therapy dog training

Mavis at Eight Months

Okay, how is Mavis already eight months old?! She’s growing up so fast! I brought her home at eight weeks old, and she was so tiny. Now she’s almost fully grown!

Cocker Spaniel puppy at eight weeks and eight months

New Things

  • Mavis graduated Adult Level I training classes in January and moved on to Adult Level II! She is doing wonderful in her Adult II classes and continues to impress me with how fast she can learn. She now knows how to do “paw” and we are hoping to teach her other fun tricks along with her basic commands.

Cocker spaniel at Petco Positive Dog Training

  • She has been practicing her training in different places like the library, bank, and stores to really keep her focus on meeting and interacting with people in hopes of working towards becoming a therapy dog.
  • Mavis no longer uses her crate except to sleep in it at night with the door open. We now put her and Lola in our spare bedroom when we leave the house and we haven’t had any chewing or bathroom accidents. We watch and talk to them on the Petzi Cam and it’s adorable!

Dogs on Petzi treat cam

Hard Things

  • She has been trying to counter surf! This is kind of funny because she’s so little, but man can she jump. She has swiped a few things off of our counters, so we really have to watch her.
  • She’s still in that “teenage” phase of puppyhood and can just be really challenging sometimes! I have to remind myself that she’s still learning and growing.
  • I was recently walking two other dogs with Mavis and her leash slipped out of my hand. She ran straight to one of my other clients’ doors, LOL. It gave me a heart attack, but it was also adorable the she remembered where her friend lives! Note to self: work on recall more.
Cocker spaniel and golden retriever sitting on couch

Mavis ran from me to try and see her golden retriever friend!

Other Things

    • She still hasn’t gone into heat yet, but I’m guessing she will before her first birthday.
    • Now that she’s out of her crate at night, she tries to sleep on the bed with us. It’s cute, but she’s not allowed!
    • She’s very social. She likes being with people and dogs. She plays really hard with all of my pet sitting clients and then crashes when we get home.
    • She enjoys playing in the snow and tries to eat it.
    • She loves riding in the car. She gets all excited when she knows we’re going somewhere.

Cocker spaniel puppy in car therapy dog in training

I think that’s everything for Mavis’ eight month update! She’s our wild, sassy, and fun little pup and we love her so much!

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All Sorts of Exciting Things

Hey hey! I have all sorts of excitement to share today. Some things big, some small. All blessings!

First of all, my dad was ordained as an elder in our church on Sunday. Serving as an elder isn’t an easy job, but I know he’s going to do great. I really look up to my dad for so many reasons, but most of all for his faith in God. It amazes me that he he runs two successful businesses, studies God’s Word each day, serves in our church, and still takes time to do things like read and comment on my blog. He’s an awesome guy and I feel very blessed to call him my dad.

Another big exciting thing: my cousin is now a police officer! He graduated from the police academy in Upstate New York on Saturday and my parents, bother, and sister-in-law made a quick trip to see him.

Police academy graduation

Okay, let’s talk about the weather. Last week in Pittsburgh, it was cold. We often woke up to temperatures in the negatives and high temperatures were in the teens and twenties if it was a “warm” day. Yesterday, it was in the 30s and snowy and I was so happy! After the bitter cold of last week, 30 degrees has never felt so balmy! How’s the weather where you are?

Moving on to pet sitting, I finally created a business name and website! For years, I was just Allie Zottola… the pet sitting girl that people knew and would recommend. Now, I am the owner and operator of Muddy Paws Pet Sitting and I couldn’t be more excited! I didn’t think I’d ever have enough regular clients to warrant my own business, but God has been very good to me. Maybe I’ll talk about this more in another post?!

Girl walking cocker spaniel puppy

Speaking of businesses, my sister opened an Etsy shop! As if she wasn’t busy enough with nursing school and the million other things she does. I don’t know how she does it all. She’s currently selling hand lettered canvases. Go Hannie!

Other exciting things:

  • Jimmy and I should be getting a SunBasket (meal kit) delivery today! Can’t wait to try it out.
  • Our basement now has “smart” light switches. Jimmy wired recessed lighting into our basement and added some high-tech light switches that we can control from our phones. I just need to figure out how to do that 😉
  • Jimmy has his second violin lesson tonight. I don’t think I mentioned it, but I gave him a violin + lessons for Christmas. So far, it has been introductory stuff, but he’s excited to start playing!
  • Our little therapy dog in training has been to the Dollar Tree (twice!), TJ Maxx, and the bank and did great interacting with people!
  • I just got a new dog and cat cookbook in the mail yesterday and I can’t wait to start reading it. Does that make me a total dork?

Dinner Pawsible pet cookbook

Okay, I think that’s all the excitement I have to share! Well, one last thing, but it’s a question. My cousin’s daughter is turning one soon and I’m not sure what to get her for her birthday. Any suggestions?

What exciting things have been happening in your life lately?