Over 3 months old!

Jacob was 12 weeks yesterday, which means I have a 3 month old puppy! He has been for 4 walks so far in his (not) very busy life, and he has enjoyed all of them. He isnt scared or frightened when we take him out, he just sits down a lot and stars at you. He doesnt go very far because he is only very young still, but he looks very grown up in his nice new red collar and lead. We dont keep his collar on him all the time, only when he is out for a walk. Knowing Jacob, he would just get stuck trying to get throught the fence.
He has changed to 3 meals a day, but they are bigger meals, and he seems to like it. He has grown again, if thats possible! His head is still quite small, earning him the nickname "pin head" with my sisters. Very cruel, but slightly funny. He ha a very adorable face, and I want to take him to puppy socialising classes soon, which will be nice and probably embarassing on my part.
But for now, Jacob will just be walked twice a day, fed, and be chased around for 3 hours a day!
Beth x

Almost time for a walk

Jacob will shortly be commencing the "first walk" stage of his puppyhood, and he seems to be looking forward to it. He has a smart red puppy collar and lead, and enjoys walking around the garden with them on. I can only take him for short walks to start with, which hopefully means by the time he can walk great distances, I will be able to as well!
Sadly the house training is a little harder than it was with Murray. Being a flatcoated retriever puppy, everything must take 10 times longer, unless it doesnt involve him(then it has to be 10 times faster!). So if you take Jacob outside, he comes back inside, to show everyone how he wants to wee on the floor. Sometimes sharing is not the nicest option.
He has grown even more, something my sister delighted in telling us when we visited her on Saturday. We took the puppy, complete with cage food, down to Cheltnum for the day. He didnt like the house at first, for it was a bit too clean for him. But after a while, he settled down and decided that he would just make it dirty, cream carpets included. I dont think Laura was pleased; she is trying to sell the house at the moment.
But other than all that, Jacob is fine. We are picking up some worming tablets later, and a new toy for him, seeing as he has destroyed the gravy bone. He has learnt to jump onto the sofas' now, and I think I need to go get him off one of them. Bye!
Beth x

Little Puppy, HUGE Puppy

Jacob has grown a lot! He is almost too big to pick up now, which is unhelpful in a lot of ways. But it does mean that he can no longer fit through the hole in the patio gate, therefore hindering his ability to get onto the lawn. Which will save us a lot of time getting him back.
He was with us 2 weeks yesterday, and is doing really well. He is playing well with Murray, and they get on well. Food is still a cautious subject around them, as Murray doesnt like other people near his food. There are 3 bones in the house at the minute, 2 belonging to Jacob, and 1 that is Murray's. But that was about an hour ago, it will have changed by the time I have posted this. They steal each others, and Jacob likes hiding all of them in the curtains for Murray to find. Its very funny to watch their faces when the other steals their bone.
Jacob is visiting our sister tomorrow with us, which includes a car journey, which will be good for him. We are taking his puppy cage, and he will stay in the kitchen for a few hours while we are here.There arent any animal, so he will be ok with his injections and everything. I took him around the garden on his lead today, and he behaved very well. We have also started clicker training him, and he can sit now, which we make him do when its food time. He is very naughty, but very sweet and lovely (when he is asleep!). Goodbye for now
Beth x

A bath, a new friend and whole lot of puppy food!

Jacob has had an interesting few days. On Friday he had a bath for the first time, and seemed to enjoy it a little bit. He liked the water, just not the idea of being expected to stay still in it! He was all clean and shiny, with soft fur, until he decided he needed to rub the moss covered tree trunk in the garden. And turn his head green.
He met Murray yesterday for the first time without being held, and they got on like a house on fire. They play games, eat each other and seem to enjoy just having each other to chew. Murray is disciplining him by giving him the occasional nip, which is good for teaching the puppy respect. Jacob scares Murray a little though, and they have an interesting game of Murray jumping and running away from Jacob, normally onto the couch.
Unfortunately we lost a guinea pig on Saturday, and her sister followed today. Its a pity after Jacob made good friends with them, but we still have two more, which he seems to like just as much. And that brings me to 6pm, time for food time, which I think Jacob knows. He is trying to get into the food bag.
Beth x

1 week Summary

Its been a whole week since we got Jacob, and it feels so much longer. We have had a traumatic(for us, not for the puppy) car journey, and couple of bad nights sleep. And chewed hose and a startled cat, but its been a good week. He is sweet,adorable and gorgeous. And slighty energetic, which is just a nice way of saying he is mental and very hyper.
He has settled down nicely, and has found his feet in the family. Now he has returned to his hyper state he was in when we collected him from the breeders. Completely wild. He is lovely and pretty, and he is really lovable. I love Jacob a lot, and I cant wait until he is older and bigger. But for now I am just going to enjoy his puppyhood, while he is still small enough to pick up.
Beth x

The Promised Pictures

I said I would put you some photos on, so here you go, photos! I need to take some more really, but these are the ones from his first week with us.

This is Jacob on his first evening with us. He still loves the plant pot, almost a week on!

Toys keep him entertained most of the time. Well not really, chewing us does. He chews everything, even the internet cable a few minutes ago. He didnt get very far though. He didnt even get to the cable.

The next pciture is my favourite.

Fast asleep in his cage, and compeltely out of it. I think this was his first full day with us, but it could have been his second day. He is going to the vets to get his second i

njections tomorrow. He had his last jabs two weeks ago, and his 2nd injections mean he can go for

walks in one week. Yay! I can walk him and havbe everyone tell me how beautiful and adorable

my darling puppy is.

Beth x

9 weeks yesterday

Happy Birthday Jacob, you were 9 weeks yesterday! I did not forget, as assumed by my mother, but I was so busy trying to keep Jacob entertained that I actually could not post it on here. There is not enough time in the day to go on the laptop, update this, and still persuade Jacob to go to sleep at night.
And just for the record, Mum is excellent at looking after the puppy. So excellent in fact, she is going to look after him for the whole day and give me a day off (joking Mum!). As cute and adorable as Jacob undeniably is, he can be hard work at times. Eecially when he decides your nose looks like a chew toy. Ah, he is falling asleep... bye.
Beth x

Hiccuppy Puppy

I think Ihave said the phrase "Oh no, the puppy has hiccups again" 700 times in the last 3 days. When you pick him up, when he wakes up, when you feed him. Its very funny, but a little scary. Especially when he gets them in his sleep.
Jacob is doing well, and is clearly a highly intelligent puppy. So far he has only destroyed a plant pot, crushed mum's bean plant, discovered the hole in the gate onto the lawn, and chewed a number of small holes in the hose. But I guess they are things I know about. There are probably millions more things.
He didnt sleep very well on the second night, but he slept well last night. I get up at 6 every morning and le him out, and then give him his breakfast at 7am. Normally I am on my own with him for about 2 hours, while the others continue to sleep. Then someone comes down and stays with Jacob until I come back downstairs again. Its very tiring looking after him, not at all like it was with Murray. He stayed in his puppy cage, slept a lot, and played normally.
But Jacob isnt. He doesnt like being shut in his puppy cage, and will only go in if he wants to, which isnt often. He eats violently, attacking the bowl and throwing the food around. And he only sleeps for 5 minutes at a time. But he is so cute, with a face just like Tilly. His eyes look like hers. Anyway I have to go, Jacob is chewing my feet.
Beth x

Sleepy Jacob... or not!

Yes, Jacob seems to have a few issues with sleeping inside. When growing up, I think the breeders kept him outside a lot in the day, so now he only wants to sleep on the patio. If you take him outside now, he either plays with your feet , bites your feet, or falls asleep on your feet. I think he likes feet.
He didnt sleep too well though last night. I am currently downstairs on the sofa bed at night, because my sister is sleeping in my room while here this week. He was ok , just sleeping and occasionally whining, until about 3am. Then he seemed to decide that I was nicely asleep, and needed to be woken up by his howling bark. And yet again, he succeded. I am now really tired, but I am updating this while he is fast asleep in his cage.
I need to let him out when he gets up, and then give him some more food. Ah, my time is gone, Jacob is up! Damn, I hyave to go now. Bye
Beth x

Jacob comes home...

Jacob is just as sweet as I knew he would be. At the moment, he is asleep by the side of his puppy cage, depsite the fact he should be in the cage. He is so tiny and cute, and quite naughty as well, like any good flatcoated retriver. We found out today that his grandfather was called Jacob, which is nice.
When we got to the house, we went round the back of the breeders house, and as they greeted us, we spyed the puppies. 6 left, 1 ours, and one staying with them. When we told them we were picking up Blue Puppy (Jacob), they picked him up, and gave him to meing e. He was a little bigger than when we went to visit them, but still smaller than the others. Not by much, and Dad seems to have fallen in love with him like any other sized puppy...
We were at the house for a while, sorting out paper work and stuff. He needs to be wormed and have his second injections at 10 weeks, and can start going for short walks at 12 weeks. The worst news? I have to get up at 6 in the morning! He needs letting out and then feeding at 7am.
Jacob had his blue collar taken off him, and we were given a toy for him from his Dads owners, and a box full of pedigree puppy kibble. He ran around for a while, burying stuff and being generally loopy.
When we got in the car though, things got difficult. He howled for 20 minutes, even tiping his head back to let us really hear how loud he could be. He succeded. He is the loudest puppy I have ever met. And that includes his brothers and sisters! But he settled down after we stopped at a service station and let him wiggle for a bit. He was then asleep for the rest of the journey, occasionally barking or whimpering. But mostly he was ok.
Thats Jacobs car journey, but how was he when he got home...?
Good actually. A bit scared of everything, but thats natural. We gave him food and water, and showed him his cage. He liked his food bowl, but I dont think he is used to not having to share his bowl with 9 siblings. He kept taking the bowl away. And storing the kibble in his mouth. Very odd. I think he was storing it. Well thats puppies for you...
At the moment he is running around outside with Al and Milly after his 3 minute beauty sleep. He has had another wee, and the theory that flatcoats have huge bladders is now proven true. Right nowI need to feed him again. Murray comes home tomorrow, so that should be fun...
Beth x

Tomorrow is Puppy Day!

Tomorrow we pickup the puppy, and he will be Blue Puppy! We got back from Devon today, and no sooner had we walked in the door as we got a phone call saying the Blue Puppy had been put aside for us. There are 6 puppies left, one more going tomorrow as well as ours. They are keeping Pink Puppy, and so she will be there, but porbably not Yellow Puppy. Someone will have taken the big puppy, but my dad seems convinced no one will want the little runty Blue Puppy, but he isnt the runt!
Tomorrow I get my puppy, and as you can imagine I am very excited. He is the best thing ever, and I cant wait to have him in my lap tomorrow night and I might even put a picture on here for the people who are following Jacob! Goodnight
Beth x

Goodbye, Rainbow Puppies

Today we say a communal goodbye to Jacobs brothers and sisters. I dont know how many will be left when we pick up the puppy (eek!) on Thursday. The breeders are keeping the hyperactive Pink Puppy to breed from. So it could just be Jacob and Pink Puppy!
We are all very excited here. Im still in Devon with my family, and just to prove our general excitement, we bought a little name plaque to put on his cage. Very sweet. When we get home on Wednesday, we will have less than 24 hours to flat coat proof the entire house. I honestly dont think we will manage it. At least we have the puppy cage set up!
Today Jacob is 8 weeks old, and it really seems like yesterday we got an email telling us there was a little black puppy sitting waiting for us. The adventure of Jaocb commences soon! Even though we are not at home, we will still light a candle and sing to him on his 8 week birthday
Beth x

PS. It is perfectly acceptable to call me mad for singing to my puppy, because I think its weird as well!