Winter has arrived

Over the past few months, the weather had us all confused here in Vancouver. For, up until recently, it has been surprisingly mild. No white christmas in 2011, and no need for tuques or mittens until a few weeks ago. Then, finally, two days ago winter actually started…


“What is all this white stuff?!”

Jaz was ecstatic to discover this mysterious white blanket that had spread itself out over our yard!

“It’s everywhere! Wow!”


Running around like a madman (or should I say madwoman?) …


… multi-tasking puppy: playing with sticks AND snow AND finally getting to that itch on her bum …


“What are you looking at? Go get your own!”

I’m hoping to get some more action shots soon, since Jaz has made a new neighbourhood friend: Carl. Carl is a Welsh puppy that is a few weeks younger than Jaz. They met at the local pet store and bumped into each other again in the park yesterday. Hopefully they’ll get to chase each other around soon and we’ll be witnessing some serious terrier-on-terrier action!

A visit from the tooth fairy…

… just in time for Christmas!

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen them become ever more crooked and loose. Just pointing at them seemed to make them wiggle:
(Incisors hanging by a thread… Picture taken on Monday.)

One by one, Jaz’s baby teeth are starting to come out:
(First upper incisor gone. Picture taken on Tuesday.)

Incisors first, of course:
(Two lower incisors gone. Picture taken today.)

… prachtig centenbakkie, niet?!

Road trip

Jaz is visiting her grandpa on Vancouver Island today!

I’m uploading this from the car, so I’ll keep it short. We aren’t even at our final destination, but it has been a great day so far:
– Jaz was very brave during the ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.
– Met the first person to correctly guess what breed Jaz is.
– Befriended a Great Dane in Parksville; him and Jaz looked so funny together!

Time for this little pup to catch some shuteye in the car…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0y8pCV8dms&feature=plcp

Steadily striding on

After letting the tension build for another 5 days, we were finally able to take Jaz out for her very first walk this past Wednesday. We weren’t sure what to expect. Some puppies are scared to visit new places and just sit down in protest, immovable. Others try to crawl up their owner’s leg in fear. Well, we were happy to find out that neither of these things were the case with Jaz… she was raring to go! So much so, that there wasn’t an inch of slack in her leash the entire time we were outside of our yard. Whether it was in front, behind, or beside me, Jaz insisted on meandering the circumference of the small five-foot circle her leash allowed her. ‘Heel,’ a command she can execute perfectly in the comfort of our own home and yard, seemed no longer part of her vocabulary. If something was scary, she would try to run away from it, if it was exciting, she would try to run towards it. Nothing (except for myself) fell in the category that lays in-between the two; uninteresting.

[Side-note: we obviously didn’t take pictures during our first few walks. The pictures you will find in this post are from last weekend, when Jaz was a bit more at ease. We purchased a long, retractable leash for her, so she could run around a bit.]


“Wow! What was THAT?!”

While Jaz remained in full fight-or-flight mode, we managed to make it past the tennis courts, through the park, and around the block. That afternoon, for good measure, we threw in a visit to the ocean as well. Regardless of the panting and heaving due to all the pulling (so glad we bought a martingale collar, otherwise she would have horizontally hung herself that day), and the growling and barking at the sight of other dogs, people and the odd ghost or two, Jaz was determined to take the world by storm. The verdict? Cars are scary, busses are scarier, but tractor-trailers are by far the scariest. Grass is fun, but nothing beats peeing in your own yard. The ocean is okay, as long as you manage to stay dry. And dogs are exciting, but people trump dogs as long as they don’t come in a stroller or with a backpack (children are definitely not Jaz’s strong suit… she seems to take after her adoptive mother).


Roughing up Jericho beach. (Don’t worry… Jaz was on her leash; we just photoshopped it out.)

You’ll be glad to know, though, that the second day we took Jaz out went much better than the first. After a good night’s sleep (which undoubtedly involved a lot of leg-twitching and whimpering to process everything that had gone on the day before), Jaz figured that, if she couldn’t go where she wanted whenever she wanted, she might as well heel for a moment or two between stimuli. Another perk is that it must have felt nice to be able to breathe and swallow effortlessly. There was slack in the leash about 40% of the time. Not too bad! Thanks to the more easy-going attitude, we met a lot of new dogs. Chase, Jax, Juno… it will be hard to keep up with all the names… and we haven’t even started on their owners yet! I discovered that this dog-walking thing didn’t just open up a new world for Jaz, but also for myself. Our neighbourhood is a real dog-walking-community! And a lot of these people seem to know each other. They sip coffee from their travel mugs while they watch their dogs chase each other around at 8 in the morning.

Dying to find out what’s at the top of the hill.

Being the neighbourhood’s newbie, Jaz must have been the first thing on these coffee-sippers’ lips, because the third day we were out walking, we discovered that a rumour had gone around about her already. A lady with a Labrador came up to us, and asked: “Is this the little Wheaten terrier pup I’ve been hearing about?” Lakelands are pretty rare, so I’ll forgive whoever started the rumour for calling Jaz a Wheaten (then again… a Wheaten… really?), but I must admit it is kind of neat that, in a large city like Vancouver, this kind of small-town-gossip is still possible!

We have been walking Jaz for a week now. In the mornings, we stick close to home and visit Tatlow park. In the afternoons, we try to explore new places such as Jericho beach, Spanish Banks and Pacific Spirit regional park (we are so fortunate to live in such a nature-rich city!). And at night, we roam the streets, admiring people’s Christmas lights (some streets are very ambitious and organize full-blown contests!).

Exploring Spanish Banks… downtown sure makes for a nice backdrop!

With every walk, we are developing new routines and creating new traditions for years to come… Stride on, Jaz, stride on!

The Three Musketeers

As you all know, Jaz went to the vet for her last set of vaccinations this past Friday. The weather forecast for the weekend was looking good, knowing that Jaz would be fully protected was even better, but the prospect of finally being able to take her out into the park behind our yard was definitely the best! So we walked into that exam room with smiles from ear to ear, bursting with excitement… until the vet told us we needed to wait another five days for the vaccine to take effect. … *thump* … Our eyes, which sparkled with anticipation just a few seconds ago, suddenly went dull. How foolish of us to expect Jaz to be ‘good-to-go’ right away. Five more days?! But it was going to rain on Wednesday..! Oh well. We would just have to sit back and wait a couple more days. We sure weren’t going to risk anything. And poor Jaz didn’t know any better.

Luckily, Jaz’s friends Pumpkin and Daisy stopped by on Sunday for some backyard fun. The three of them are adorable together. They are all about the same age and size (which we’ll have to cherish as long as it lasts, because Pumpkin’s legs seem to be sprouting like beanstalks!), but these, as well as their boundless energy, seem to be the only features they share.

Here are some pictures of the three musketeers in action:Jaz and Daisy, cutting across…

Jaz attempting to ambush Pumpkin

Zooming around aimlessly… “This is AWESOME!”