Bella and Avi

We've got another Berner under our roof! (seriously... long time, no see!)

Bella joined us recently when we had the opportunity to foster. We quickly fell in love with her (as did Avi) and now we've all got a little one to look after .

It's also been far too long since we've updated the blog, so expect lots of catching up soon.

And now, back to our baby...

-Matthew

New England Vacation Day 2

Next stop: The Daniel Rust House Bed & Breakfast in Coventry, Connecticut!

We stumbled upon this B&B through PetFriendlyTravel.com. This was such an awesome find! An amazing, historic B&B that was dog-friendly and beautiful!

Avi led the way...

And was quite elated at his find.

We got a great walk in before the rain. Did I mention how great it was to have a walk with our boy in a new place.

After a very yummy breakfast the next morning, Avi got in a little morning playtime with Seabiscuit, a Great Dane/Greyhound mix.

There was lots of chasing around and Avi really seemed to enjoy running around off-leash.

But the best part was when we started tossing around a ball. Seabiscuit chased the ball... Avi chased Seabiscuit... Seabiscuit fled the scene... Avi stared a little confused at what to do next.

We highly recommend the Daniel Rust House B&B. Make sure you stop by if you're in the Coventry, CT area. We'll definitely keep it in mind when we're on our next trip to New Hampshire!

-Matthew

New England Vacation Day 1

Aimee, Avi, and I took a vacation to New England last week. It was a chance to camp with Avi (new experience), visit Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, and hang out with a bunch of Aimee's friends from college (not to mention lots of other dogs)!!

We left Baltimore for our first stop: Promised Land State Park in northern Pennsylvania.

There's nothing like a dog-friendly state park to feel like your on vacation. Lots of beautiful woods and lakes and birds singing. We bought a bigger tent so that we could sleep on our air mattress and leave Avi enough room to curl up on a comfy blanket beside us.


Camping with Avi was AWESOME! He slept well and he was eager to hike on the trails with us as we checked out the park.

Our favorite spot in the park was a wildlife conservation viewing area. We hiked back a trail to a hut-type viewing area where you could look out over a marshy area of the lake.

We saw a few bald eagles fly overhead, in addition to hearing the chirping bull frogs while the sun was setting. PERFECT first day of camping!

Final Weigh-In

As of the most recent vet appointment,

Avi is 116 lbs!

Our vet said that's a good weight and he really shouldn't be any heavier.

...that's a lot of dog!

-Matthew

New Friends

We had a couple of visitors last week and Avi fell smitten. Her name is Jillian and, though she may not have met a dog as big as Avi in her short life thus far, Avi may have actually been the more curious of the two.

Below we see a sort of London Bridges, as Avi makes rounds from child to child.

But he soon settles in close to Jillian.


Smitten with his new love, he stays close at hand until...
Jillian decides to explore the piano with her older brother. Though Avi's as tall as the paino bench, the bench isn't as mobile and is therefor a safer bet. Avi wanders off dejected...
...but is much happier upon discovering Jilian's diaper bag and a canvas book that's soft on the teeth.

Ataboy! Way to promote literacy while being unflinchingly cute (and yet very suspicious) at the same time!

-Matthew

Rainy Day

It started off such a nice, mild day. I got a lot of work done... grading and such. Avi was relaxing behind the couch, being near me. After lunch I decided to take Avi for a walk, but wouldn't you know... the clouds shuffled in and we were caught in a refreshing May shower. We never did get to have our full walk, but we did enjoy some time together sitting on the floor in front of the front door. The door was open, but the screen was in place. There was such a great breeze and we just sat and enjoyed the time together.

Man, I love this dog! What a great guy!

-M

Raining

Haven't updated in a while, but don't worry. We're just chillin' ...finishing up graduate studies and letting muddy paws dry. May brings a lot of rain to Maryland, but we still get out on walks as much as we can.

Thanks for checking in on us.

-Matthew

Avi turns ONE!

Yay!! Our boy's one year old today!

...and what a year it's been! I was looking over past blog entries and enjoying the memories we've made already... destroying carpet, eating poo, meeting friends at the dog park, and, most recently, visiting the dam with friends (see above).

Looking forward to many great memories to come!

Happy Birthday, Avi!

-Matthew

A Changed Man

Well, Avi went through some changes this week. Poor boy. Let's start by clearing the air... I think I've been taking the surgery a lot harder than he has. But then again, he's got good pain killers.

So, Avi was neutered this week. He was so happy to visit the vet (see above). We've got a great vet with loving technicians and a very clean, well-kept facility. He seems to enjoy meeting the other animals sharing appointments during his visit and, of course, he never has the slightest clue as to why we're visiting.

We dropped him off in the morning, picked him up after school, and took Thursday off school to be home with him. The vet techs said he didn't bother his stitches during his entire visit, but we bought a "lamp shade" from them to be safe.

Well, wouldn't you know that he was itchy from having so much hair shaved and, consequently, was licking around his stitches. He had to wear the lamp shade as a precautionary measure but, as you can see from the photo above, he now looks more like a traveling party dish for chips and dip.

No worries. We only put the cone on when we cannot supervise him (such as when we leave for work or over night while we sleep). Still, it has made for some great photos!

No puppies for this pooch.

-Matthew

Fan of Snow, NOT of Ice

Yeah! At last... Maryland get some snow!

We got about 2 inches of snow in Ellicott City on Tuesday, followed without hesitation by about a quarter inch of ice on Wednesday.

Now, to be fair, Avi is quickly becoming a big fan of snow. Other Berner breeders warned us that Berners really "come to life" in the snow and they weren't kidding! He's absolutely hilarious! He jumps around, pouncing the flakes. He races back and forth with little care about being caked in the flaky snow. He tries to eat the snow before it lands on the ground (see picture above).

However, Wednesday was his first experience with ice and Avi was NOT a fan. He was perplexed by the way ice cracks under your feet only after your full weight is on it (this made finding a sure footing very strange for him). By Thursday morning, when the ice has had a chance to really harden, I was able to walk across the surface without it breaking. ...again, not such a good thing for a pup with no traction.

We managed just fine though and, in true Avi-spirit, his head darted down to lick at the ice whenever a new piece cracked at our feet.

Now all of the snow and ice is melting, but there's rumor we'll get more next week. I'm hoping to get some video of Avi's alter-ego, Crazy-Snow-Fan boy.

Until then...

-Matthew