The Life of Reilly

Something New

2011-10-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Shame on me for not posting something new in way too long. I have attached some new pictures of Zoe and Reilly.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

2010-12-20T21:36:00.001-08:00

I wanted to get a picture of Reilly and Zoe playing Santa and Mrs. Claus. Zoe loved her little outfit and would have happily stayed in it all day long. Reilly, on the other hand, refused to suffer the indigities of wearing a costume. Never one to give up, I waited until he feel asleep and snuck up on him. Although I was unsuccessful in getting a picture of the two of them in front of the tree, I find it a great consolation that he did wear the hat for a few moments. I have a few days before Christmas and will try to come up with a plan to secure the hat to his head that will resist his attempts to dislodge it. Bobby pins did not work unfortunately. Hmmm, maybe tape?

New Pictures

2010-12-11T20:13:00.001-08:00

New pictures.

Too cute

2010-10-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

Reilly's Little Sister

2010-09-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Rick and I recently added a new family member. Welcome to Zoe our little princess.

Reilly is FAMOUS

2010-07-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have just published a Children's book starring my little guy. You can see the book by clicking on this link.

Link: http://www.bookemon.com/book_read_flip.php?book_id=43379&check=5d4e4a6ee1654e9b6c2df1557e641522

Happy Birthday!

2010-07-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Reilly turned 2 years old in June official moving him from puppyhood to adulthood. My little boy is all grown up. He had a lovely birthday party complete with a very yummy bacon and cheese cake.

2 Dogs and a bale of hay

2010-04-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

Rick brought home a $3 dollar bale of hay that ended up being the best toy Reilly has ever had! Reilly and his little trespassing friend, Shiloh, played in the hay for hours. I was lucky enough to snap a few pictures.

Snowing in the South

2010-02-15T19:00:00.001-08:00

My brother-in-law got on to me last week for not updating Reilly's blog. So Lee, this is for you.

We recently had the a freak snow storm in the deep south. As snow outside of maybe an occassional light flurry is unheard of where I live, it was not something that Reilly has experienced in his life. He was so funny as he tried to figure out what was that white stuff falling from the sky. He ate it, pushed it with his nose, rolled in it and ran from it. I got a couple of pictures of him trying to figure it out.

Daddy's Little Helper

2009-12-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

Recently, with the help of my fabulous brother-in-law Lee, we put in a fruit orchard on our property. To make sure that the 25 or so trees grow as desired, Rick put in a drip irrigation system. Now, because we are 40 somethings, we have learned to let equipment do the work whenever possible. So Rick rented a trencher from the local equipment rental place. Reilly thought this was the best machine ever made and quickly jumped into the trench to help it remove the dirt. After the pipe was put into place, the guys started covering it with the removed dirt. Apparently Reilly liked it better the other way, becaue every time Rick put a shovel of dirt in the trench Reilly would dig it back out. We were fortunate to capture a couple of pictures:)

Its the Great Pumpkin!

2009-10-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

We love October at our house. The weather begins to get cooler, the days a little shorter and we get to spend time outdoors enjoying - pumpkins? Yes, this is the time of the year when all good little doggies get to enjoy that heavenly orange treat. Reilly got his first pumpkin of the season, and after much chasing and running wildly through the yard with it in his mouth he settle down to break through the rough exterior to the lusciousness within. I snapped a couple of pictures of him enjoying his favorite fall treat for you to enjoy.

Happy Birthday Reilly!

2009-07-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Reilly's first birthday. He started his day with cake and presents! He wasn't so sure he wanted to wear the birthday hat, but he loved the horn. He is currently playing with all his new presents. Later today he will get a birthday steak and if the rain stops a trip to the river. Enjoy the pictures of his big day.

A Day at the Beach

2009-06-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today we spent some time at the River with Reilly. He is still extremely unsure of whether or not he wants to go into the water. He did wade in up to his knees. He enjoyed all the new sights and smells. Enjoy the pictures.

Dirty Dog

2009-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Reilly and I have a common love, the rain. We recently had almost a week straight of rain, and Reilly was feeling a little out of sorts as he was not allowed "free reign" in the backyard. Finally a sunny day dawned and most of the mud puddles dried up fairly quickly. As I opened the door and let him run out without putting him on the leash he was ecstatic! Within moments he discovered every mud puddle in the backyard. He enjoyed his romp but paid a hefty price - a bath. The last picture is of him looking pitiful as he is drying after his bath. Heartbreaking isn't it?

What happened to all the visitors?

2009-05-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Any of you following this blog know that we recently fenced the back 2 acres of our property as that Reilly would have lots of room to play. We put up a lovely running board fence, with the top board measuring a little over 4 feet in height. The other day one of the neighborhood dogs that is not fenced (we live in the country where there are no leash laws) was walking behind the back fence. Reilly decided to show him that he was too close to his yard so he stood up on his hind legs and put his front paws on the top fence rail. The camera was close enough that we were able to snap a couple of shots. Right after we took the picture Rick looked at me and said, "now, I know why we no longer get any unexpected visitors just stopping by".

Tiny Bubbles

2009-05-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Rick, Reilly and I recently attending the wedding of our nephew and new niece-in-law. As many young couples do, they opted to use bubbles as their symbol of bathing in well-wishes as oppossed to the more traditional rice. As their were a number of left over bubble's I saved some to play with Reilly. Enjoy the pictures of Reilly's first introduction to bubbles!

Incidentially, I am waiting on some pictures from the family of Reilly at the wedding. He was extremely well-behaved and a great hit with everyone who attended. You have to appreciate outdoor weddings! I will post them as soon as I receive.

Play Date

2009-04-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

Reilly was lucky enough to make friends with 2 adorable Great Dane puppies during his obedience class. We hadn't seen them in about a month - and boy did they grow. They came over today for a play date. Reilly, Oracle, and Aries had a wonderful time despite the heat and the fact that they did not want to get out of the shade. I posted some pictures of them enjoying their time together. Reilly is 9 months old in this picture and the Dane brother and sister pair are 6 months old.

Daddy's Little Helper

2009-04-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

We spent the past couple of weekends trying to improve our new construction lot - there is a lot of work required when you build in a old cotton field! We put up a fence and planted Leyland Cypress trees around the perimeter of the property - 100 in total! Reilly was a great help throughout the entire process. He would steal large pieces of lumber, take the trash out of the trailer that we collected and scatter it around the yard, and dig in the nice fresh wet red dirt right after we planted a tree. I am not sure how we would have ever got everything completed without all his "help". I have attached some pictures of him stealing the lumber from the fence.

Spring has Sprung

2009-03-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Rick and I are excited that the weather has begun to get warmer. We spent the weekend working in our extremely pathetic yard. We had literally not planted anything around our newly constructed house except a minimal amount of sod. We were worried that the two of us alone would not be able to handle the large job we faced. We should not have worried, Reilly was more than willing to help.

Reilly at the Horse Show

2009-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend Reilly went to a 3-day eventing horse show at Ft. Rucker. We took him to meet two potential new Shiloh owners, Will and Courtney. Rick, Reilly, and I found Will and Courtney to be delightful and are looking forward to welcoming them into the Shiloh family.

We had a lovely time despite the mud and muck. Reilly was on his best behavior and got to meet some new people and several horses. I found that horse lovers are also dog lovers, and as an added bonus they were not afraid of Reilly because of his size. I guess when you are used to a gigantic horse, even large dogs look small. Rick and I were also surprised to find that quite a few people there knew about Shiloh's. We were greeted with many opening comments of "Is he a Shiloh Shepherd"?

Here are some of the pictures we took of Reilly mingling.

Reilly vs the flying paper.

2009-02-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

Reilly has a fascination with paper. It is by far his favorite toy! The other day he tore off a piece of paper from some boxes that we had in the yard. He spent at least an hour playing with it. The day was a little breezy and when the paper started flying so did Reilly! Check it out.

Reilly's Charity Work

2009-02-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Reilly is cognizant of his responsibility to help others. He displayed his largess this week during the 3rd Annual Cancer Freeze. Reilly attended the event that raises money for the American Cancer Society by participants being sponsored to waterski and wakeboard on the local lake on the coldest day of the year. Reilly served as an ambassador of goodwill during the festivities.

This years Cancer Freeze was especially meaningful to the residents of the small town of Florala, AL. This year they were supporting one of their own residents that was afflicted with a rare cancer of the eye. Julie-Layton Bryan is the 5 year old daughter of Brad and Stephanie Bryan of Florala, Alabama. She was recently diagnosed with retinoblastoma of the left eye and is currently scheduled to travel to New York every 3 weeks for up to 1 year to recieve localized chemotherapy. This year the event donated all proceeds directly to the Bryan family.

Check out Reilly being socially responsible.

Bigger and Bigger

2009-01-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

Although I am prepared for Reilly ultimately weighing somewhere between 120 and 140 pounds, I am still continually shocked by how quickly he grows. He has had a steady weight gain of 3-4 pounds every single week. Today he weighed in at 79 pounds and is 28.5 inches at the withers! I think sometimes I turn my head and then look back at him and he got bigger. Here are some recent pictures. Can you believe he is only 6 months old?

Reilly being Reilly on his 6 month Birthday!

2009-01-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Reilly being his sweet silly self.

New Pictures

2009-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Wanted to get some new pictures of Reilly up. He is growing like a weed.

Reilly and Friends

2008-12-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Reilly is great with other dogs. He has fabulous puppy manners, and sends out and reads all the right signals. There have been numerous posts on this site about some of his play friends. I wanted to add two more, Adain Ferguson Muldoon is a 4 month old Rottweiller, who owns our friend Anna Muldoon. He is a little cutie who loves attention. The other is a Shiloh Shepherd we just meet today for the first time. Simon is a 5 year old Shiloh from Betterways Kennel in TX. He is a little sweetie!

Enjoy the pictures.

It's a horse!

2008-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

I believe that I may have gotten Reilly's species wrong. Based on his size, he may actually be a horse and not a dog! He is huge, really. He is not yet 6 months and is pushing 70 pounds - lean. He stands flat footed and his head is above the bed level and easily at counter level. Here are some recent pictures. You be the judge, is he a dog or a horse?

It's the Holiday Season

2008-12-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

I love Christmas time, and apparently so does Reilly. Here are some pictures of him enjoying the decorations we put up.

Busy Time

2008-12-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

This has been a busy time of year for our family! We have officially moved into our new home and Reilly is loving it. I wanted to get some new pictures up of him as I have not posted anything in a month. You are going to be amazed at how much he has grown. He is now over 65 pounds. I have a hard time remembering him as a little 15 pound puppy. Take a look.

Fall in the South

2008-11-06T13:45:00.001-08:00

For those of us in the deep south we don't get a lot of weather variation. Thanks to mild temperatures and evergreens it looks like summer most of the time. I was able to catch a few shots of Reilly enjoying the little bit of fall foliage that we do have. Enjoy!

Dog Socialization - check

2008-10-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Many who have read this blog or the Shiloh forum and kept up with Reilly's socialization with other dogs is aware that we had some very unsuccessful socialization attempts with other dogs early on. I think at this point, Reilly has been successful socialized with other dogs. Check out the pictures and let me know what you think.

Looks Ma, no water wings

2008-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day for the whole family. We took our morning walk at the new house site to familarize Reilly with the new area. We walked down all the major roads and even met a neighborhood dog. We then had a lovely picnic and Reilly got in touch with his roots - he ate a beef neck bone in the wild. Despite the inherent dangers of approaching a wild animal in his natural habit we were able to snap a few pictures for you to enjoy. After the picnic we took a turn around the pond. At first, Reilly was timid and edged up to the edge. Before too long he waded in with two feet then three and finally he was all in - without aid of water wings. Enjoy the pictures!

Ear Confusion

2008-10-25T20:16:00.002-07:00

Reilly can't quite decide if he wants his ears up or ears down. It is a common site these days to see one up and one down. I think it looks adorable, don't you?

Reilly at play

2008-10-23T20:55:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Kym, I have some pictures of Reilly at play while I was away in San Diego. He looks like he enjoyed himself.

That can't be comfortable

2008-10-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Reilly can get in the most bizarre positions to sleep. You may remember the picture of him asleep in the cup holder, check out this one!

Here we grow again!

2008-10-21T09:27:00.001-07:00

I am amazed by how fast Reilly grows. Check out these pictures of Reilly with his friend Louise. If you look at the earlier pictures, Louise was so much bigger than Reilly. Now they are almost the same size. Enjoy the pictures.

Birthday Celebration

2008-10-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

For my birthday today, Rick and Reilly woke me up for breakfast in bed and birthday cards! Rick thought it would be cute to have Reilly bring me his birthday card in by himself. So right after Rick opened the bedroom door he placed the birthday card in Reilly's mouth. Reilly promptly sat down, looked at me, and then took off with the card. A game of chase ensued for the next 15 minutes. The birthday card was entremely sweet and it is one I will save and scrapbook!

Later, we went out to the new house site and planted a birch tree to commemorate my birthday. Reilly had a blast. He helped Rick dig the hole and ran around the lot for a good hour or so. He came home extremely dirty but happy. I took some great pictures for you to enjoy.

Day of Reilly

2008-10-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

I took a week off from work and decided to make today a Reilly Day. We started out with a trip to a pet store where he meet 6 new people. Of course all of them oooed and ahhhed over Reilly, saying he was so handsome - which of course, is his due because he is:)

After that we went for a play day with Anna and her Rottie mix puppy. We got an extra bonus of meeting 3 other dogs and 2 new adults! We stayed for about an hour and a half and he had a blast! He came home with his tongue hanging down to his knees and his head coated in doggie drool! The only down side was that Kym was out today, so he missed seeing her. We will stop by again later in the week and hopefully get to see her. Kera, our GSD friend, stopped by and I got a cute picture of the two of them together in one of Reilly's "aren't I the sweetest" moments - enjoy.

While we were at Anna's we picked up some tripe! Yeah for Reilly, yuck for me:( He will get to enjoy that later this week.

We finished the Day of Reilly with a nice walk and some training exercises. I am thinking that Reilly will sleep good tonight!

Puppy Kindergarten

2008-10-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

It was our second day in puppy class and Reilly was once again the star of the class. He easily catches on to the commands and is usually the first to complete. Normally, I would be over-the-moon about that, but unfortunately in this instance it is a problem. Because he learns it so quickly we do a lot of repetition while the other canine students catch on, so he gets bored. Oh, to be challenged by a smart dog.

I snapped a couple of pictures of Reilly with Dixie, his favorite classmate. Dixie is a Great Dane puppy. They get to play together after class, and right now, I think that is his favorite part of Puppy Kindergarten.

After class we stopped by to see Anna at, you guessed it, the Wholesome Hound. Although he did not really get to play with another dog today, he got lots of attention from Anna, Kym, and several customers. My Reilly loves to be the center of attention!

EAR UP!!

2008-10-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am soo excited. Today is the first day one of Reilly's ears went up. I was lucky enough to be standing by the camera and snapped a quick picture. Isn't he adorable?

Reilly meets Kira

2008-10-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today at Wholesome Hound (I sound like I am doing commercials for them all the time) Reilly met a 10-year old Shepherd, Kira. Enjoy the pictures!

Reilly Raw

2008-09-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

The firsts continue. Reilly had his first 100% raw meal today. Rick and I have been researching diets and have finally decided that we think the best thing for Reilly is to move to a raw diet. We are going to feed 1 meal kibble and 1 meal raw for about the next month and them move to a 100% raw. I have included a picture of that meal here.

He also got to play with a new friend, Tilly, at our favorite place The Wholesome Hound! Tilly was extremely fast, so Reilly had some trouble keeping up. Enjoy the pictures!

Mighty Dog meets Savannah

2008-09-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

While at our favorite place, the Wholesome Hound, Reilly got to play with Savannah Grace a rescued bloodhound owned by Kym. Savannah was fabulous with Reilly. As you can see, Reilly was just petrified by her size. He looks so tiny up against her, doesn't he? He is 18" at the shoulder now and 28 pounds, so he is not a little guy at 3 months of age. I love the picture with Savannah's mouth wide open and Reilly giving her kisses - that is what I am going to call it. Enjoy!

First day of school!

2008-09-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today was Reilly's first day of school! I am sure it is no surprise to the regular followers of this blog that he did a great job. There are only 4 dogs in the beginner obedience class, and I have to say that Reilly was the best. He did great with sit and down. We are using a variation of clicker training with the YES command.

Reilly's opportunity for improvement is his focus on me. His attention was split between me and a great dane puppy, named Dixie. Dixie is 6-months old and a little bigger than Reilly. They were very cute. I did not bring my camera into the class, but would have loved to snap a picture of the two of them laid out fast asleep. All the training was obviously draining as they both fell asleep 5 minutes before the end of the class. The picture here is of Reilly in the car on the way home - sacked out.

Reilly at play

2008-09-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Reilly at play - which is one of his top three activities. What are the other two you ask? Sleeping and eating of course!

Out of town trip

2008-09-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

I had to make my first out-of-town trip since we got Reilly. I was so worried that he would not handle it well. I think my husband thought I was going to worry myself sick. I called Rick at least every hour or two to check on how Reilly was doing. Of course, he handled it much better than I did. Rick said a couple of times he would go look for me and sit down and whine for a few seconds, but for the most part he was right as rain! Little stinker.

I arrived home late last night and he was extremely excited to see me. He was sweet and loving and insisted on sitting practically on top of me for a good 45 minutes. I have posted some pictures Rick took and sent to me while I was on the road. I think he looks extremely distraught, don't you?

2008-09-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

Reilly had an extremely positive and fun puppy encounter since the bad experience earlier this week. We had a lovely play date at our favorite place in town, Wholesome Hound. Louise is a rescued 9-month old mix (rott/border collie maybe) puppy that Anna, the owner, had show up at her place several months ago. Louise and Reilly played together for 20-30 minutes. Louise was so good with Reilly, they started out playing so sweet and gentle. It was a thing of beauty! Obviously they got more energetic as time went on. Enjoy the pictures!

Reilly gets a bath

2008-09-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today was a very eventful day. Reilly got a bath! We used a kiddie pool outside and it took 10 whole minutes just to get him to put his feet in the water. I can't figure it out as he loves to lay in mud puddles. Oh well, eventually he sat still for 5 minutes and got a very quick bath. He smells lovely and is soo soft. It was almost worth it:) Due to all the water, there is no pictures with this one.

Happy guy

2008-09-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

Reilly was sooo happy today. He got his first marrow bone. I am using that as a crate treat. He can only have it when in his crate. I am worried that I may have miscalculated. Based on the way he was going to town on that bone, I may never get him out of the crate!

He is also doing so well on the leash. We are not "heeling" yet, but he doesn't pull and walks with me. He is just such a good boy.

To the Vet

2008-09-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, today Reilly went to the vet. When we first arrived he was a little timid but enjoyed all the attention from the vet techs. He weighed a whopping 21.8 pounds. You would think this means he is a chunk, but he has also grown several inches and is nice and lean. I wish I could figure out how to eat like he does and maintain a lean figure! Rick swears he eats better than we do.

Anyway, back to the vet trip. I had brought a toy and a couple of treats to try and make the visit as fun as possible. He was a trooper through the rectal thermometer but he drew the line at getting on the table. He thought that was out-of-bounds! The topper to the day was his vaccinations. Needless to stay after that he decided it was time to go home. He took his leash in his mouth and started walking Rick and I to the door. This is a dog that knows his own mind.

The trauma was short lived, as by the time we arrived home he was ready to play, play, play. We encountered a woman with her 3 year old out flying a kite. The 3 year old rushed to play with Reilly and of course Reilly got scared and backed up and barked. This in turn scared the 3 year old, who went back to flying his kite. After Reilly watched for a little while he decided he like the little guy and wanted to play which he signalled by jumping and barking encouragingly at the boy. Well, the little boy took this to mean Reilly was a mean dog, I know this because the little boy put his hands over his head and said mean dog over and over. Needless to say Reilly and the little boy never got to play. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Too Cute!

2008-09-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight Reilly got the zoomies at dusk just after it had rained. He kept darting into the bushes and jumping out to ambush Rick and I. He would then dart away and hide again. It was entirely too cute!

I am ready for my close up Mr. DeMill

2008-09-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Some close-ups of the extremely handsome Reilly to enjoy.

Isn't that the sweetest face ever?

Angel in the morning, Devil at night

2008-09-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why, but Reilly is drastically different in the morning than he is at night. In the mornings he is so sweet and gentle. All he wants to do is be petted and loved. When the sun goes down, watch out! Reilly goes nuts at night. He is super excitable and wants to use you as a chew toy. Rick and I thought it was because he was not getting enough exercise so we take him out more often and walk and walk. He will only go for about 10 to 15 mintues and he is done walking and flops over for his rendenition of "dead dog".

We are now looking for a night time babysitter. Let me know if you are interested in the position.

The travelling dog

2008-09-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Reilly continues to love to travel. We take a trip a day and he just loves being in the car. I am not sure if it is the air conditioner or the soft pillow. Today we went to visit my Mom and Dad. He enjoyed the trip there and back, but unfortunately he got sick while we were there. I am not sure why, but he seems to be doing better now. He is back to his playful energetic self.

Socialization, Socialization

2008-09-07T16:30:00.001-07:00

Reilly went to my nephew's birthday party today. He got to almost play with Bear, my sisters Spitz. You can see a picture of them laying down together. He also played for hours with my nephew Logan. He was so tired on the way home that he crashed in the car - right into the cup holder.

Reilly on the move

2008-09-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Reilly on the move and exploring his environment.

Reilly on a Rampage

2008-09-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, Reilly was on a rampage today. From the minute he woke up he would try to chew on anything you did not want him to! No matter how many times you offerred him toys, told him no, tried to distract him or move him, he would go back to the item he wanted to chew. Most of the time this was either my carpet, the couch, or the chair. He is currently resting so that he will have energy for his next attack. I had better take a nap as well!

On the crate training front, he did go into his crate several times today on his own. He does not stay very long and we are looking for ways to make it more "enticing".

The only other problem we had today is that he again experienced diarrhea after his evening meal. We thought we had this under control with the use of the pumpkin. We had added back the wet food that he was getting prior to us picking him up at that meal, so I am hopeful that was the problem. We gave him some more pumpkin and will switch him entirely to dry tomorrow.

Reilly in the Jungle

2008-09-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Reilly enjoys the bushes! Every time we go outside he heads straight to the bushes. He likes to play hide and seek. Check out the pictures!

Day Three Dawns

2008-09-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today is our third full day with Reilly. We started the day full of energy and anxious to play. After several hours of tug, chase, and chew on everything in the house we went to the house site to paint. This was extremely exciting because it meant a trip in the car. Reilly loves the air conditioning vent!

Once we arrived at the house he got to meet two new people - the electricians. He took to both of them right away. Rick and I are painting the house ourselves, so we had borrowed a "goat box" that my dad uses to transport his Boer Goats in - it is a wire cage a little larger than an extra large dog crate. Reilly took to it after about a minute of barking and whining and played happily for several hours. Rick and I had several conversations about whether or not we wanted to crate Reilly. After the goat box experience we decided that we would definitely invest in a crate. We took a break for lunch and returned to the house - this made Reilly very happy as it necessitated another trip in front of the air conditioning vent.

Before returning to start painting again we purchased our crate. When we got back to the house site we happily put Reilly in the new canine approved crate only to discover he hated it! He whined and cried for 20 minutes and I finally gave in and took him out. He promptly trotted over to the "goat box" and climbed right in! Silly dog.

Reilly is a Chewer!

2008-09-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Day two has arrived and Rick and I are learning more and more about Reilly's personality. He is sometimes silly, and sometimes very serious. We began to experience some real issues with him mistaking me for his chew toy! I could not entice him with any of the toys we bought him, he wanted my hands and feet instead. I decided to go to the pet toy store and see if I couldn't find a toy the texture of my hand and discovered Kong Toys. I absolutely love these toys. If I could find the maker I would hug him/her! I bought the puppy teether ones and he loves them. Apparently they are the right texture and he enjoys chewing on them. Thank goodness!

The trip to the Pet store was not exactly what I had hoped for as far as socialization goes. There were several large dogs there that were barking and growling at each other. Poor little Reilly did not think that was kosher. He sat in the buggy looking at me like, "hey, I think we should get out of here". I am going to try a smaller place tomorrow called "Wholesome Hound". They sell natural foods and treats and should not be as crowded.

After the pet store we went out to the house site and he meet two of my nephews, Mitchell and Maddox. He was excited to see two people close to his size and warmed up to them immediately. I can see him getting more sure of himself every day.

On the house training front, he is doing great. He goes outside and knows to do his business almost immediately. Of course, it is not hurting that we are taking him out every hour to two hours. The couple upstairs got a kick our of his antics this morning. After he did his business, he found a leaf nearby and proudly had to trot around with it showing his prize. He is too cute!

Day Two

2008-08-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

Day two is coming to an end, and Reilly was awesome! Reilly woke every 3 hours last night and only had 1 accident - he is so smart. Once we got up and moving he had a good breakfast and we went out to the new home site. (We are in the process of building a home. We should hopefully move in within the next 30-45 days.) Reilly enjoyed the wide open space and even explored a little. After a nice lunch we went to visit my folks and Bear - my sisters 11 year-old Spitz. The meeting went well, though the two did not really play. Most they sniffed each other and Reilly followed Bear around where ever she went. We only had one bad moment when the two first met, when Reilly got scared and had a tiny accident in Mom's kitchen!

Interestingly Rick spent a significant amount of time reading Tina's book "Shiloh Shepherd Story". He now considers himself more educated on the breed.

We returned home and Reilly spent the day getting to know his home. He obviously had a full day as he is now sacked out. Hopefully he will sleep well tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.

Reilly is home!

2008-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

After eight long hours in the car, Reilly arrives home. He is a little curious but mostly stays near Rick and I. He has had a little dinner but still seems a little uneasy. I am pleased to annouce that we are still accident free, however now that it has started to rain he is uninterested in going outside. That does not bode well!

The Big Day Arrives

2008-08-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

The big day has finally arrived. We went to DaySprings Shiloh Shepherds today at 9:01am to pick up Reilly! He was a perfect puppy for the 8 hour drive from Maryville, TN to Dothan, AL. He slept most of the way and didn't have even one accident. He is still alittle anxious and occassionally stops and realizes all his brothers and sisters aren't with him. He whines for a few minutes but settles right down. The thing I think Rick and I will remember most about the trip is that Reilly loves the airconditioning vent. He would position himself so that he was always right in front of it! Gotta love that in a puppy. Enjoy the pictures of Reilly on his drive home.

On our way!

2008-08-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

It is 5:30 pm on Friday night and Rick and I are on our way to pick up our new puppy. We must travel from Dothan, AL to Knoxsville, TN tonight where we will stay in a hotel so that we can pick up Reilly at 9:30 am tomorrow morning. We are extremely excited as we just received a call from Lilli to tell us that we are the proud parents of Orange Boy - pictures attached. She indicated he has a low prey drive, medium pain tolerance, and is of medium to soft temperment. Out of all the Stormie/Tazer puppies he is the most like his daddy. We could not be more pleased.

The only black spot on the day is that Rick and I forgot our camera and will only have phone pictures to show of Reilly's first 12 hours with us. I will blog more tomorrow on the 8 hour trip home and let you all know how Reilly travels.

8/29/08 9:39pm CST

We have finally arrived at the hotel. Both of us are too excited to sleep. Just 11 more hours and we get to pick up Reilly!