I am very excited to announce that I have been shortlisted for three 2019 The Word Awards! The Word Awards, sponsored by The Word Guild, are Canada’s largest and most prestigious awards for writers that identify as Christian…

Theo’s first birthday was one that we highly anticipated. Maybe not so much the event itself, but the milestone it represented. Many dog owners we have talked to shared that puppies start to settle down about the time that they…

One of the things I have found difficult to master since our puppy Theo came into our life is figuring out how to maintain a balance between our normal (old) life as a family of two and the new one…

Shortly after Theo turned 10 months old, we had to take another trip with him to the small animal hospital emergency department. (Click here for the first incident.) Like many accidents, it could have been avoided; but it happened…

It’s hard to believe that our beloved pet Theo has only been on this earth for nine months, and only seven of those with us. We have seen him grow and mature in leaps and bounds, and he is…

Hi! My name is Theo.

My birth parents are Icey (from Nevada; white with blue eyes) and Sherriff (caramel brown with brown eyes). My new mum and dad adopted me when I was 11 weeks old. Look…

When my husband and I met with our pastor and his wife this past January to share that I was stepping back from leading worship, I never dreamed that it would be the beginning of the end of our journey…

Before I had a puppy, I walked twice a day year-round, regardless of weather. Only when it was close to -30 C or when rain was pelting down did I make an exception. For all that time I pounded the…

This past week we took Theo to the veterinarian to try to figure out why he has been throwing up about once every one or two weeks over the past month and why he has been getting my husband up…

Last week, Theo turned seven months old! I remember during puppy training the trainer telling us that one of the most difficult periods in raising a dog happens between about seven and eleven months. We’ll see how the next few…

This past weekend Theo had his first play date at our house, with his “niece”—my son and daughter-in-law’s two-year-old Wheaten Terrier! Pebbles has a very friendly disposition and is super energetic! The two of them ran around the house…

Two weeks post-surgery, Theo is completely healed. What better way to celebrate than to give him an opportunity to spend a morning with some puppies and doggies at a doggy day care! 

I found a lady fairly close to…

Theo is healing nicely from his surgery. A couple more days and he should be ready to go back to his regular routine. For now, we are still carrying him up and down the stairs, lifting him onto and…

Our family hasn’t participated in Halloween for over 20 years. However, knowing that I couldn’t deter costumed kids from coming up to our house and ringing our doorbell AND knowing that our little Theo is highly social, we decided…

If you are like me, one of your greatest wishes for your children is that they will have a best friend or two. My wish is no less great for my puppy Theo. When we go out for a walk,…

This past week was Theo’s final class for puppy training. As per usual, as soon as I pulled him out of his car seat and he realized where he was, he couldn’t wait to jump out of my arms and…

For the first year of a puppy’s life, there will be many firsts. Here are a few our little Theo experienced within the past week or so. 

FIRST SNOW 

We had a dusting of snow earlier this October;…

Those who know me well—or who have been paying attention—know that I have really struggled since we brought our little Theo home. There are so many things that have gone south and every week I feel like I am at…

One week shy of Theo’s five-month birthday, we decided that it was high time that he got a haircut. With this fall’s dewy mornings and unusually wet weather, it was becoming quite tedious to dry him after each walk;…

This was definitely a tough week here in Puppyland. 

Theo woke up Tuesday morning as usual, gobbled up his breakfast (as usual), then suddenly got very agitated, pawing the gate to get out of the kitchen. I thought he…

This week, Theo attended his very first puppy-training class! The instructor is the same young lady who gave us one-on-one training for Theo back in late August. 

My friend suggested I buy a puppy backpack and take the first-day-of-school…

I started this past week feeling drained. With two books launching over the space of a couple of months, I haven’t been able to take weekends off because I have so little time during the week to actually get work…

This past week our focus was on socialization and new adventures for our little Theo. We heard from both the vet and the trainer that it is very important to introduce puppies to as many people and situations as possible…

There has been so much going on in my life that I am a week behind in my posts, but because of the significance of Week 7, I felt it was important not to skip sharing the breakthroughs we had…

When I tell people that I am finding owning a puppy really exhausting, there are basically two different responses: 1) (head nods in understanding and agreement); and 2) “Why?” 

Most people agree that having a new puppy in the…