Athena is Home!!!!

We went and got Athena today!!!! It was so exciting and it was a pleasure meeting Heidi. I actually feel bad taking Athena away from Heidi but I just love Athena so much, Heidi was so sad to see Athena go. Heidi gave me a big hug and said "Just take good care of her" I will until the day either me or Athena dies. Athena is a doll though. Although Athena had a couple accidents on her way home, she was very good and all she did was lay in my lap the whole ride. (Pictures of the ride home are on our Page "Growing Up Athena"). Like a typical puppy, she saw her reflection in our dishwasher and thought it was another puppy. She growled at it and let out a little bark and then ran/pranced away from it, so proud of herself.

Cleaning Complete!!!!

Getting the house ready for Athena was more work than I thought it would be, we are finally done doing a MAJOR clean of the house (extra caution because it is rental property and I don't know the health history of any pets here before us)...So everything has been cleaned to the maximum it can be. And Stormy and Gus did not make it an easy task. While I was sweeping the floor Stormy came tearing through the house, hit the hard floor and slid right through the pile I had swept up, it made me laugh but I had to sweep it all back up again. Then Gus kept trying to attack the vacuum and got himself so worked up he started pooping, that I didn't laugh at so much. Took him outside to go potty AGAIN, cleaned up the poop, and then crated him for the rest of my cleaning. Very eventful evening of cleaning.

Puppy Week!!!

Next week is puppy week at daycare and sure enough that will be the first week that Athena will be attending. It's so fun because my boss has decided to use Athena to teach the children about dog safety and also to teach them about dogs. I am smiling ear to ear. I asked my boss if we can split it up between the end of this week and next week, that way the children learn about dog safety before there is a live dog and then the next week to refresh their memories and have a live dog to practice what they learned. She thinks it is a great idea and I am in charge of the whole project. This is going to be so much fun!! Athena is going to love all of the attention.

The Countdown Continues

The countdown continues....we have the crate set up and the Rope Bear sitting in the car all waiting as excitement filled as I am, I can't believe I'm finally going to get my very first German Shepherd. I can't wait to go get Athena on Saturday, but first we are going to visit with James' Dad. Stormy and Gus are going to be riding along with us!!! It's going to be a long road trip but I am really hoping for a good one that runs smoothly :)

Countdown to Get Athena!!!!

Planning the Drive...

Looked up the directions to go get Athena, 8 hours and 48 minutes ROUND TRIP.....Wow!!! We are leaving Friday night (21st of June 2013) and making a stop at James' Dad's house and spending the night there. First thing Saturday morning we are going to head out to get Athena, visit with Heidi a little if possible and then a straight shot home!!! It's going to be a long ride to get there but I bet the ride home is just going to fly by, I can't wait to see her reaction to her very own brand new crate and bed. I hope she is not scared of it, the way Heidi described her I am guessing there wont be much at all that scares this cute pup.

Meet Athena's siblings

I think it's time to introduce Athena's "siblings" as I call them. Obviously not her true litter mates, but our other pets.

This is Stormy, she is a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix, and Athena's big sister. Although Athena will outgrow her in no time at all, she is still older and therefore the "big" sister. Stormy is only about 35 pounds and stands 17 inches high, she will be 5 years old in September. Her breeds are definitely pronounced in the amount of energy this dog can dish out, 6 mile walk (with some jogging) and she doesn't even lay down when we get back home, she is all over the place. Stormy is also my very first dog (not ever in my whole life, but my own personally). I grew up with dogs my entire life and she was the first one that was "mine". She was a rescue from a local organization, Partners for Pets.

This is Gus (aka Gustav), he is a Australian Cattle Dog/Pit bull mix, and Athena's big brother. Athena will probably also outgrow him, he weighs about 45 pounds, slightly bigger than Stormy. We rescued Gus from another local "rescue" that specializes in Lab rescue. He didn't fit their dog specifications so they were going to have him put down, claiming he was 3-5 years old. I couldn't stand by and watch such a lovely dog get put to sleep just because he wasn't a breed of dog they wanted to work with, they even had him isolated from everything as if he was a dangerous dog. It turned out his "dog aggression" wasn't even aggression. He had no clue how to interact with dogs, it was obvious nobody had worked with him at all. We took him home to Stormy and now they do wonderful together, she taught him just as a mommy dog would. And have you ever heard an old dog can't learn new tricks? Or that old dogs get set in their ways and can't be "fixed" of their bad habits? We took Gus to the vet and the vet's exact quote was "3-5? no, this dog is much closer to double digits" and he is.

This is a picture of Gus sitting in the car with my Mom's Chihuahua, I can see how aggressive he is toward that tiny dog, can't you?

Getting Ready

We have a crate set up for Athena :) complete with orthopedic bed. I think she will really like it. Only 11 more days until we will bring her home, it's so exciting. I can't wait to bring her home and I think about her all day long, but I think that makes the days go so much slower because I'm looking forward to that day so much. I bought her a toy to give her when we go pick her up. It's a rope bear toy, really cute. I figured every little girl needs a teddy bear when you bring her home.

This is the bear. I think she will destroy it in a matter of days/hours but at least she will have something for the ride home. It will be a long ride home, about 2 hours or more. I hope she doesn't get car sick or have an accident in the car, we will make a stop half way JUST in case...

Welcome Athena Lovers

Hello everyone, this is Athena (for those of you who don't know) and in this picture she is a little over 6 weeks old. The picture was taken 6/10/13 and she turns 7 weeks old on 6/13/13. APCC is the place I got her from, Heidi Soward is the trainer/breeder of these beautiful dogs, who is also the owner of APCC. I have a google+ community of Athena also which has the first 6 weeks of her life up until this point. But enough of all that stuff, this is all about Athena and her life growing up, including her "siblings" (our other dogs which at this point is Stormy and Gus, and later I'm sure there will be others) and any other adventures she comes across. The plan for this blog is to bring people in, to view the life of a German Shepherd through Athena's eyes, letting people know everything there is to know. We will try not to bore and any comments or suggestions are welcome at any time. Athena will be coming home on 6/22/13 and that is when the REAL fun will begin, until then I will update with everything I find out until I get her. Growing Up Athena on Google Plus Communities, Click Here.