I think it's time for an update on life with The Guppizzies. In a nutshell: it is SO much fun!
A family portrait on top of Monkey Hill (Bear is behind me)
mr smrp and The Guppizzies
Itty Bitty Izzy B is SO dang smart and is quickly learning the rules of her new family. But Jesse Guppie has stolen the show in terms of stepping up and being a wonderful big sister-she has been so sweet and welcoming! Bear Guppie is a riot-he knows that I will forever be his devoted slave so he isn't the slightest bit bothered by having a new family member in the house. Silly Beah.
Doesn't Jesse Guppie look SO proud of herself?
Izzy arrived with some crazy insane energy after being fostered with a group of VERY rambunctious german shepherds. Her play style was to LEAP on top of other dogs while making wild growling noises. You can imagine that those antics were a bit unsettling to all of us the first few days!
We were worried about our sweet, gentle, soft J Guppie but we should have known better. Animals are amazing creatures and in just 3 weeks our little silly pointy eared black fox has gone from being a whirling tasmanian devil to being a mirror of our zenful gentle Guppies. We are so proud of all three of them! Jesse and Izzy have begun to play gently with one another and we know that in no time they will have found a play style that includes running and romping.
I LOOOOOVE my silly Jesse Guppie!
Our strategy to help bring about Izzy's inner buddha was to manage and control the situation to keep everyone as calm as possible while we taught her to be more gentle. We also live by the motto that a tired dog is a good dog so we have hiked, hiked, and hiked like crazy people and sure enough we proved that a Tired Izzy is a Sweet Izzy :)
can you all see the different types of leashes dangling off of me in various directions?
hiking The Guppizzies is quite a process but so much fun!
When we first started hiking her she practically knocked us over with her strength-holy moly that little girl can pull! We did not think that I'd ever be able to walk the three of them together so for the first two weeks mr smrp hiked Izzy and I hiked the Gups-but we knew that was not a long term solution.
So after some creative brainstorming and the right tools we came up with a strategy that worked and in no time The Guppizzies and I were winding our way through our beautiful wooded trails like a caterpillar all in a nice row with absolutely no pulling. What a joy! I love hiking with my fuzzy monsters and feel so lucky that our new puppy tries SO hard to do what we ask of her.
The caterpillar heading home! (I'm waving at mr smrp)
Thank you for being such a wonderful addition to our family little girl! We adore you! And a special thank you to the bestest Guppies on the planet for being such great, calm, sweet siblings.
Living by the motto; tired dogs are good dogs...
After a terrible year full of loss and heartbreak we are grateful beyond words to see our Guppies so happy and to welcome such a sweet doggie into our lives.
Nothing like a nice evening snuggle after a long day of hiking...
