendoodle mix) puppy, Belle, was born on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2016. She has nine brothers and sisters, all adorable, however Belle is the most doodliest looking of the litter and totally unbiased here, but the cutest :)

I love my sticks and causing chaos!

When Belle was first with us at 8 weeks old, she was quite tricky! Getting her to come inside the house was quite the feat!

Now at five months of age our little girl is catching on to the rules of the house and she is growing healthily (had a tricky time figuring out the perfect food for her but think we have nailed it at last) and becoming strong, playful and independent :-)

She's just so much fun!

Belle loves quality time under a shady tree just as much as the next guy, but she loves her playtime too! She loves catch, chasing after squirrels, or birds. She's a big girl at 25 pounds now at 5 months of age and her curiosity is abounding! She likes to nose around and see what everyone is up to, what they are eating and where they are going :)

Now Belle is more and more becoming a companion, she seems to listen when we instruct her or just lend an ear while her humans talk about their stressful lives.

In the picture to the right she was a mere 2 months old and unsure of what was expected of her.

She was the one most compatible for us according to temperament testing due to her sweet mellow demeanor, and the first one to come over and give us kisses when we went to meet all the litter!

Belly loves bath time! Something about sitting back, relaxing and enjoying a good scrub and tummy rub! and the smell afterwards is just delightful! And a blow-dry to top it all off! Wow, what a life!

Bath time is important to scour your pet clean and give a thorough tick check! We found one during bath time nestled on her neck.

The first few times Belle attempted the stairs she would bark three times and then run down them. Initially she sat there and contemplated the move. She is now an excellent climber! She can even climb up our legs at the dining room table ;)

This brings us to our next point! Belle is super nosy i.e. friendly and loves to see what everyone is doing and say hello!!

Oh we forgot to mention that we have a graduate on our hands!

Belle graduated from Puppy Kindergarten and is now enrolled in Advanced Puppy Class!

These classes have helped her so much. I'm sure she was exhibiting normal puppy behavior for the most part that would have dismissed regardless, but the socialization she gets and the help in general we are grateful for.

(At 5 months she is doing fabulous and we can almost turn our backs for a minute and not find her covered from nose to paw in ants! yeah that happened.)

We have a thief in the house! From flip flops to bikinis, this girl will get it! She'll shimmy her way to her mat where she has the privacy to really do some damage ;) She'll immediately make progress with those little sharp teeth of hers!

But how could you get mad at that face!?

and she'll make it all better with a big ol' hug :)

The great part about getting groomed is no bath time with us for a while!

As a doodle, it's recommended Belle has some special grooming time every so often. Especially since she's a puppy it's good for her to get comfortable being at the groomer's and with the people clipping and trimming her. She did great! Not so sure how she liked her new do, as for me I like her natural waves :)

The groomer's asked us what our longterm grooming goals were and we said keep it natural, nail trim, and a trim around the eyes so we can see those beautiful eyes!

Well there you have it, the day to day of our pup's life!

From napping together to chasing birds and tasting dead squirrels, greeting neighbors and being the recipient of tummy rubs, the giver of kisses and chewer of all furniture, the lover of water and lazing beneath the tree, the party all nighter and playful girl of nearly 5 months, and most importantly the melter of hearts <3