Posers

Sammy is quite the little poser. And I don't mean this in that mean insult way. In fact it's a good way, mostly. Sammy has learned, over his fourteen months with us (almost), that the camera is a necessary evil. Maybe not even evil. I'm not entirely sure how he feels about it, just that it is necessary. And once he hears the noise of the camera, all things hault and he becames, Sammy, picture perfect dog. He is still gorgeous and sweet and an all around amazing dog when the camera is off, but once that sound is made, he may as well jump into a phone booth (if there were any left) and show off his "S."
Sammy sits with the smile on his face looking at (usually me) whoever has that camera. Often right at my feet, he knows that's his slimming angle:



And this is immediate. He just gets right into poser mode. This makes my job really easy alot of times. Except when I'm trying to caputre a more free spirited Sammy. I can't get him and Norman FRAPPING on the video cam, since he hears the noise and comes right to me. I also have a terrible time getting any pictures of the two boys curled up together, or near each other since that noise goes and Sammy goes right to attention, often between Norman and me. Not entirely sure if this is because he wants the attention, or is protecting Norman.

The great thing about having two dogs, is the older dog is so much more efficent in training the little guy than any human could ever be. Sorry Ceaser, It's Me or the Dog lady, and the rest of the career dog trainers. And lets face it, Sammy was a freak accident for the almighty dog maker. He never chewed on anything he wasn't supposed to (except the occassional platic bottle if it was left out), only once got into Erik's backpack and made himself sick from trail mix, was a sinch to potty train, slept through the night starting night one, liked to sleep in during the day, likes baths, eats to his own hunger (doesn't gobble down everything, skips meals if he isn't hungry), intuitively knew to never beg from the table, plays with all dogs at the dogpark (& super sweet and protecting with puppies), loves carrides, let me dress him up for holidays, lets me hold him on his back like a baby, dance with him, & give little kids high fives with his paw as well as hugs, never snipped at ankles, ...just an all around amazing dog. Our battles are cats, barking and not letting us get too high (stand on chairs) or work out! Seriously, we were so lucky. Sammy didn't have to rely on being the world's cutest and sweetest dog to cover up chewing the couch or coffee table (NORMAN!) or make us put our shoes away everytime. Nope, just got to be a bonus for him! And now that is Norman's teacher!
If Sammy hadn't been such an easy puppy, and wonderful, we probably wouldn't be on number two yet. But since he was, we felt confident in bringing home Norman. Which has been just amazing. Norman, however, is that silly puppy. He has had a number of accidents. We have our good days and our bad days. Mostly good though. He is learning how to tell us he has to potty right now. Norman sleeps through the night for the most part, but has gotten up twice in the middle of the night. Norman, unlike Sammy, is a morning dog. Mostly because his normal day routine is to eat no later than 630am. I have to work at 600am most days, so I am up 445-515am. He gets to potty and run around with me while Sammy stays in bed with Erik (still not a morning dog). Erik usually gets up between 6 and 7 depending on his classes for the day. First thing he does, feed the pups. This is a wonderful system until we have a day to sleep in (Saturday) in which case Norman can hardly make it til 700am. If we are lucky. Sammy always took this opportunity to catch up on his z's ('cause he was missing so many day to day, lol) and just eat whenever he got up. No biggie. Breakfast was becoming more and more of a lunch or late lunch meal for him anyway. Norman wasn't an instant people dog either. Well, he was, just not like Sammy. We were Sammy's whole world. He waited in that pet shop 3 months for a family, and he wasn't gonna let it go. He loved us, and wanted to be with us and please us from the moment we got in that little room to meet him. Instant family. Norman was blessed to be in a happy home with lots of dogs and other animals not at all sad or alone. Norman loved us, and would give us our proper attention, but took more of an affection to Sammy. He wanted Sammy to love him. He wanted to have Sammy take care of him. Which is only natural for any puppy. Norman has grown to understand how the family works in the last three weeks, and becomes more and more loving toward us. Wanting to please us more and more, and still Sammy, too.
Sammy has been able to help us train Norman in so many ways. Sammy herds Norman to what he is supposed to do. Norman sees Sammy's reaction to a word or phrase and tries to do the same thing. Norman now understands "potty," "dinner," "hungry?" "sit," "dance" and is learning what car ride entails. Right now he knows to be excited. More to the point of this blog, Norman is learning to be a little poser. Norman would NOT stay still for photos. He was making photographing him quite difficult. Norman is learning how to sit for them, and looks toward Sammy to then look at the camera like Sammy is. Norman is also catching on to go right to attention when Sammy does, when the camera makes it's start up click and tone. Soon he will be doing it on his own, I bet.

Two little posers!

But we were able to get a couple photos out of this new revelation of Norman's.

Brothers:









The boys with my mom






Family Shots:





I'm excited for when Sammy can teach Norman how to smile!! Those will be beautiful pictures!

Momma Does Love Us!

Friday night, after we both got off of work, Erik and I went out to a semi-nice dinner. Just the two of us. It was really fun and we had a great time. But there is very little that can upset two corgis more than their people leaving 15 minutes after getting home from being gone ALL day. Especially when 10 of those minutes are wasted on a potty walk!
After being gone for a whole hour and a half, we finally came back to the neglected doggies. Sammy tried to give us the cold shoulder. Not only is he too much of a people dog, too much of a lover to succeed at this, but Norman was way too estatic to see us. Sammy quickly got jealous of all the attention Norman was giving us and got in return. Norman gave my whole face a fresh licking. Just to say, "I love you! Oh, and you're mine!"
All that affection works up quite the appetite for two neglected pups, too! So while Erik took them out, I got their dinner ready. A quite delightful dinner. With an extra special candy cane cookie from Just Dogs gourmet shop! They even smelled good to us!





And by the end, I think they forgot we left them for a whole hour and a half!

We're Back...Again!

Thank you all for still being our readers! We are very sorry we have not checked in for some time. This week I got sick, with what we assume to be some kind of flu. Not the typical, can barely get out of bed, wake up three days later flu; but enough that I really didn't feel like doing anything but cuddling with my boys for four days til the fever would break! Not that they wanted to lay around for 4 days. Sammy was great, as usual. He has always had that super sense of know when anything was off-center. He tends to go to cling mode at the first sign of tilting. He was ok curling up with me. Norman wasn't quite sure what was up. All else fails, play. Sammy gets annoyed with this. So...Sammy tries to herd him into what Sammy believes to be the proper procedure when Mom is down. Norman of course sees this as, "yay, Sammy play!" This irritates Sammy so Sammy hasta run him down. Norman wins. Plus, Sammy really enjoys this...so Norman gets the double win and Sammy wins, too. The two run laps and circles, tug of war, who can keep the bone the longest...and other corgi games. Norman tires out and ends up on my belly. Sammy just couldn't handle the heat (I couldn't get warm and had the heater blarring!) Poor Sammy, that's where he wanted in the first place. But we end up in bed, and Sammy is definately king of that realm, though Norman is beginning to raise a coup!

Life with Norman has been fantastic. We are nearing the three week mark. But really, that doesn't seem like long enough. Almost seems like we have always had both of these boys. Plus, to see how big he has gotten...wow, has to be more than a measly 21 days, right! I really don't think one would know what to do without the other now. They are definately bonded. They are, for sure, brothers!

Norman has hit alot of firsts already. Kind of sad to think that most of them are over. We have done the first stairs:





our first walk:




our first brother cuddle:




our first perfect photo:





our first team up, using each other's strengths, for the common goal of food!




our first roadtrip (excluding coming home):





and I saved the best (photo op first) for last....
our first bath!





Norman freaked out! Did NOT like! I put both in the bath together, assuming that would help. Sammy is a weird dog. He is just fine with baths. In fact, seems to enjoys them. Doesn't really enjoy the water pouring on him, or getting his face or ears clean, and hates getting his teeth brushed, but takes it like a champ. Always turns his head asking when asking if it's bath time. And once he's done....he goes for the strut around the apartment, gotta show everyone how handsome he is all clean! I had this huge hope that his calmness would help Norman through his first bath. I knew there was no way I would have two in a row ok with baths! Although we did get two in a row that slept through through the night on night one! (*Big giant YES! motion*) Norman was so distraught, there is a chance he forgot that Sammy was there!
Norman was instantly in a panic when the first paw hit the water. He went for getting out. No matter what it took. Sammy seemed confused by all this. He watched, in what looked like a state of confusion! If Sammy could raise his brow, he would have. He backed up, and after a couple minutes of Norman's constant panic and trying to climb up my arms (without any forward progress, but scratches none the less) Sammy just sat down in the back of the tub. Seriously, what dog does that? Norman calmed enough for me to get the bath done. Or good enough. It was a good first bath, not perfect.
He did find Sammy's very favorite part of the bath experience to also be worthwhile! The yummy, good bath treat! We were lucky to have had Erik's sister and mom over just before, and they brought awesome treats from the Three Dog Bakery.




And if I'm not mistaken, it really helped! Bath number two, after road trip number one, went a million times easier. Not quite great, but so much better. I also had a heart to heart with him, telling him he had to get over it, it's a big part of his new little world! I love my babies clean! ...maybe that's what did the trick!

We're Back!!!!!

Well with our crazy lives we haven't really been able to keep everyone up to date. Sorry about that. Can't say we are gonna get too much better. Tonight should be my last overnight til January. I also don't see anymore 6 day weeks of work for a while! Yay. Erik, however, has a crazier school schedule than ever. My computer, that has all the photos and videos, is the computer with the more up to date versions of office, etc so Erik often takes it to do all his stuff for school. But I will definately try to make more of an effort to at least post a picture or even something short!
We are now a family of four. We got Norman a little over a week ago, late Friday, October 29, 2010.





We made it home very late that night, about 130am. But was soo worth it. Norman was about 8 lbs and exactly 2 months on that day. His ears were up, head turning more and more red, and humongus paws. Norman was far from scared of Sammy. Sammy was more interested in the cats there, but in the car quickly turned his attention to Norman. Sammy became very tired and grumpy, which didn't bother Norman one bit, and they eventually found a way for both of them to sleep...on our laps. Norman made it the WHOLE way back to Omaha (5.5 hour drive back) without a single accident!!
We got the boys home and hit the bed. Norman and Sammy slept the whole night through. We had a big day ready for the boys (and ourselves), so it was a good thing. My mom and Aunt, who was in town for the weekend, were over at 7am. Let me tell you, 630am came very early! Haha. Got up, got the boys to potty, got them some food and instant play!

Erik & I went to breakfast with them. Yummy Ihop. Then a good 40 minutes later, came back to pick the boys up to go see my grandparents!
My grandparents ere quite excited to meet the new little one, and to see the big one. I hadn't told them we for sure got a puppy, so this was a BIG surprise. Put Norman in the bag, and pulled him out! It was quite exciting!
My grandparents are in an assisted living center where their meals are scheduled in the dining room, so we weren't there too long so they could go to lunch. Plus....we had to go get ready for the Husker game! Norman's first!
We had my mom, aunt and uncle over to our apartment to watch the Nebraska-Mizzou game (which we won! heck yes!). Sammy is not a good football dog. We usually go up to my grandparents for the game, in which Sammy can run around outside in a giant yard and in the woods (which is the bottom half of the back yard), then goes upstairs to the family room when he is tired for a nap. He does NOT like the yelling (he can't handle it in any form!) or all the tense emotions he can feel in the room. Our apartment doesn't have an escape, which is quite difficult for him. He gets stressed when it was just the 3 of us watching a game not involving Nebraska (thus less emotion!) let alone a new puppy, 3 guests and a closer game than we would have liked (our starting quarterback was hurt in the first quarter! ahh!)
Sammy did well though. It seemed as though he was fairly distracted by Norman. He still had anxiety, which was hard, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Finally the boys were both tired and Sammy gave us the signal he wanted on the bed.


First Norman crashed underneath the table.





...but eventually found the corner behind the couch along the bookshelf! I would say he found comfort, but I don't know that I can call this comfort!


Norman also got some cuddle time with us!




It was quite a warm Saturday for November. So the boys got Frosty Paws! Sammy was pretty stoked 'cause he got one and a half cups, because I was nervous about giving Norman too much!


Our guests left, and it was just the four of us. They finished the night by lots and lots of playing! Even started some tug of war!



Day 2 started about the same. Lots of playing!











Seriously...Norman has no fear of Sammy. And they are both fairly lazy little guys, and Sammy loves just sitting and letting Norman attack him. Then wrestle away!


After a nap, I got this wild idea to try to get a Halloween photo. Sammy got a new Halloween sweater because he obviously grew out of the other one. Norman got Sammy's from last year. Last year Sammy was 6 months, though smaller for his age, still a few months difference. It worked good enough! Although they were not ready for a picture. Especially since Norman didn't know his name.










At least Norman loved the pumpkins!
They were well bonded by this point. Doing well on the potty training. The two don't enjoy being too far apart. Every day they are getting closer and closer. Right now they are pretty amazing, of which I will break up our update into a couple blogs rather than bombard you in one. We have tons of photos and videos, which are fairly well updated on facebook. They are so great together, when we hit our one week mark, both Erik and I were shocked at how it had only been a week. Seems like they have been here together forever! Norman just fits right in. And they have either had someone over or we went to see someone everyday, and everyone agrees that they are a fantastic duo. Definately good for each other! Sammy isn't quite ready to cuddle up with Norman yet. Norman is more of a doggie dog, and Sammy is still more of a people dog. Norman is coming around to the people more and more, and Sammy is tolerating Norman trying to cuddle more and more. Last night in bed, they laid alongside each other for a solid 20 minutes! And not like the other times, more back end, but face along face! Super sweet!
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that it is amazing! Norman is a true puppy. Sammy was super intuitive. Never chewed on anything he wasn't supposed to. Always super happy to see us! Potty trained super easily. Learned sit and kisses and all that right away. He was just super easy. So happy to have a family. Norman has always had a family so is so much more comfortable and ready to do anything. Not scared of the stairs, the bones, the whole apartment, other dogs, anything. They compliment each other well in that way. Sammy works really hard to keep Norman in line. "Norman, no!" or "Norman Brimley!!" is a que for Sammy. Not meant to be, but he takes it that way! It has made bringing him home so much easier than it would have been. In reality, if we had had Norman first, we probably wouldn't be at our second dog. Sammy was an amazing dog (minus cats and barking) that allowed us to get a second baby so soon! Lots more fun adventures to share with you, and I am gonna work on trying to change our banner and stuff. Complicated for me, so we shall see.
Welcome to the Adventures of Sammy and Norman! The greatest boys!