2010 Surprises

Happy New Year!  Mr. Bama and I had a wonderful New Years Eve at the WWII museum and then hotel bar hopping.  I will share pictures from the wonderful night in a later post, but first I must share the biggest news:  The Bama family has expanded.  We had been discussing the idea of adopting a puppy from a local shelter for the past few months and I had kind of insisted that we tackle the house being completed and how we'd like it before we make such a big decision.  I also refused to visit any shelter because I knew I'd want to take all of the puppies home.  So after many many talks and prayers, Mr. Bama and I found a litter of Australian Shephard Mix puppies online that had been rescued on the northshore and needed a home.  We met him Saturday and ...

... without further ado, this is our baby Bear:

We know what the mom (a chocolate Blue Merle Aussie) looks like, but we think his dad was a Lab

Hanging out with Daddy

sitting nice and tall for the camera.

So far it's been a very interesting experience.  Bear has crate trained incredibly well, whining and crying the first time we put him in, but after that it has stopped.  The past 3 nights have been absolutely wonderful - no crying or whining, just passing out to sleep after a few minutes.  He even goes to his crate voluntarily to nap(Joy!)  On the other hand, housetraining has had its ups and downs.  Only a few accidents in the house, so lets just hope our persistence and the trips outside every 10 minutes keeps working.  The only huge issue has been biting -- Good HEAVENS this puppy bites.  We've tried so much, from yelping when he does it to getting up and just walking away, which is apparently shows the puppy that if he bites, their playmate will ignore him, which they hate.  But alas he still bites.  Any ideas?

So Mr. Bama and me plus puppy make three!  Can't wait til he gets all of his shots and then we can go out and experience the very dog-friendly world that is NOLA!