Sunday, May 7, 2017

This Is The One!

Today I want to continue the story of the three little rescue Doberman puppies that we took on in April last year. In the photos in this post, Princess and Lily are about ten weeks old and they were taken in the last four days when we had both puppies. Elsa, the third puppy, was already adopted out to someone who looked she was giving her a good home.



At that point, the two remaining puppies were relentless in their desire to play with Skylar, our red adult Dobie boy, who was mostly a good sport and put up with them.



Here Skylar is wrestling with Lily, do you see how he is holding her down with his right front leg? Of course, Princess wants to be part of the game, too.



Lily found a way to free herself from Skylar's grip.



The two pups also enjoyed playing with each other...



...but somehow bugging Skylar was even more fun.



Often all three dogs loved involving their humans into their play as well. Yes, these are famous Doberman teeth!



Sometimes it pays off to hide between the legs of the master.



But not for too long and then it was on with the game with Skylar again. And when one puppy was playing with Skylar the second one wasn't too far away...



...and most often ready to join the action.



Lily proudly claiming a garden chair.



Skylar trying to discipline Lily,



...which worked for a moment: She is rolling on her back and showing her belly in submission towards him.



Little Lily practicing the "Doberman attitude".



Lily: "You don't want to play with me anymore?"



Lily: "Hah, I know there was a way to get you engaged again."



But sometimes even the puppies had enough from their play and climbed on their master's warm legs to rest and relax.



Or, for even more comfort they climbed on top of each other on their master's legs and exhaustedly fell a sleep.



Princess, on the left and Lily, on the right being alert.



Lily: "Can I have your toy?"



Lily: "Heh, didn't you hear me, can I have your toy?"



For my husband and me, these last days were bittersweet since we finally had made our decision which puppy to keep and we knew it was only a matter of time until we had to let go of the second puppy.

In the end, we choose Lily to stay with us. It was incredibly hard to make a pick between her and Princess since we loved them both so much and they were very good puppies.

Lily had a slightly lower energy level than Princess, which we preferred and also seemed to be the most confident puppy out of the three, which indicated that she could become a good balancing companion for our a somewhat anxious boy Skylar. It also looked like Lily felt emotionally more drawn to me whereas Princess seem to prefer my husband. Since Skylar is already "my husband's boy" we hoped that Lily would pick me as her primary "go-to human". 

We also consulted with our very knowledgeable and highly valued dog trainer and friend Alexandra Gant (Behave!), before making our decision. She thought that out of the three puppies Lily would be the best fit for Skylar and us and we took her advice into serious consideration when making our decision.



So it was Princess that we needed to say goodbye to. She got adopted by a Doberman lover, who had already an adult Doberman girl and we believe that she is in a very good home. Nonetheless, writing this post made my eyes tearing up and I am feeling a big lump in my throat. It is incredible how attached we got to the puppies in the brief five to six weeks we had the privilege to take care of them. 

I will continue to write about Lily and her development and I hope that you will enjoy following how she grows up from a cute and silly puppy into a beautiful mature Doberman girl. 

If you like to read and see more of our adorable little rescue Doberman pups, you find my older posts about them here: 



Wishing everyone a great week! 

Warm regards, 

Christina

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25 comments:

  1. What a beautiful post. I am sure you can tell that I adore dogs and love mine so very much. The pictures are great and I really commend you on being able to make a choice, knowing me I would have kept them both.

    I have 2 rescued dogs - Waldo a border collie and he is my shadow and sweet Lili, she is lab/dalmatian. She never barks and is so sweet. Waldo, is all boy and is my buddy.

    Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful photos of your family.

    Have a great week.
    PS if you stop by my post you will see Waldo and Lili.
    Mary

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    1. Mary, thanks for your kind words about my post and photos!
      I was going back and forth about keeping two puppies or maybe even all three, but Dobermans are dogs that need a lot of attention to be happy and satisfied so we thought that with my husband and I both working we couldn't do three or four dogs justice. They also need to be trained properly to be "good dogs" and that takes a lot of time and we were afraid that we wouldn't have the energy for three or even four of them.
      In the hindsight it was the right decision to keep only one puppy. Lily together with Skylar are really keeping us on our toes :-)!

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  2. I'm glad Elsa, Princess and Lily had the benefit of such great foster parents and that all found good homes, Christina. Has Skylar come to appreciate his companion?

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  3. What a beautiful breathtaking post Christina. It's great to read that your Princess found a new wonderful home.
    Have a beautiful week ahead.
    Marijke

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  4. Good desison. Princess found a good home. You can be proud of yourself to save the puppies. Groetjes Hetty

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  5. This was such a beautiful post that touched my heart.

    Making decisions can be tough. Lily and Princess both have loving homes.

    I look forward to seeing more of Lily & Skylar in your beautiful gardens.

    Happy May ~ FlowerLady

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  6. You can take comfort in knowing that you were able to give these three babies a safe and loving home. Without you their lives could have been very different and not necessarily in a good way. It is nice that you were able to keep Lily. I enjoyed reading about your experienceexperience.

    Barbara
    FairMeadowPlace.blogspot.com

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    1. Barbara, my husband and I truly feel that taking in these three puppies and trying to give them a good start into their life was one of the best things that we have ever done. It was incredible much work, very exhausting, but so rewarding and so much fun at the same time.
      We are also very grateful that we were able to keep at least one of them. Even though Lily is very sweet, it has turned out that she is quite a challenge for us at times. But more about that in future posts ;-)!
      It makes me happy that you enjoyed following our rescue puppy story! To be continued...

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  7. What wonderful photos of all that puppy exuberance! I'm sure it was incredibly difficult to pick one and let the others go. The dogs are all beautiful.

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  8. What a beautiful post. I love puppies and really admire those of you who do rescue work. Blessings to you!

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  9. Your adorable puppies fulfilled my need for cuteness today!

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  10. What a lovely bunch! All looking so healthy too :)

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  11. What beautiful puppies. It is wonderful that they got the best possible start in life at a home where they were loved and cared for. A very happy story!

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    Replies
    1. Hoover Boo, they are beautiful, aren't they? Not that beauty is what really matters in a dog, but it is a nice additional feature. For Dobermans breed by a backyard breeder, who obviously didn't care much about the dogs, they turned out remarkably well in terms of their looks.

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  12. Están muy bonitos. Saludos.

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  13. Such a sweet, touching story about second chances and love. Every photo brims over with happiness. I have made friends with terrier rescue groups, and I hope to take pictures at their annual picnic. I look forward to more adventures with Skylar and Lily!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Micheal, now that you say it, I actually do think the puppies were happy!
      How wonderful that you have made friends with terrier rescue groups. I hope you get to take photos at their annual picnic. To photograph dogs is so much fun. Before we had our own dogs I wasn't aware how developed their facial expression and body language is.

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  14. What cute little puppers and they were having a ball! Thank you for sharing with us at Celebrate Your Story, and I hope you’re having a great weekend.

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  15. So much fun to read this post! Totally adorable, and I understand how hard your decision had to be! I look forward to watching Lily grow!

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  16. They sure do look like they are having a lot of fun! The puppies are adorable! Look forward to seeing more of Lily. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  17. So ein schöner Post, liebe Christina.
    Ja, das kann ich verstehen, dass ihr traurig wart
    als ihr euch dann von Princess trennen musstet.
    Sie wird es bestimmt gut haben bei ihrem
    neuen Besitzer!
    Ganz viele sonnige Grüße
    sendet dir die Urte

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  18. Christina, I love the natural ears and tails on your Dobies! I don't really know much about dogs, but I've heard this breed called a "Velcro dog," which is so cute really!

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  19. Jean, we love Dobermans with natural ears and tails, too :-)! I have heard too, that Dobermans can almost be clingy to their owners, but our big boy is very different. He is very devoted to us, but keeps often a little bit of a physical distance and definitively needs his "don't touch me I need to process and rest" - time out". The younger girl though seems to fit the "Velcro image". She likes physical contact and prefers to sleep at and on our feet or even better on the TV couch with her head touching our sighs or is placed in our lap. It is very fascinating to me that both dogs have very developed but entirely individual personalities.

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  20. Dear Christina,
    I hope you´re fine! I miss reading your blog posts and hope you soon find time for blogging again. I´d love to read more about your garden and beautiful gardens you visit.
    Best wishes,
    Lisa

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  21. So glad I finally got around to visiting. You made my day with this post...just can't help but smile. Sorry you couldn't keep both puppies but I'm sure all will be happy.

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