Kuiper is 2 today! It’s been fun to watch him grow.
Kuiper has always loved to “help nice man” (his daddy) play video games. This is him helping at 2 months, 3 months, 5 months, 9 months and 15 months old. Today he is 24 months old (we’ll just use years from now on because we’re not monsters.) ?
When I would ask my friend and dog trainer Susie for advice about raising a baby dog, she would always encourage me and tell me that our puppy would be perfect. She was absolutely right. Kuiper is perfect for us, and it’s largely because of her. Susie’s thoughts on housebreaking (like putting a pan of real sod in the puppy pen), socialization & training were instrumental in making Kuiper the dog he is today.
It’s because of Susie that we even considered trying competitive obedience with Kuiper. It’s 800% not a traditional sport for sighthounds and I was scared away from a class with our older dog a number of years ago. Susie kept telling me “You can do it!!!” We’ve been training with her “sensei” Cindy since Kuiper was 10 weeks old, and having a BLAST. I really wish she were here to see it. Unfortunately, Susie passed away from cancer when Kuiper was about 10 months old. ? I miss her a lot.
Best case scenario, we get about 15 years with these guys. Worst case, well… You just never know. The world is full of uncertainty. Things can happen to dogs. Things can happen to people. There’s no way to know how much time we’ll get, so we’re determined to make the most of it with Kuiper.
Here’s to another year of adventure.
Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlWrJ-6g1NS/