I haven’t done an update on Bo Jangles for a while and I feel like she needs her own post too so we can remember her shenanigans.  
And maybe to remind us even amidst our love for her that she’s crazy and dogs are nuts sometimes.  
Sometimes I honestly sit and wonder how this happened?  Last year at this time I felt strongly we should take this plunge into dog-ownership.  And now we can’t remember life without her.
She is sweet and good and the best companion ever for these girls of ours.

But she is still a puppy, and my camera roll is peppered not only with lovey stuff like this:

But also stuff like this:

And this:
Lucy’s sweet piano teacher puts in work to write out all those notes big for her, and we found pieces of that song all over the place one day.  That picture is AFTER the tape job.
She is everything we pictured for our girls…
…and not so much everything we pictured for a non-chewed up home.
When Dave and I were gone for our little anniversary trip back in September our babysitter sent us pictures of two new holes Bo made in our family room rug:

Hmmm…

What fun she finds in that I’m not sure, but we were pretty mad.  We decided we’ll wait to replace that thing until she grows out of puppyhood.

Then she calmed down and all was well for a long, long time.

And then just yesterday we found this brand new hole under the coffee table:

What???

Dave rolled his eyes and shook his head when I stuffed all those fibers back in that hole, but doesn’t it look just as good as new now?

HA! 

I am trying to figure out what to do about that…

Yep, puppyhood sometimes rocks us over here.

But most of the time we’re convinced that she’s growing out of it and is becoming more mellow.

I mean, look how sweet that girl is:

 (Poor dog could hardly see through all that hair back then…)

We were leaving her out of her kennel when we went on errands and she was good as gold.  
Not chewing up anything any more, and just delighted as all get-out when we got home.
But then Christmas came.
Here we are basking in the Christmas stuff:

(That was right before I got mad at everyone because they weren’t helping…but that’s a post for another day.)

For now, just look at that puppy up there on the right peeking out.

She was pretty fascinated with all that Christmas hullabaloo.

Let’s take a closer look at those Christmas books waiting to be read:

 …a little closer:

Nice.

And let’s take a look at this little Christmas tree in the game room:

We got this one a couple years ago to hang all the sentimental stuff on.  I mean, in my opinion there should be a really good place to showcase stuff like this, right?

And see this cute garland?

I got that on a sale post-Christmas last year to deck out this tree a little better this year.

But Bo thought it looked like a pretty fun thing to play with.

And Claire and I have had to sit and mend that thing a few times.

The thing is, she knows she’s in trouble when she does stuff like this:

I mean, look at that face.

She’s learning all the time 🙂

So the cons are quite obvious.

But the pros outweigh them.  At least as far as the girls and I are concerned.  Dave’s still not so convinced!

I mean, she gives such good incentive for Lucy to be active…and me along with her.

She gets so excited about going on walks it cracks us up.

As soon as you say, “do you want to go on a walk?” that pup jumps up like she’s on hot coals from wherever she is and wags that whole body of hers like nobody’s business.

I need to find a video of that to put on here because really it’s pretty funny.

We celebrated her birthday while my family was in town at Thanksgiving.

 We took her on a hike with us and she thought she had died and gone to Heaven.

 Then she went in for her “birthday haircut” and went from this:

To this:

 haha.  Those girls of mine took out the hairdresser’s little feathers and opted for a birthday motif instead.

Oh man that girl puts up with a lot.

Claire’s face looks like this a lot when she’s with her:

(and Bo’s looks like that 🙂

She’s a snuggler:

 She got to have a friend all over Thanksgiving break (my sister’s new dog):

 She is waiting for us like this when we come in the garage…

…and sometimes it’s just kind of fun to have someone that excited to see you, you know what I mean?

Plus, look at those eyelashes.

She’s in on all our FaceTime calls to Elle…and my sister Charity who’s little Mo loves her from afar:

And she’s helping us on our 10-miles-in-10-days goal we are trying to get to before Christmas so we can be ready for the service trip we’re taking:

Sometimes it’s good to have a “destination” for walks like that 🙂

So for now it looks like we’re going to keep her:)

Chewer and all.

I can see why dogs can be a girls best friend sometimes.

Not necessarily a Dad’s best friend (ha!  Dave has a love/hate relationship with her).

But we do catch him snuggling with her every now and again 🙂

26 Comments

  1. She is cute… and I know dogs do chew things… but –

    Do you leave $5 bills out, loose where she can get to them? And combs, etc.

    If you KNOW she will chew things, Hey! I have an idea! Why not put things out of her reach?!?

    Just a thought.

    1. All of the dogs I've ever had tended to explore and find things, no matter if I had them out of reach. One puppy figured out to hop onto the toilet and onto the bathroom counter and proceeded to chew everything: combs, brushes, etc. Another knocked my school bag down from its place in the mudroom and chewed through it to get to my books. Dogs are animals and will act accordingly; at the puppy stage, even though they're learning, they will find a way to get to stuff, even if everything is put away.

  2. What a cute pup! I appreciate this post because I am NOT a dog lover at all! Like please don't lick me or sit on my lap…at all. But I have four kids who have begged for years for a dog. Goldendoodles over the past few years have been a breed I think I could really like…so I do appreciate the REAL of this post and how great AND hard she is. I would be the one home all the time and so it makes me nervous because I just don't love dogs enough to hang out with one all day…but maybe someday I'll find room like you did.

    BTW…is she full grown? Also, is she a mini? Size would be a big factor for me…I would need a little pup if I could do it that is…

    Thanks for sharing about BO!

  3. It's almost like they (she) wants to have the true "dog owner" experience (hard thing) so they purposely leave things out. Then they can say "oh, ha-ha-ha…isn't it cute – they got all chewed up…"

  4. Yes, puppies (and some adult dogs) can be a handful. However, I don't recall seeing any dog toys for Bo. So why shouldn't she chew things that are left out when it doesn't appear that she has her own things to chew. I think having some appropriate chew or interactive toys for her and helping her learn to divert to those will resolve this issue. I can suggest many if you need suggestions.

  5. She's so adorable! We've haven't done a puppy (we've adopted 2-3 year olds) so we haven't gone through all that puppy stuff. I love that excitement dogs feel when you get home. Isn't that the best?

  6. I love dogs and when you have one of your own you love them even more. We never had chewers and there are cons but you'll never find a love like a dog gives you, I'm glad to see you guys are falling in love with her (except Dave) haha

  7. Oh man, she is so cute. It’s long been said that puppies are so cute as a survival tactic, since they can be complete terrors. Our dog is 4 and we’ve had him since 8 weeks. The first 8-10 months were full of chewed couches and shoes, we were so obsessed with him but constantly bummed out and defeated by these “presents”. I can gladly say that after the first year, the bad habits like that dissipated. There will be a time when you don’t come home to a chewed rug, I promise! I’m in the camp that dogs are gifts from above so I know I’m bias, but the long term benefits of them are so worth every ruined item as they learn their parameters and deal with their boundless energy.

  8. I appreciate anyone who gives an animal a good, loving home. Thank you for caring for Bo the way you do. You are giving your children a great gift by allowing them the opportunity to have a family pet to love and care for. I think your family is great and I really enjoy reading your posts.

  9. Just like children, our furry family members go through seasons. It happens so fast too. In 10 years she will be old and this will all be a sweet memory of when she was a pup. I have had so many dogs through my life, most especially 5 Rottweilers, my beloved Pekingnese that ruled the Rottweilers, and now a Boxer. Each dog has taken a piece of my heart yet I still end up with another dog to love. Enjoy each season for it goes as fast as children growing up.

  10. I am so glad you posted this. We are having similar scenarios with our pug puppy. Just yesterday a cute new pair of my seven year old's shoes got chewed up a little. Needless to say my girl was pretty upset, but that's the puppy life. we have no tree skirt under our tree because Anderson Pooper (name given to him by the rescue 🙂 likes to urinate on it. So it is constantly being washed. We are praying for patience and really wondering how he will do with gifts under the tree. Good luck to both of us!

  11. she's such a beautiful poser! My puppy chewed the rocker of my vintage rocking chair (with a stain that is unmatchable). It irritated me a bit but we ended up leaving rawhide twists out everywhere. They're not "beautiful" around the house, but it's far better for my puppy to chew on those than on the furniture and rugs. It worked wonders. We have three dogs now and always keep a bag of rawhide in the cabinet.

  12. She is adorable!!!! Our dog Jeter is 3 now, and unfortunately he STILL chews things, now more inconsequential…a random sock and kid leaves lying around, and occasionally he'll jump up and steal a plate from the sink (!), but as a puppy it was awful – holes in my couch, rugs like Bo, anything the kids didn't put away! Now we make sure every door is shut when we leave so he doesn't get bored and explore, and we also noticed that he gets more "chewy" if everyone is around and paying him no attention. He doesn't chew when we aren't home, he chews when we're all in the same room and no one is petting him. He doesn't chew the tree or ornaments, but his tail is crazy long, so no ornaments at the bottom! Bo is so adorable!!!!!! Having dogs definitely can be crazy, but so is having 4 or 5 kids (I have 4!), and as someone who had my previous dog for 15 years, they are life changing!

  13. Our dog is coming up for two, and he still chews things he shouldn't have sometimes. The house is FULL of dog toys (his favourites are antlers, buffalo horns, and a chunk of Himalayan yaks cheese) but he'll still grab a munch of a backpack or a laptop cable if he gets the chance. Mostly it's a sign he needs to go out because he's bored. Our carpets look a bit less pristine than when we moved in but he's worth it, and I bet Bo is too 🙂

  14. I loved this post. We’re currently waiting for our mini golden doodle to be born. I’m excited but so nervous, so I appreciate knowing about the joys and struggles in advance. 🙂

  15. We currently have four dogs, one about the same age as yours. We have had many over the years and learned although it took us a while to leave nothing within reach if we cared about it. You can have something sitting on a table for months and then come home and find it all over the yard. We just love our dogs and don't want to be mad so now if it is important to us it is put away out of reach. If not and it goes away it is on us. I think she is adorable and isn't is always wonderful for our children to have someone love them no matter what.

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