Torean, torean, torean...

Our fluffy son is now thirteen weeks old, and a very solid 29.5 pounds according to the vet. His little quirks can either make us wince, or make us laugh, but each day with him is still something to admire. His ears have finally come up and are staying up nicely. Some days with his ears up and the way he barks when he wants attention make me think of a jackal. He has a lot of growing to do before he fits those ears of his, but we all are slightly sad to see him leaving his puppyhood behind. He has come along so much since the day we brought our six week old fuzz ball home from Ohio. Walking with him is still a challenge but he is getting better about walking beside us, not trying to take the lead from us. He is obsessed with grass, and dirt, and worms, he has accumulated quite the hole in his kennel to play in often coming inside looking like a wild dirt clod ready to play some more. He loves chasing my husband around the yard, especially now that he has grown, and he can catch my husband almost every time. Torean is still not sure about the cats, he wags his tail like crazy when he sees the cats, but he has not quite learned boundaries. The cats are being remarkably tolerant with him, and hopefully they can be together in the future without hisses, and scratched noses. Each day he can still amaze us with his antics, make us angry, make us laugh and make us melt when he is so excited to see us. We brag about him like he is our own flesh and blood child, and we already have a ridiculous amount of pictures of him. If this is what puppy love is, it truly is wonderful. HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL OF YOU, FROM ME, MY HUSBAND, AND OUR TROUBLEMAKER!

Adventures in brushing an Elkhound, a bitey one at that!

Torean finally got an overdue grooming this afternoon, and I must admit that after grooming and grooming, Torean has claimed the victory. An elkhound coat is a marvel to me. After pulling five packed clumps off the brush I turn around to watch our bouncing fuzzball and find even more fur ready to come out. I am not used to having a dog with such a coat as his. Our first dog was a dalmation, the second was a retriever mix, neither of them were as challenging to groom as Torean is. Torean must be feeling better though, our defuzzed little angel found his second  wind when he realized his grooming was done, and now he is sliding across the floor chasing his favorite toy, a stuffed hedgehog. He took his grooming well, seemingly more interested in trying to bite the brush more than anything else, but then he settled down when he realized it actually felt kind of good to be rid of his itchy fur. Tomorrow is bound to be a thrill for him with cold weather blowing in, it will probably be a good time to get him out for another long walk. Torean has decided that he does not want to walk on his harness now, trying a comical combination of plunking down, trying to make me carry him, and if all else fails looking pathetic at anyone who might be watching. His biting problem is improving, and with time, so will his attempts to get out of walking. All in all he is still one hysterical puppy and he made his eleven week birthday a special one.

Fun times

Torean went to the park today, and he got plenty of chances to stalk his beloved leaves. He also gave me plenty of chances to take photos, most of which just got uploaded on to the website. It is www.teamtorean.com! Check it out to see the new pictures!

Torean, the mud hound!

Today our rambunctious little boy had his first bath, in the middle of the yard, with us holding him to keep him still. Why Torean had a bath was because he thought it would be a terrific idea to go investigate the mud. When my husband first came to get me all I saw was a four legged walking mud ball. Torean thought all of this was hysterical until he realized that the tub full of warm water was for him. He wasn't too sure how he felt about the bath thing, then he calmed down when he got to hang his head and front feet over the side of the tub. It took three of us  to get the mud washed out of his coat, and it took even longer to get the shampoo out of his coat so we could rinse him. Poor Torean looked like a drowned rat by the time he was clean, but then he decided that the hair dryer on his coat did not feel too bad at all. When he realized the bath was over, he was once again our little ham soaking up all the attention he was getting for being a good boy. Torean is now all nice and fluffy and dry, free of a great deal of loose hair that was attached to the mud, and still so proud of his antics this morning. He certainly never fails to surprise us with his antics, but hopefully the mud will be his last spontaneous adventure for quite awhile.

An ode to Torean

As mentioned, Torean is now ten weeks old today, and it seems fitting to sit back and think about how much he has changed in the four weeks he has been with us. He is now seventeen pounds and not much of his baby fluff remains. His chest is broadening, so are his shoulders, and now his ears are comically lopsided so before long it looks like they will be up.  He still lets the baby shine through though, especially the other night when he fell asleep on his back with his leash still in his mouth. He still likes to sit on the floor with his back legs out behind him, while the stuffed donkey toy is his favorite because he found out that when he bites it just right he can make it sound like it is coughing. His greatest weakness is trying to sneak out so he can get into the cat food dish, then he sits and sulks when his attempts are thwarted. The cats regard him warily, wanting desperately to come in and play with him, but unsure if they can trust the rolling grunting furball that has invaded their favorite room. Torean doesn't really care as long as he can try and get to that elusive food dish. His second weakness would probably be the leaves falling outside. If  a leaf dares fall in front of him it must be pounced and chewed on to pass his inspection before he moves on to the next one. His third would probably be a tie between the broom and the pumpkins safely stowed out of his reach outside. Oh how he would love to chew those stems, and the bright orange flesh that taunts him. He feels the same way about the broom, the sound of the broom on the floor drives him bonkers. He tries his hardest to catch it and kill it, and again sulks when the broom is out of his reach. His personality is something else. He is strong now and he is getting extremely smart. He knows what potty means, and he also knows that the dining room door means the way outside. He is stubborn, he is pouty, he is a ham when he sees someone new who might want to pet him, he loves posing for the camera (when he wants to sit still), he knows what time we get up in the morning to take him out, he is loving, he is free thinking, and he still thinks the world is a chew toy. His baby teeth are incredibly sharp now so now we make sure he has a small army of chew toys to save our fingers and feet. He likes to watch TV especially when Nature is on, and at night he sits and waits for everyone to come home so he can give them his puppy greetings. When he is excited his ears plaster against his head and his little butt wiggles frantically while he kisses and whines before the biting starts. His face can make you melt, and it also broadcasts what kinds of shenanigans he is up to, which is almost always. We love him dearly, even when he is exasperating, and we can't wait for the adventures we will have with him. I hope you enjoy the blog about our little troublemaker, and I highly doubt Torean will let me run out of writing material any time soon.

Torean, storming the web!

Today, Torean is ten weeks old, how time has flown by! In honor of his ten week birthday I spent the morning editing his website and adding more pictures of him. Little by little Torean is filling my memory card with nothing but pictures of him. That is where we got the idea to share him with the world. Torean now has his own blog, and a website, who knows what will come next! If you want to see how much our little boy has changed check out our website. It's www.teamtorean.com! We hope you check it out, and more blogs will follow.

Norwegian Elkhound puppy

Welcome to my blog, where most of the topics will be about our Norwegian Elkhound puppy Torean Alaistair. Torean is nine weeks old today, and boy, how much he has changed in the three weeks he has been with us, and how much joy he has brought into our lives! The challenges have been worth it, namely avoiding his now very sharp puppy teeth! But that will be for another blog post. First I would like to put our story out there, about Torean, and about us. My husband was the one who got me interested in the breed, and once I started researching I fell in love with them as much as he had. Owning a Norwegian Elkhound had been his dream for over five years, and once he left the service it seemed like the time for us to start looking for the puppy that would make his dream come true. The biggest challenge we faced was trying to find a breeder that was within driving distance because like everyone else, we wanted to know that we were making the right choice. Finding a good breeder was also hard, I was either never answered, or they could not answer the questions that seemed important when deciding on an Elkhound. Were the parents friendly? Were they used to being around smaller animals such as cats, of which we have a few. Were the breeders  working with their dogs to breed out hip dysplasia which seemed to be a problem for Elkhounds? It took over eight months of searching. Just when my husband and I were ready to take a break from searching the right breeder came along, and she was everything we were hoping for. She answered my questions, she had a deep knowledge of the breed, and she was willing to answer any and every question and worry we had about choosing a puppy. We were sold within a week, and six weeks later we made the journey to go pick Torean up. I hope you enjoyed our first post,  and I hope that you'll  enjoy our future posts. The story continues....