On the move

Every week before his weigh in, we take Stanley for a "last chance workout"! He's always very energized in a new neighborhood, so he gives it extra effort :)

Stanley in action!

It's paying off, too! Last weekend, we took Stanley for a mile long walk - definitely the longest walk we've ever taken together! We definitely trained for it - we were up to about six long blocks before heading on our longest walk yet.

He was definitely beat by the time we got home, but he really enjoyed it and we were *very* proud of him!

The beach!

Resting in a sandy patch by Elliott Bay

Recently, we had a break in the hot weather and decided that we'd take Stanley for an outing at the beach. We packed him up in the Taurus and headed down to Golden Gardens.

In WA, dogs aren't allowed on the beaches, but there's plenty of walking paths that are dog friendly by the water.

Boats!

Checking out the view from the pier...

Hrm....maybe this water stuff's not so bad....

This dog has one HUGE tongue!

This might seem a little silly to highlight a simple walk at the beach, but just 8 weeks ago, we wouldn't have even been able to consider it. Just walking Stanley from the parking lot to the path would have been it. He's come a long way!!

Update!

First things first - we want to welcome everyone who saw us over on Melvin's blog Mouchois! It's great to have you!!

Wow - I can't believe how behind we are on the updates! Things are a little crazy in Stanley land - mom and dad are both doing national job searches, so things have been a little hectic!!

Now, time for the news you've all been waiting for, Stanley's big update!



I wanted to take a minute and give a run-down over his overall measurements from day 1 to today!

Chest:
Then - 43"
Now - 37.5" (-5.5")

Waist:
Then - 40"
Now - Waist: 34" (-6")

Neck:
Then - 28"
Now - Neck: 20.5 (7.5")

That's a total loss of 19" for Stanley!!! I know I mentioned his neck would be the hardest one to keep consistent, but he has a bit of fur line where he probably had a collar for a long time and we've been trying to keep it there. I think the area behind his head and around his waist is definitely where we've seen the biggest changes.



Weigh in today was very encouraging! 107.1 lbs! We're down a total of 14.9 lbs :) very exciting!

PSNEA Rescue 2008

Stanley was invited to this year's PSNEA rescue parade, but we weren't able to make it out to Enumclaw. This is last year's parade from 2008 - yay for all the folks who've brought elkhounds into their homes as rescues!

Making Friends

After his weigh in Saturday, Stanley was off to meet Sarah, the lovely wheaton mix. It was an important meeting - Stanley will probably be spending some time with Sarah and her family when we head out for vacation in September.



I was very nervous. We hadn't introduced Stanley to any other canines yet and let's just say that his encounters to date on the street have been less than friendly....

Apparently, I was nervous for nothing - they weren't exuberantly playing together, but things were uneventful. Whew!

They both were very attentive when I had some treats in hand...



and we even made it out for a short walk around the block!



Hopefully things will only be better when Sarah comes to visit us!

Cool bed review!

We ordered Stanley a cool bed to try and cool him off when it hit near 100 degrees in Seattle two week ago. (It's freezing now - highs in the 60s! yipes!)



I was a bit skeptical - they don't really tell you how it works and I had nightmares of it leaking all over. But, on the contrary, it's MAGIC! The bed is still cool 10 days after we filled, and you can see Stanley was happy to plant himself on it to stay cool! (you can see the ice water that was in front of the fan to his right..it was HOT).

They can be pricey, but we got a deal by buying it on ebay - definitely a worthwhile investment for a dog who won't get in the kiddy pool!

Week 7!

Woohoo!

Stanley's got reason to celebrate with the latest weigh in:

If you're having trouble seeing, that says 108.3 lbs! We've broken the 110 lb mark, which was our first goal on the way. Of course, we're also on the way to the next goal: 100 lbs.

Here's some more pics from week 7...I think Stanley is a bit of a born story teller, no? When he's not being silly, he looks like he's turning to share some sage bit of advice about how to tell which carrots are the best for noshing ;)

the men in my life...

stanley and his dad are very photogenic!



update on the weight loss tomorrow! hopefully we'll have more posts coming now that the heat wave has abated!!

Well-read

Stanley knew his mom, being a librarian, would have high expectations of him. He decided to show off by reading Harper's with dad in the backyard...