She's Getting So Big!!

Not literally, but yeah, "the baby" is getting bigger and more mature. One thing we learned (very quickly) about Jill is that she DOES NOT like her paws played with/touched.

Ever since we've got Miller and Jack when they were puppies, we started them early with paw touching. We wanted to make sure they would not make a fuss when their nails needed trimmed, or if we needed to look at them for whatever reason. So, starting when they were small, we would examine them, spreading the pads apart, trimming nails, etc. and then immediately praising them like crazy. This worked wonderfully, and they are great with it. Molly, is Molly, and she's special. :) Not a lot bothers Molly. She's kind of oblivious to most things going on around her, and thus, she's wonderful with us prodding and poking on her anywhere whenever. Sometimes she will be laying on the floor in front of the 'pantry' and when I need in it, I will ask her to move. She sweetly looks up at me and rolls back so I can pet her belly. It's a cute game we play. I tell her to do something, and she looks at me like, "how can I adjust myself so you can give me the most love and attention." I know that this is just Molly and I've accepted it. So, Molly just lays there, and I just scoot her out of the way with my foot. Molly just lays there like I'm petting her, and my ankles and calves get a workout at the same time. :)

Now....Jill. Jill is special on her own in this house, mostly because she's 'the baby.' As in, "where did the baby go?" "is the baby with you?" "Jack Jack, go get the baby!" She's delicate and soft (so long as you're not trying to move her or invade her space when she's sleepy) and just really sweet. She's still a clumsy baby, and we know it's the puppy in her and she'll grow out of it. For instance, so many times she will get excited and run to jump on the couch, but she will jump too soon, or with not enough "umph" and she ends up kinda bouncing off the cushion and having to try again. Sometimes, when she's REALLY excited, it can take her four or so jumps to finally get up on the couch. She will also do this when she's trying to jump onto our shoulders. And she doesn't have enough "umph" so she will slide down.............our arms.............digging her nails in as she goes. -That's why we're typically scratched up. Anyhoo, whenever we've tried to get her used to us touching her nails and feet, she pulls away and cries like we're trying to murder her.

Today while I was at home for lunch, I noticed Jill was laying on the living room floor in front of Jordan and I and she was kinda playing/tugging on her dewclaw. We decided that it must be long enough to bother her or maybe something was stuck (like a thorn or sticker, etc.) so either way, it was probably time to trim the nails. (We've also been hoping her nails would get long enough so that we could cut off the hot pink nail polish that was on her nails when we got her.) So, I got out the cat nail clippers (the dog ones are just too big) and while I held her, Jordan cut her nails. She didn't cry ONE time, or even let out as much as a whimper! We were so proud of her, and she promptly got a treat for being such a good girl. She's definitely growing up!!!

Here's a pic of Jill playing in the yard this past Sunday afternoon.