December pictures

Truffle is 13 weeks now, and weighs about 12 lbs. 10 ounces. She went to her first puppy kindergarten class this morning, and had a ball. It is in a barn with a concrete floor and hay bales stacked around to make little "rooms" and little tunnels where the puppies can get away from each other if they feel intimidated. Truffle certainly doesn't give the impression of being intimidated, but she did feel most comfortable playing with Bridget, the smallest dog. Towards the end of the class she played some with the big puppies, a GSD and an Old English Sheepdog. She barked at first, but that soon stopped, and I was happy with the class. But outside, there is a flock of about 100 sheep, and other dogs coming and going, and she was barking her head off. All in all, it was fun for everyone.

Here are some December pictures, earliest at the bottom and most recent at the top. Some with Shadow -- I almost put the one with her whole head in his mouth, but I didn't want to alarm anyone :-) Click pictures to enlarge.

First Week of December

Meeting her new vet -- "Gee, haven't I seen you somewhere before?" (For those who don't know, the vet is my sister, Debby.) It is a little blurry but I love the picture.

She was 11 weeks old, 10 and a half pounds. She actually was a little more keyed up at the clinic than I would have preferred, so I took her back the next evening, when I had to go up to the clinic for an hour or two to do some computer work. I let her just hang out in the crate, and put her on the scale and got her to sit quietly, etc.

The best nicest thing that happened this week is that our 7-yr-old female, Viva, seems to have bowed to the inevitable, and decided to accept Truffle. The first few weeks were a little tough. The last two days they have played very nicely.


It amazes us that this little puppy has the dog instinct to bury bones. If she picks one up in the house, she carries it to the door in hopes of going out to bury it. Then she will put her paws up on the window sill, maybe she can go out that way.... She carries them under the deck, or buries them in long grass. This one she found under the deck where she must have taken it, because the others can't fit under there.

Truffle goes in for the leg, and Viva uses the head butt. Truff can get very rough, but so far Viva has put up with it . Viva still gets tense and pushy if Truffle comes to one of us, she wants to herd her away. But I already see progress on that front also.

More snow!

Today we have more snow. Two snows by December 2, rather unusual for eastern PA. Truffle loves it. Almost impossible to get pictures, she is tearing around like a banshee. I am stumbling along in the snow after her, a day late and a dollar short. The second picture is blurry but it gives the effect.

Yesterday (10.5 weeks) we took Truffle to play with Bridget, a Border Terrier puppy about a week older than she is. They spent an hour playing wildly, escalating a few times into snarling matches when we had to take them apart for a cooling-off period. I think it was like kids whose play can flare up into hitting and arguments at times. Both of the puppies are fierce, fast and feisty.

The weather this past week was mostly pleasant. Truffle weighed 9 lbs. 10 oz. on her 10-week anniversary. She is on a varied diet with Natural Balance kibble, raw chicken parts, eggs, leftover turkey and other good stuff. We are starting to work on Sit and Down and Come, with clicker and treats (such as the first half of her meal), and she is actually learning very fast.

Shadow is her buddy, they wander around outside together. He plays a little. If she thinks he's getting rough (which he really doesn't) she goes under the deck where he can't fit.

Micah and Adrienne visited for Thanksgiving, and I didn't focus on taking pictures, I need to get some from Michael and Allison, I think they took more. But Micah and Truffle had lots of fun time together.

9 Weeks

Truffle is 9 weeks old today. She weighs 8 lbs, 4 oz. She had a lovely day, with the gang down at Mom's, everybody wanted to play with her so she got lots of attention, and then snoozed in her crate. Here are some pictures from this morning out in the yard. She loves all the smells, likes to snuffle down under the leaves and find who-knows-what.


Here she heard a flock of geese coming over and paused from snuffling in the dirt to watch them.She likes to get on high places and look around. Luckily I managed to catch this shot, usually she is too quick for me.
Truffle and Shadow are friends, they wander around the yard together. Truffle launches at his tail, he doesn't pay much attention, sometimes he trots after her. He is 10, and very mellow.

Day 3

Truffle surprised us by sleeping through the night the first night, and last night she was just as good. We have 4" of snow, and she looks very funny jumping through it. It is hard to photograph her because she won't stay still. If she hears a noise in the woods, she charges towards it barking -- this little bundle the size of a small toaster, it doesn't seem to occur to her that the noise-maker might be bigger than she is. She reminds me of a wild animal in the way that she freezes like a little statue alerting at sights or noises, and then shoots ahead, then freezes again. Many sudden stops and starts!

On Saturday Holly & Allison drove to Connecticut to pick up 8-week old Runestone Truffle. We had a lovely time playing with the other puppies and meeting everyone. You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

Truffle's mother Gryla watches the birds.

A quick pottie stop on the way home.

The day after we brought her back it snowed all day, which was appropriate for an Iceland Sheepdog.

Aunt Margie playing with Truffle in the snow. Truffle is a little bullet, dashing around everywhere with her tail up.

New Puppy

Ready and waiting for our new Icelandic Sheepdog puppy, Truffle, to arrive. The dining area has been evacuated to make room for the ex-pen, the living room rug put upstairs for a few months. Saturday Allison and I drive to Connecticut to pick her up.