Dear Avi (Part I)

Dear Avi,

I remember when you chose us.

A friend shared that she knew someone in Reading, PA who was breeding her Berners and that she was expecting puppies soon. We contacted the breeder and arranged a time to visit. I had never seen a Berner before that day outside of the pictures Aimee would show me on her computer.

The drive felt like it took hours and hours. We made our way north into Pennsylvania, missing exits along the way on account of poorly marked roads. Retracing our steps until we finally arrived at your birthplace. You were outside in the yard with your brothers and sisters, mom and dad. Though you were one of six with nearly indistinguishable markings, you made it easy to pick the right match for us. You encircled our legs, nipping at our fingertips and shoelaces. You yipped in a tiny puppy voice. You never once struggled free when we held you. Pure joy filled our hearts and we loved you from first sight.

Our drive home felt empty, yet somehow full of anticipation. Because you were only 4 weeks old, we'd have to wait an additional month to take you home. In that time you would grow and your personality would begin to take shape. The family called you 'Striper' because of the long stipe running from the tip of your nose up past your eyes and settling somewhere behind your ears. We named you 'Avi', the namesake of one of our favorite authors and one that felt foreign enough to befit a Swiss dog, despite the fact that it's actually a traditional Jewish name.

It was pouring when we finally came to pick you up. Having nearly doubled in weight and size, you now resembled a giant rabbit, complete with flappy ears and oversized paws. Aimee sat in the backseat with you for the duration of our drive and you never once had an accident, never once cried. We stopped to let you stretch when we reached a halfway mark. I can still picture you tromping through the tall grass outside of the gas station as we smiled and smiled over our new addition.

I still smile every time I think of that day. The day you chose us.

Our Family Grows

Our family has changed and grown since the last post over a year ago. Since last writing, Bella has found a new home and we've welcomed Jonah Christopher, our first child, into our lives.

Bella had needs that we were unable to meet, but she was re-homed with a lovely family who lives outside of Baltimore. She's able to have company most of the time and it sounds as though her anxiety has been calming a great deal. We get occasional updates and we're happy Bella was part of our lives, even if for a short time.

Meanwhile, Jonah Christopher was born on July 22nd, 2010. Our now 4th-month-old has recently discovered Avi, probably most attracted to the strong contrasting colors of his face. Jonah loves to watch Avi, and Avi, meanwhile loves to be near our infant (even despite lots and lots of crying).

We've got lots more to share and hope to update the blog more frequently now that things are starting to fall into a routine.

-M

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

Outgrowing His Toys

We've got a very big dog (at least that's what visitors think... we don't think he's quite big enough yet, hence the cheering every time he weighs in a little heavier than before).

In any case, with a big dog comes powerful teeth, and Avi the Destroyer has torn up his share of toys (sorry Marley... he's also torn up his share of your toys!). It's funny that he's still got his favorites, though. For example, he's had the squeaky tire form the picture above since he was a puppy. It no longer squeaks... and now he can crunch the entire toy tall-ways in his jaws. I'm sure if the rubber shows a single crack, a single sign of weakness Avi can exploit, it will be destroyed. For now, thank goodness for its elasticity!

It's just funny that the simplest toys keep him entertained.

By the way...

Fun Fact: The tire toy has a 4" diameter. Avi is approximately 8 tires tall and 11 tires long (from nose to tail).

Isn't it fun to measure in non-standard units?

-Matthew

First Snow

We haven't got much snow yet, but the one or two snow dusting have completely mystified Avi!

He also seems to be very interested in eating the snow, unless this is just a side effect of sniffing for a good place to do his business. It's entertaining to see him take a few steps, sniff the ground, then lick his nose (rinse, repeat...).

In all of the busyness of the holiday season we've also set up our Christmas tree and decorated it with ornaments. Avi's been excellent at not eating the pine needles, although he tail is quite destructive. His typical routine is to walk to the tree, sniff a branch, turn around, and wag his tail. ...let's just say we made sure the fragile ornaments were well above the tail line.

Looking forward to updating more often.

Happy holidays!

-M

Defeated by Jolie

Avi met a new friend recently: Jolie, the pug puppy. Jen and Mark let us watch Jolie while she ran the grueling Marines Marathon. Little did Avi realize he was in for quite a marathon himself! He was quite surprised by her energy (at only a little over 8 weeks old) and I'm sure he was very confused at how something so small could move around so fast!

Jolie seized the opportunity to make her move... first darting to and fro in the living room, wearing Avi down.

...then swooping under his belly to nip at the backs of his legs.

And when Avi finally gave up and plopped down on the floor...

...she showed him who was the real boss :)

But really, we had a great time with little Jolie. She took down our colossus and charmed the pants off us.

One day Avi's going to have to realize just how big he is, but until that day... Jolie is the reigning victor.

-Matthew

Avi Settles In

We're settling in. Or perhaps we're settled. Either way, Avi is still growing! We've nearly hit 80 lbs (at almost 8 months) and we've got great space in and around our new house.

We've had the most fun walking Avi across the street to the high school where we can walk on the nature trail (and desperately try to avoid picking up deer ticks) and enjoy a great run around off the lease on their practice field. We've even accumulated a football and a tennis ball on , but he still loves playing with his Kong and chewing on his bone.


Of course, neither of us can get enough snuggle time with our boy. He's more than content to curl up beside ue (or around us) at any available opportunity.

It's good to be loved.

-M

Checking Emails... together.

I was checking emails early this morning. As usual, my boy followed me out to the family room and took his spot on the couch behind me. What was new, however, was having Avi look over my shoulder while I worked.

Good thing my Mac has a built-in camera... and Avi is such a good sport.

Love that dog.

-Matthew

Heavyweight.

As of 4:00pm today, Avi weighs in at exactly 66 pounds of solid Berner pup.

Bigtime.

-Matthew

New House. Cold Floors. Excessive Sleeping.

On move-out day, the apartment was packed with boxes. Avi didn't have much space to move around, so he picked a spot to lay.
The new house, however, has plenty of open floor space for a boy to plop his bottom down. Avi seems to love the cool hardwood floors and the cold tiles at the back entrance.
Of course, he still saves a little love for Aimee and I each day. And we're never ones to turn down kisses.

Lovin' our boy and our new house!

-Matthew

Moving. Watching. All these boxes!

Avi, sit.

Good boy.

Avi, ignore the boxes piling up and piling up as we prepare to move into our new house (isn't it incredibly exciting!!!).

.
. .
.

Good boy.