08/05/2026
My little girl is now 13 months old, and I am overdue with pictures and an update!! Maple is truly the best friend I could have hoped for. Making sure she has a great day everyday and receiving her love in return is the best adventure I have embarked on (and Iâve done a lot of the âfancy" adventures of travel, hiking, etc.). Her favorite things are definitely long walks in the woods, snuggle time, playing with her âuncleâ Wally (my momâs dog), and chewing on bully sticks! She has a strong sense of self and how she wants things to go and is quite confident that she is the center of her little universe (and sheâs not wrong haha). That said, we have mostly come to an agreement on situations when she does need to listen to me (calmly walking past another dog, waiting for things she wants, "I know youâre not a morning dog but itâs going up to 95 degrees today so if you donât walk now, you wonât get a walk todayâ) and she has confirmed that barking at a bunny sitting in her yard is an absolute must and time to chew on a bully stick (or another tough chew) is a requirement every evening. She and Wally are playmates like Iâve never seen beforeâthey are always ecstatic to see each other and will spend hours chasing and tussling. Itâs so heartwarming to get to see their joy in playing and simply being dogs together. In the early spring, she started having some GI issues, and long story short, she is now on a home-cooked diet (one designed by a vet from Cornellânot just something I got off the internet!). It didnât seem that there were any particular ingredients that upset her; simply that eating too much processed food would set off her system. So now she eats meats from the farmerâs market that are all pasture-raised, organic, local vegetables, and organic grains (plus supplements). She hasnât had a single issue since moving her into this diet!
Anyway, I could go on and on..
Thank you again for giving me the privilege of having her in my life!
