I was just saying in anther post that time is flying by! Did you know that it’s been a year since we got our puppy, Midnight?
Well, ok, we really got our Labrador Retriever on November, 23, 2007, but after the long drive to the breeders and spending about two hours with at least 10 puppies in a barn while trying to pick out which one we wanted, it was nearly Midnight on the 23rd when we finally decided on our little girl. So the 24th is really the anniversary of her first full day with us.
BTW we named her Midnight because of her glossy black coat and because we picked her out at almost Midnight. We think it’s a good name.
The day that we got Midnight was the day after a huge ice storm. So driving two hours to the breeder was a stressful trip, but I remember how happy I was driving back with a tiny black puppy cuddled in my lap.
Midnight is our first dog, so those first few months we went through a big learning curve! Of course, Midnight is only 15 months old now, so she’s still quite hyper and puppy like in her behavior so we’re still learning how to train her and cope with her energy level.
Speaking of learning curves – hiccups were confusing! We didn’t know that puppies hiccup a lot and Midnight must have had hiccups fifteen or twenty times a day! Violent hiccups that shook her tiny body. She looked like she was having a seizure every time she got hiccups!
I took this photo of Midnight the first time we took her into the backyard. She loved the snow and exploring the garden (still does!).
I’ve taken lots of pictures of her over the last year. I wanted to be able to remember what she looked like at different stages of her growth. You can see most of the pictures I’ve taken of her over at Flickr in my Labrador Retriever Puppy folder.
Midnight was quite a sick puppy when we got her. She looked healthy, but she had a very bad case of worms, a gastrointestinal infection and later an eye and ear infection developed. The breeder we bought her from kept the puppies in a barn (in a horse pen) and while the conditions didn’t look all that bad it’s obvious that the puppies didn’t get the care or initial worming meds that they should have gotten. So we ended up having to take Midnight to the vet on her very first full day with us!
She continued to be a sicky for about three months, but she rallied and she’s a very healthy dog now.
She’s actually bigger than I thought she’d every be. She was always a lot smaller than other Lab puppies that were close to her age (well if we have her right birthday (August 26th) – we’ve been told a total of three different birth dates from the breeder). She’s now tall enough that when she wags her tail energetically she can clear off the top of our coffee table, and she’s still growing! I think she’s probably still a little small for her age, but as I said she’s grown more than I thought she would given her beginning with us and her health problems.
Thanks to my loyal readers who were following this blog when I got Midnight, especially those that are not really dog people. I think every second or third post back then, for at least two months, was about our new puppy. I was obsessed with her and I guess I still am. I’m also thankful for all of the advice I got regarding training and all the items I need to take care of her properly (like the crate – good idea!).
A few final pictures:
5 months old and cute as a button
Graduating from Puppy Training Class – 6 months old
A new way to wear a Bandanna! 7 months old
It’s been a fun and educational year. We learned that we love to go out for walks in the woods with Midnight as well as watching her swim in Lake Ontario. I wonder what other great adventures the years ahead will hold?
Ahh, she’s beautiful! I’m glad you took so many pictures of her. As many as I took of Webster I wish I had more (and I wish that I had had a better camera at the time). Still, I’m grateful for all the video and photos that I did take. they grow so much faster than I’d like. The hiccups are frightening. None of our other dogs ever had hiccups and they are, indeed, pretty violent at times. Our vet had to imitate it for us to calm me down I was so upset! I kept thinking Webster had some disease (all I could think about was please, don’t let us lose another dog). Happy birthday to Midnight! Enjoy!
Thanks! The one thing we are missing is video. We have an HD video camera but the software messed up one of our computers and as a result we don’t use the video camera much due to transferring and editing problems. (next time we buy a video camera we’ll look into the software a little better!)
Hiccups .. glad to hear I’m not the only one freaked out by puppy hiccups! Midnight was a sick little puppy – diarrhea, some blood in her stool due to a gastro infection, eye infections, ear infections etc … so we thought the hiccups were something more serious going on with her and to me they looked a bit like seizures! LOL I think it took me a while to be convince that they were just hiccups too. 😉
She still gets them occasionally. I read that hiccups are associated with growth .. I don’t know if that’s an old wives tale, but she still is growing – much slower than she was, but every once in a while I’ll look at her and think geez you’ve gotten taller!
Thanks for visiting!
Awwww. Midnight is a darling doggy! Reminds me of my BIL dog, Anubis.
Love the pic with the red scarf!!!
Awwww, Happy Dogiversary Tricia and Midnight! Every time I see your photos of Midnight, despite some of the stories that go along with them, I want to get a dog. I guess London and Maddie and I will have to continue to enjoy yours through the blogosphere. Best wishes for many more terrific years with Midnight.
Roxy
Hmmm… I thought I left you a comment wishing you and Midnight a Happy Dogiversary, but it disappeared…just wanted to let you know how much my girls and I enjoy the Midnight photos and stories… keep ’em coming, as Midnight in the Blogosphere is all we’re likely to have for a pet until London outgrows her allergies.
Roxy
I miss my dog so much!
Yours is so beautiful
aww she so cute… 🙂
I agree with Cindy (above) I miss my dog so much, and its been six years since he went now.
Looks like it’s been a fun year with Midnight. A Lab will always keep you on your toes, and entertained. I hope that there are many more years of adventure with Midnight.
An Arkie’s Musings
She is gorgeous! Congrats on your year together. We just adopted black lab mix. He is almost three years old, but still hyper like a puppy :o) And he has lots to learn as he was never trained or walked on leash before (imagine that!)
She looks like a great dog. I’m with you on the photo front. We have loads more photos of the dogs than we have of ourselves! It can get kind of addictive as they always seem to be doing something….um..well…STUPID!
I can’t believe you’ve had Midnight that long. It seems such a short time.
Happy 1 Year and many more to come. I agree with you that she has grown very big; I was comparing the first picture and the one she was laying by the couch. I think midnight is a beautiful name too.
Hi Tricia,
It’s been a while since I have read your blog though I see your updates almost everyday on mine. Anyway I am a big dog fan and have to say that is one of the best looking Labs I have seen….(no dachshund though…LOL)
It is just so sad that they can’t stay cute little puppies longer. I always hate when my dogs “go to heaven”, and wish they could live as long as us, but I always treasure my time with them while I have them.
Dogs don’t cheat and I think that is what I love most about them…Keep posting about Midnight ever so often.. I am so interested in updates.
Roxy I’m glad that you and your daughters can enjoy Midnight with me by proxy. 😉 Has your daughter looked into the breeds of dogs that are supposed to be hypoallergenic?
Cindy I’m sorry that you miss your dog. Have you considered getting another one?
Ritchie yes Midnight is keeping us on our toes. Somehow we thought a Lab would be a little calmer than she’s turned out to be, but we keep hearing from other Lab owners (actually most laugh at us as they remember the first three years with theirs!) that she’ll get calmer as she ages.
Midnight is fun to have around and she’s a smart girl. I do have to stay on my toes to stay one step ahead of her at times!
Ivanhoe – your adopted lab mix was never walked on a leash? Where was it kept before … on a farm or with people with a big yard to run around in?
Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you if your dog was never trained. At least at 3 years and up Labs are supposed to be a little calmer than they are when they are younger so that might be a small plus. I see from your posts about him that he might be mixed with Great Dane? Danes, to me, always seem to be really calm dogs so that might actually be a good mix with a lab.
Good luck with Sam!
Three Dog Glad to hear I’m not the only one who takes a lot of pictures of pets! I really need to get the video camera out sometime though … When she’s really excited she’ll run from the front door in the living room to the back door in the kitchen, turn around and run fast back into the living room landing on her big dog bed and cause it to slide right into the front door. It’s funny to watch … but how smart of her to invent her own slide. LOL
Jean-Luc – yeah it doesn’t seem like a whole year, but it has been. It’s amazing how much she’s grown in the past year. She went from being an underweight puppy that I could carry around to a big dog that I can barely push off the couch to make room for myself! LOL
BK thanks. We came up with her name the night we got her – in part because she’s pitch black and also because it was right around midnight when we finally picked her out.
Stephen thank you so much for the compliment about Midnight. She is a pretty girl and her coat is very glossy. We often get comments about her fur.
Midnight is our first dog and I too wish that dogs lived longer than they do.
I can still remember the trying things about her being a young puppy (like the razor sharp baby teeth and teething!) so I don’t miss her younger days all that much yet, but I know as she matures and slows down I’ll miss that energy. I’m enjoy this time with her though!
we have a 13.5 Male Black Lab name MIDNIGHT
Fantastic pictures!
My black lab turns 11 today! Happy Birthday Ripley!
It’s funny, reading your post, I got to thinking about the day we got him, and the very surprised look on my wife’s face…
Thanks for sharing!