Christmas Ficus 2, Coco 0

We have a ficus with Christmas lights on it. Since it's the holiday season we have plugged the lights in so they twinkle at night. Coco has decided that the twinkling lights are some sort of enemy so she's taken to growling and barking at it. She's perfectly fine with the ficus when the lights are off but when the lights are on, she starts barking like crazy.

Poor pup. She thinks that the lights are going to somehow harm her (or us.) The past 2 nights we've had the lights on and each night she will growl and bark at the poor unsuspecting ficus. Hopefully Coco will eventually get used to the lights and stop terrorizing our Christmas ficus.

December haircut

Coco's hair has been getting long so we decided to give her a haircut tonight.

Before haircut


After haircut


More random photos from after her haircut

New Photos

It has been awhile since I've posted photos of Coco. She is almost 9 months old and 5lbs 5 oz. She's grown quite a bit and it surprises me how long she's gotten. She can reach things which I had previously thought out of her reach. O.o She still has a ton of spunk and energy. She'll play with you for as long as you'll let her.

It's been getting a bit cold around here so she's started wearing her sweater. She likes the sweater because it provides a lot of warmth but it hinders her ability to play since she can't move around as fast when she's wearing it.

First Thanksgiving

Coco had the best Thanksgiving a pup could ask for. She had her first taste of turkey and persimmon. My dad proved to be unable to resist her large puppy dog eyes and couldn't help sneaking her bits of food every now and then. She got quite the treat everytime she'd sit in front of my dad and look up at him hoping for some yummy food. My dad wasn't satsified giving her normal treats; he had to give her turkey or some other human food. Needless to say, my dad has become Coco's favorite person.

Coco roamed freely around my parents house the entire long weekend. She had a lot of fun sitting in my sister's rooms or following people around the house. She loved the long weekend because everyone was home and she always had someone to follow around to see what they were doing -- a definite curious pup.

It was a memorable weekend and Coco thoroughly enjoed herself. She shared in food and lots of quality family time.

Fort Funston

Coco went to the beach for the first time ever. She loved it and learned that sand is just as fun as grass. She could run around in the sand forever. Coco had the pleasure of sharing her beach time with her favorite playmate: Sadie. We spend the morning at Fort Funston and the two ran around so long that they tired themselves out.

My favorite photo of Coco. She's on a rock looking at her surroundings


Coco and Sadie together

A New Toy: The Carrot

Coco has been teething quite a bit lately. We can see the adult teeth coming in and trying to take over the spot of the baby tooth. Some of Coco's baby teeth are still firmly in her mouth and aren't even the least bit loose. In an effort to help her get rid of her baby teeth we've been giving her hard things to gnaw on.

Yesterday I gave her a carrot to see if she was receptive to it. Previously I had given it to her and she hadn't shown any interest in it. Yesterday, however, she decided that a carrot was the best vegetable on earth and attacked it. She spent an hour gnawing and chewing on it until she finished the entire carrot. She got upset whenever I'd interrupt her carrot feasting and would always go back to it. When I walked into another room, she'd regretfully pause her carrot eating and trot to where I was to see what I was doing. When I returned to the family room, she gleefully raced back to her carrot and resumed munching.

I'm happy to report that Coco has learned how tasty the carrot can be. It is a win-win situation. She gets something to occupy her time, gets something to eat, and chews on something which will help loosen her baby teeth.

First Night Away From Home

Coco went to her spay appointment today. The vet is going to keep her overnight to monitor her progress and make sure she heals after the spay surgery appropriately. Tonight will be her first night away from home. She was so scared when Ming dropped her off at the vet. I hope she doesn't panic too much and still eats the meals she'll receive at the vet's office.

Agility Photos

Coco loves to jump and run around. We finally caught some photos of her in action going around the backyard. As you can see, she loves to jump and go for her little rubber ball.

Teething Update

Coco's teething has hurt so much that she can't really eat from her food bowl anymore. She'll eat out of our hands but not when the food is in her bowl. She's lost an ounce in a few days just because she hasn't eaten much. We finally figured out the problem was that the food was too hard for her (since many of her teeth have fallen out and she is waiting for the new ones to come in.) The solution was to do what you do for elderly people: make the food softer and easier to chew. With just a few sprinkles of water the kibble instantly became easier to eat for her and she kept craving more food. I fed her her normal ration of food this morning and she kept looking up at the bag of food wanting me to feed her more from it.

I'm glad she's eating again and hopefully won't continue on this downward trend of losing weight -- she isn't that fat.

At 5 months old she weighs 4 lbs 14 oz

C-Town, Partying, and Teeth

Coco had an interesting weekend. She went to San Francisco's Chinatown for the first time. She saw the man that says "happy happy happy" and all the tourists that loiter around Chinatown. She stayed in our arms the entire time since there is no way you'd want any dog to try to walk around the dirty streets of C-town. She got a ton of attention and everyone did double takes just to walk around and see her again.

After Chinatown we, her mommy and daddy, painted the town red and partied until the wee hours of the night. She was a good sport and was awake and lively when we came home from our late night out. When we came home she wanted to play with us and give us lots of little kisses.

Tonight we discovered the reason why Coco has suddenly developed an aversion to eating. She's started teething and has started to lose her baby teeth. We found a baby tooth on the kitchen floor and realized that her adult teeth are coming in. Wonders of wonders ... little Coco is growing up and starting to make the transition from a puppy into an adult.

Weekend of Fun and Progress

Coco had a weekend full of fun and excitement. Her "weekend" began on Thursday with another of her puppy kindergarten classes. This time she did really well and actually started to socialize more with the other puppies. Instead of instantly running to a human for attention and affection she also started to feel out the other puppies. She started to sniff at the other puppies and start following them around. She did much better at this class with the socialization with other puppies.

On Friday she met several new human friends. They all thought she was adorable and she lapped up the attention. She enjoyed the smells of BBQ and ran around to each person asking for more affection.



On Saturday she met a chihuahua, Bee. The chihuahua and her actually did quite well together (it probably helped that they were the same size.) Coco kept sniffing at Bee and wanting to play with him. When we put her in her crate she'd whine because she wanted to explore more of Bee. When the two of them were put in the crate together they'd take opposite corners of one another and alternate between smelling one another and pretending the other didn't exist. She did very well with him and kept trying to get him to play with her.
Coco and Bee Photos



Sunday was her best day. She met another Maltese, Sadie, and the two of them did really well together. They were like two peas in a pod. They'd constantly follow one another and had a ball. They played just like the bigger dogs do, constantly running around and playing together. They had a terrific morning/afternoon together and were sad one the play date had to end. Even though they'd never met prior to today, they bonded instantly. We left the two of them together when we went out to get lunch and I don't think they missed us at all.
Coco and Sadie Photos

Coco is currently passed out due to all the activity she had today. She ran around more today than she has ever run before. Tomorrow, after a good night's rest, she'll be back to her normal high energy level.

Random July Photos

More random photos that we took of Coco because she just looked too cute

Puppy Kindergarten

Yes. There is a such thing as puppy kindergarten and yes, Coco is enrolled in one. Today was the first day of her class. The main goal is to teach the puppy correct socialization habits. The class was split up into small breeds and large breed dogs. In the small breeds section Coco was able to play with 2 havaneses, a maltipoo, and a chihuahua. It turns out she became very timid around all the other dogs and didn't want to play with any of them. :( She became my shadow and followed me around everywhere I went. She'd also seek out affection from any of the other owners but didn't have any interest in playing with the other puppies. *sigh*

Hopefully next week she'll progress a bit further and want to start interacting more with the other dogs. It looks like we'll have to arrange some puppy play dates with our friends who have dogs to help her get used to the fact that there are other dogs out there in the world and that she's got to learn to play with them.

She came back from the class happy and tired, making bath time really easy this time.

As I write this post she is completely passed out and could easily sleep through the night.

Chewing on Pee Pad

Coco has picked up a nasty habit of chewing on her pee pad. In the beginning she'd just move it around in her pen. Now she has realized that she can chew on it and send all of the stuffing (which would soak up her pee) flying all over the place. The past two days I've come home from work only to see her covered completely in white stuffing and bits and pieces of the pee pad everywhere.

It was so hard to try to comb out all of the stuffing from her fur (some had even lodged itself into the fur on her face) that she got an impromptu bath to help get rid of all the pee pad remnants.

Since we don't want her to rip up her pee pad everyday, thereby not giving herself a place to pee when we aren't home we started to hunt for alternative solutions. We gave bitter apple a try and, surprise, surprise, it worked. The bitter apple has proven an effective deterent if sprayed on both sides of the pee pad. The first time I used it I only put it on the top side of the pee pad. Coco quickly realized that only one side of the pee pad tasted awful and proceeded to just tear up the back side of the pee pad (sans bitter apple.) The next time we used it we got smarter and put bitter apple on both sides of the pee pad. Presto. Ming came home today from lunch and saw the pee pad was still in tact. Coco didn't have any stuffing on her and she still had a place to pee. Hallelujah! I am forever indebted to the guy who invented this stuff.

No More Puppy Shots

This past weekend Coco finished receiving all of her puppy shots. She can now go out and conquer! Well, by conquer it means she can go out into the real world and take walks, etc. since she's been immunized against all of the deadly dog diseases.

She didn't take kindly to the shots (she never does) but held up like a trooper. For the first time she didn't squeal when the needle went in and she got plenty of dog treats to keep her happy.

Coco got plenty of love this weekend since we were home nearly the entire time and played with her as much as possible. She also got some backyard playtime, meaning she was able to freely run around on the lawn, her favorite thing to do.

Coco is becoming a bit of a chunky monkey. At the vet's office she weighed in at 3 lb 15 oz. She is 11 in long and 9 in tall.

4th of July

July 4th was a very boring day for Coco. We had a friend over and BBQed with him. Ming did work around the house and I prepared for the BBQ. Coco was left just watching us work and not having any time to play with her.

It was also 90+ degrees outside so it was very warm in the house. Here she is bored with nothing to do in the excruciating heat

Recent Photos

Below are some recent photos of Coco. She is in need of a haircut!





Coco has made her pig an alien. She manged to sever the loop at the top and make it a pair of antennas

Food Coma

Food coma is a common term to describe what happens when you eat too much. After gorging yourself on a lot of food (think during Thanksgiving) all you can do is plop down onto a couch and fall promptly asleep. Puppies also experience food coma.

Over the weekend we started to feed Coco more food since the vet said she wasn't eating enough. When we got her we thought she was a bit "chunky" at 2lbs 13 ounces. On Saturday we went to the vet and she weighed 2lbs 11 ounces -- she had lost 2 ounces in a matter of 2 weeks. After that we decided to give her more food.

Her first meal after coming back from the vet's office was lunch. I gave her a 1/3 of a can of dog food mixed with some dry kibble (more than her normal ration of it.) As always, Coco had a healthy appetite and devoured the food. After eating, however. she was so full that she didn't know what to do with herself. She was too full to want to run around like she normally does. We decided that she didn't look like she wanted to be out and roaming around freely in the house so we put her in her pen. Upon putting her in her pen, she promptly fell asleep.

Coco had eaten so much that all she could do was sleep. She decided that sleep was the best way to deal with food coma.

Coco's lesson: don't eat so much food. Leave some for later
My lesson: don't give Coco too much food else I won't have a puppy to play with for a few hours

Prized possession

Ever wonder why the cheapest toys are always the best? Coco's favorite toy for a few days was a cardboard paper towel roll. Now, she's moved on to empty plastic water bottles. She will chew on these things for hours! She loves to pick the water bottle up and hold it in her mouth and run off to the living room with her head and tail high up in the air. Maybe I'll surprise her one of these days and leave a lot of water in the bottle ;)

A weekend affair

Coco had quite the set of experiences this weekend. In summary, she got sick from eating weeds in the lawn, socialized with a toddler, and got a ton of attention from Cindy's family. Saturday was Coco's usual routine. After a long Friday with very little attention (Cindy was at work, and I had an all day meeting and couldn't visit her during my normal lunch hour), I learned just how resourceful she was at escaping. After Wednesday's great escape, we decided to put her pen in the kitchen, close both doors, and then block off the entry way to the dining room with some cardboard boxes. In hindsight, we are idiots. Dogs can chew through cardboard!! When I got home, she was waiting in the foyer and there was a trail of cardboard chewings from the kitchen through the living room. .

With that behind us, Saturday was fairly uneventful. Cindy left Coco in the yard while she did some gardening and she had a grand 'ol time romping around in the lawn and chewing on the many weeds in the lawn. This is pretty normal -- she loves the flowery weeds and will chew on a handful of them before she goes back in the house. But, with Cindy gardening, she had an extended playtime. Not too long after Cindy left for an event, Coco threw up a whole mess of partially digested flower buds in her pen and proceed to spend the next few hours feeling ill and occasionally dry heaving. By the time Cindy got home, she was back in good spirits, but it was a tough lesson.

Sunday was Coco's first quiet night! She actually stayed content and let us sleep in an extra hour or two. Her reward for that was a few hours with a toddler! The two of them were like peas in a pod. Coco followed Maya around the house like a happy puppy and Maya was enthralled by Coco and loved to give her toys to play with. Needless to say, we forsee a bright future between these two. The afternoon was pretty uneventful. I kept her in the pen while I installed a new kitchen faucet, but the evening was filled with activity when Cindy's family arrived. Coco romped around with Cindy's sister for a few hours and got more than her fill of love and attention.

What Do I Look Like?

I look like this!

I am one smart puppy!

Hi everybody! Today I figured out how to get into Daddy's blog account so I could give you my first hand view of my new home. First off, I have to say that I am one super cute and smart pup! Yesterday, I learned to escape from my pen and surprised Mommy and Daddy. I don't think they have any clue of how I did it. I learned that I can use the wall to shimmy up the side of the pen and escape into the dining room. Today, I was able to hop on top of my crate and from there, I have a nice birds-eye view of everything.

I woke up my mommy and surprised her today. Daddy left me in my pen while he went to get ready for work. I worked my way out of the pen and ran to mommy and daddy's room. Mommy woke up and was surprised to see me exploring their room.

There are so many new scents and places to explore. I hope that I get to see Mommy and Daddy more. They seem to be out of the house for most of the day and I get lonely in my pen. At least today they left me some peanut butter and other treats, but I have to figure out how to get it out of this rubbery Kong.

Starting to Settle in

Yesterday marked the beginning of several firsts for Coco:
- first started eating all of her food without needing to be coaxed
- started responding to the treats we bought her (instead of shying away from it)
- started to seem to get the idea that she had to go potty outdoors. Sometimes she tries to hold it until Ming comes home from lunch to take her outdoors.

We went to visit the vet a few days ago and Coco weighed in at 2 lbs 13 oz. She is well on her way to growing up to be a big puppy. Her parents were 6 lbs so her adult weight should be in the same neighborhood -- that is, if we don't overfeed her or under exercise her

First Meeting

We first met Coco on May 1st along with her litter mates and parents. She had plenty of fun hiding from us in various places. When we finally found her from one of her favorite hiding spots (between the stove and the cabinet) we fell in love and instantly knew she was a new addition to our family.

Due to our hectic schedule we left Coco with her breeder until the beginning of June (when we'd have more time to properly care for her)