Meet our GrandPup, Addie Grace
I didn’t think that at the ages of 37 and 40 we’d be grandparents, but here we are, the proud Wookie and Malla of a beautiful little four month old, four legged, black Labrador granddaughter, Addison Grace. We call her Addie for short, unless she gets into something she shouldn’t.
Photo Credit: Kylie Adrianne Photography
She really is the most precious thing. She came into our lives over Christmas (as a surprise) so we had to make a mad dash to head out and grab a last minute pup stocking and fill it with all the fun toys and treats she needed to get started as part of the Johnston Gaggle.
It’s been a lot of fun watching her grow, find her voice, and find her own personality that’s both sweet and silly at the same time. She loves to cuddle and play with her human uncles, but she’s still trying to get used to her canine aunts. She’s not so sure about them because they’re about five times her size, and they just won’t leave her alone. They follow her everywhere she goes, try to take her toys away, and they just stay all up in her space, and she can’t stand it!
We try to spoil her every chance we get by buying her new dog toys that she absolutely loves, but because she’s still in that puppy phase, she goes through them so fast, so we just keep them coming!
Addie loves to play outside, run around in the yard, gnaw on bones, chew on squeaker toys, and drink a ton of water! We have to really watch how much she eats and drinks because like a typical lab, she will drink her weight in water.
When our daughter first brought her home, she would scarf her food down so fast that she would get bloated, so she would have to feed her a handful at a time to slow her down. A lot of times, when pups are like that, they have a “litter mentality” because when all of the pups are together they’re usually fed out of one bowl at one time, and they’d have to get in there to eat ASAP or they didn’t get any food at all. To teach her to slow down and that her food is her own, we ended up purchasing her a slow feeder with a water bowl attached to it to help her learn to take smaller bites and not eat so quickly. Our daughter only puts a little water in the bowl at a time so that she doesn’t overdo it. She’s slowly learning that her food is hers, and it’s not going to be taken by the others, but because her roommate also has two other dogs, it’s taking longer than we expected for her to outgrown the fast eating habit. She’ll get there with proper dog training.
We don’t think she’s going to be too terribly big, because she has a smaller head, but she’s precious, and although she’s still in that fun little puppy stage, we’re excite to see how she blossoms. It’s going to be fun to watch her grow and find out what all she’s capable of becoming!