"Time, the subtle thief of youth" - John Milton Sonnets 7

Dolce - May 2011 and November 2011

Every morning when I get ready for work, since the day we got her, Dolce has sat on the rug in my bathroom while I blowdry my hair. I took her picture (on the left) the first day I left her, to go back to work. It was one of my very first blog posts.  She looked sosad, I hated to leave her. I just remember looking at her on that rug thinking how little and helpless she looked and I just wanted to stay home and squeeze her all day.  Then this morning as I was getting ready for work, blowdrying my hair, I turned to say something to Dolce and hada realization that she has sat in that spot every morning.  So I took the picture on the right this morning.  It wasn't until I really looked at it and thought about it that I realized how big shes gotten and how far she's come. She's no longer that tiny, piglet looking little puppy.  She's like a real dog! Dolce has looked "bigger" to me every day, but every day I look at her and I think she's still my little puppy. I think I knew this all along I just hated to admit it.  I tried to pick her up and put her in my lap last night while I Skyped, and she's just too darn big, weighing in at a hefty 47 pounds now, a far cry from the 8 pound puppy we brought home, not 7 months ago. So I guess John Milton was right.  Time is the subtle thief of youth, because I feel like I turned around for two seconds and she's all grown up, and I have no idea where the time went.  Such is life, tempus fugit! (especially when you're having fun!)

Its almost that time of year again...

Leaves are all finally gone and that can only mean two things...Christmas is almost here and there's lots more things to find on our walks! Found a new trail to hike at the Paine Estate, not too big but pretty trails and lots of hills to tire us out. And Dolce and Nancy shared a walking stick. Then we found the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree along the way!

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." - Albus Dumbledore



With winter well upon us the days are getting colder and shorter.  This is hell for the working dog owners.  It leaves us little to no time to play at the park after work without either bringing home a still energetic dog or scuttling about in the dark with a flashlight trying to locate your dog.  Well after a few weeks of this I've said enough is enough. After talking to other dog owners and doing some research online I found some awesome alternatives in the form of light up dog collars. Lets list this under the heading of "Things I never thought I'd research online, before I had a dog"  Well anyways after much debate we've found the best collar with the longest life and one of the brightest lights (that doesn't flash constantly and induce seizures to all those present) is the Night Ize L.E.D. Dog Collar.  It was relatively inexpensive ($15) and serves the purpose well, by being visible up to 1,000 feet away and having a super long battery life of 100,000 hours! All in all I'm pretty impressed, and I haven't lost Dolce yet, so that's always a bonus.  And its a great conversation piece! "Oooh love your prison orange collar, where'd you get it!?"

"God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December." - J.M. Barrie



Well, we live in New England for sure! It's October and its already snowed! We had our first experience with snow unseasonably early this year, just before Halloween. Dolce was interested in it for sure.  Mostly in our back yard she only wanted to go to the bathroom, eat it and then run back inside the house.  But when we went to the park she couldn't have been happier to be playing in it.  She was digging rolling and chasing the snow and generally loving playing with her friends in it.  I've never seen her "frolic" so much, the snow must just do something to them.  Cant wait til we get a real storm and see how she likes it!  Dolce gets snow, and mommy get snow boots so her feet don't freeze! Everybody wins...