Ellie at 11 (months)

It's been 9 months since we brought Ellie home. She was just a little ball of fur back then.  Now she is 11 months old, 71 pounds, and almost full grown. She continues to be a great puppy - heck almost a dog now. This is a series of blog posts about Ellie and how she has grown – both as a puppy and into her role as an integral part of our family.

Read on, look back at past postings, and enjoy the story.

What did Ellie learn this month?

• Salt Water is Good
• Travelin’ Dog
• Bunny Luv?

Salt Water - Cool and Refreshing

We took a trip to Bellingham for a baseball tournament and took the 'Road Less Travelled' to Larrabee State Park. If you have never taken the very slight detour across Hwy 11 through Bow and along the beautiful coastline of Puget Sound you are missing a treat for the senses.  We took Ellie to her first trip to the ocean at Larrabee State Park. It's a great little beach with rocks for the kids to play on and an easy access beach to enter and exit the water.
Ellie sensed the water as we walked down the tree lined trail. She loves to swim and she was ready to get in the water. She had never been in the ocean before, but that didn't reduce her enthusiasm or stop her from jumping right in.

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Travel Log / Travel Dog

We continue to take Ellie on trips and she has become quite the traveler. This is the time of year where we travel to a lot of baseball tournaments on weekends. We took trips to Leavenworth, Ellensburg, and Bellingham. Each city is a new adventure for Ellie. I typically get up early and take her for walking tours around them. She loves it and I get to see a perspective of these cities you never get from the car. From walking along the Wenatchee River to perusing the main streets of Bellingham. It’s a great bonding time with Ellie and something I look forward to doing every time we travel.

Ellie in Leavenworth, WA – Along the Wenatchee River

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We also took Ellie to her first lacrosse tournament --- The Battle of Bothell

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Bunny LUV? Not so much anymore
Last month I wrote about Ellie's discovery of bunnies. She still likes to play with them, but now she has learned that they are not just stuffed animals. As a dog bred for hunting she knows her job and has dispatched a few bunnies. Not that we are really happy about that, but the reality that she is a dog that has the instincts of a hunting dog.  She has a classic Golden Retriever 'soft mouth' but that was no defense for a few bunnies.

Time Flies

It’s been a great 9 months with Ellie and we look forward to many more years with her. We cannot imagine another breed of dog to be a such an integral part of our family. If you have a story about your puppy please share in the comments below or drop me a line directly.

If you want the full story of Ellie read this Sometimes the best packages come wrapped in fur and these “Ellie Updates.”

Image credit: Lynn Kruger