Hello Sherri and Rog-

It’s been about 2.5 months since we picked up Hapa from you folks and things are going well with him.  He assimilated very quickly and was a fast learner when potty training him and kennel training him.  In fact, he mastered both within 2 weeks!  He’s definitely showing characteristics of being a pup: curious, loves to play, easily excitable and your occasional accident.  But what we’ve been impressed with is his kind tempered manner and his ability to learn very quickly.  Hapa’s also become accustomed to having a baby around.  He’s great with Sienna when playing and loves to check on her when he hears her cry.  Although, he definitely gets a little jealous when we give her all of the attention!  All in all, we couldn’t be happier with Hapa.  He’s been a great addition to the family and we know our little Sienna will love growing up with her “brother”!

Hope all is well.  God Bless.

Warm Regards,

Norm, Christine and Sienna

 

I can’t believe how fast my first year has gone!  It seems like just yesterday that I was born, and then a few weeks later, I was a TV star.  Soon after that, I was adopted by my forever home, just in time for Christmas!  

I grew up really fast, and am so tall and big now.  Not to mention powerful.  I love my brothers, Jacob, Henry and Daniel.  And I know they love me because they have taught me all sorts of tricks and they are always hugging on me (even though I'm bigger than Daniel and weigh more than Henry!).   

I know my mom and dad love me too; even when I have an accident in the house.  That doesn’t happen very often though.  I am pretty good about telling them when I need to go outside.  My dad is so funny; when he comes home from work, I RUN to the door and greet him and he seems SO happy to see me, even when he is really tired.  My mom usually lets me ride in the car when she goes to pick the boys up at school, and that is my favorite thing to do!  I don’t like when they have to leave me at home, but I usually just take a nap or chew on my chew toy.  I still have “Tiger” who came with me when I came here, but I amputated his leg, so mom had to put him up.  He was just so much fun to chew up!  He didn’t seem to mind only having 3 legs, but mom didn’t like that I took out some of his stuffing too.  My favorite thing to chew, though, is all those dirty boy socks in the house!  Mom keeps saying that if those boys would just put their dirty laundry in the laundry baskets, they wouldn’t find me chewing on the socks, but really I take them out of the baskets too, so it wouldn’t help much.  I guess I look pretty guilty when I have a sock in my mouth; I try to run away really fast when anyone comes near.  But when they say “DROP IT”, I will, because I don’t like to be a trouble maker.  I'm actually pretty sweet, except for the sock thing.    

I have lots of friends in the neighborhood too.  I love running in the back yard with Buddy, the next door neighbor’s black lab.  He thinks he can beat me from one end of the yard to the other, but I usually win.  And, Rascal, the “new kid” on the block is so funny.  He comes over all the time to play with me.  Though he is smaller than me and younger, I am really gentle with him.  His owner knows if he isn’t in their yard, he can find Rascal in my yard.  Grace and Amos live kitty-corner from me and we always meet at the point where the fences all come together.  I don’t know the other neighbor’s little dog, but he barks a lot and wants to play with us “big kids”.  Yogi lives across the street; he is a sheep dog.  I looked like him this summer until mom got my hair trimmed (boy, was dad mad!) and then I looked a little less shaggy.  It was nice, though, not to be so darn hot all summer!   

Today was SO much fun.  When I woke up in my little “palace” in the laundry room, I did not know it had snowed all night long!  I LOVE the snow!  When my mom took me outside, I saw a whole foot of snow in my yard.  I just ran and ran, and even though she tried to get me to come inside a few times, I just ran around in circles, hoping she’d get the clue that I was NOT ready to come inside!  It was so much fun.  I was glad when the boys came outside to play; they had no school today so we played all day long!  I kept begging to go back outside even when I didn’t have to go potty!  It was even more fun than chasing those things called “leaves” that were all over the yard this fall.  I thought they were bunnies or something, until I caught one and realized it was just a crunchy leaf.  OH well!  I like to chase the bunnies in the yard, but they always win.

My family kept calling me “Yeti” today instead of Maggie, because I had snow all over my body.  Don’t worry, they dried me off and warmed me up every time we went back inside.  But they wouldn’t let me in the living room until I was dry.  I spent much of the afternoon laying on the couch with mom and Jacob under my fleece blanket I got when I was born.  It was so nice to just hang out and snooze all afternoon!   

Tonight when Henry got home from soccer, they sang some funny song to me about birthdays, and then they ate cake (too bad they didn’t’ share with me!).  I was pretty excited when they got me a new chew toy.  The other gift I got was some sort of dog brush, which I do not like very much.  I had to get shaved at the end of the summer because dad let me go off-leash while on a hike and I had a little run-in with about a million burrs.  Even though mom had been brushing me all summer, the groomer did tell her I had burrs AND mats, and had to be shaved.  I was pretty nervous, but actually, I still looked pretty good.  Dad was not very happy at first, but mom reminded him that my new haircut made my fur look like crushed velvet.  That made me feel pretty (until then, I just felt naked).  It is growing back in, and hopefully dad learned his lesson (I know I learned my lesson to STAY ON THE TRAIL).  He said I looked like a poodle, and I thought “hey, there are worse things you could look like!”.  I did not like the red bow they put on my ear, so I promptly took that thing off.  I'm not a girly girl.  I like to go hiking with my family, and dad even takes me on short mountain bike rides (though he wouldn’t take me when I looked like a girly poodle!).  We went camping this summer, and I loved that too!  Dad’s sister and her family came to visit (and now their girls all want a puppy because of ME!).  I loved them!  We went to the mountains (that is where I got into the burrs), and I heard Aunt Cathy say that I looked like a human in a dog suit, whatever that means.  I think it means that my expressions are so cute, I looked like a kid dressed up like a dog.  Uncle Gary liked to pet me; I sure hope they come back to visit again soon!  I got lots of attention! 

I think I have a pretty good life.  They treat me well, and I give them lots of licks.  When Daniel lays on the ground I will lick his back and neck like he is my very own little puppy.  He says it tickles him and he giggles a lot.  That makes me feel good.  Mostly I love just being right by their side.  Even if I am sound asleep on the kitchen floor, if mom goes into the office, I will jump up and follow her (no wonder she calls me “Shadow” sometimes!).  Then I plop down in the oversized chair by the window and just gaze outside with a big contented sigh.  Sometimes if mom goes into her room to get something, I jump up on her bed and just sit there like I own the place.  She usually tells me to “get off” but it is nice while it lasts!  I keep hoping they’ll let me sleep in that comfy bed with them, but I heard her tell dad when he asked if they could, NO WAY!!  That’s okay.  I like my bed in my own room!  And if I ever need someone in the middle of the night, all I have to do is give a little bark and mom comes running. 

Well, I'm so tired from playing all day, so I'm going to go to sleep.  I hope the snow doesn’t melt too fast tomorrow.  I want to play in it some more.  I don’t know what the next year will be like, but if it is anything like my first year, it will be really fun!  I wonder if my littermates have had as good a year as I have.  I sure hope so, because mine has been GREAT

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