A Montage of Updates

It goes without saying that it's been awhile since I last posted. We had a setback; on Christmas, my human Dennis' external hard drive was stolen, and with it, gone was all of Dennis' work and gone were all of the photos and videos of me.  We were all very disappointed for awhile but now we just try not to dwell on it.

Well, onward and upward!  Dennis gave my blog site a makeover!  He even included "My Life Slideshow" -- check out the top of the screen and you'll see a montage of photos from the past year of my life.  There are even captions to let you know what was going on!

Here is what's been happening while I've been away from my computer...


November

• I attended my first puppy training class at Four Paws!  We started working on basic obedience training, and addressed my *hmmph!* "behavior problems."  Well, now that I'm more mature I know not to chew everything around me, especially when it doesn't belong to me.
• I had Thanksgiving with my mommy, Lisa, and her family.  I had a lot of fun hanging out with Grand-puppyma and Grand-puppypa.  

December

• My mommy got a new job, so she went from working at The Dwelling Place in Norfolk to Samaritan House in Virginia Beach.  At both places she's gone a lot, but thankfully Aunt Natalie and Petey kept me company!  
• Lisa went to Washington, D.C. for her job, and I got to spend quality time with Natalie.  Awrf!  I was beyond excited to see her when she got back.  She'd never left me before!!
• Mommy & Dennis went on vacation to New York City, so I got to stay with Aunt Jill and her family and her dog, Ella.  There was a field out back, and Ella and I just ran and ran.  My paws were green when Lisa picked me up!
• I got to spend Christmas with Grand-puppyma and Grand-puppypa (Lisa's parents) and afterwards with Dennis' parents.  Dennis' parents' house is so exciting!  So many smells!  And I got presents from Lisa and Dennis and Dennis' roomies!!

January

• My mommy, Dennis, and I moved into our own apartment in Virginia Beach, not too far from the beach.  It's a dog-friendly community, so I see a dog every time I walk outside!
• My mommy was super stressy and busy with learning to do her new job, but now she works much closer to yours truly, so I get to see her more. 
• Dennis and I hung out while my mommy went to San Diego, California, for her job.  I got really sicky while she was gone!!  Thankfully D took care of me.  I was miserable, but D was so sweet to be patient and keep me clean while I was sick.  (There was bacteria in my stomach, possibly from drinking standing rain water, according to the vet.)

February

• My mommy submitted her grad school application and finally was less stressed, but then she was sick for practically the whole month.  I'm really good company, so I made sure to cuddle with her every chance I got.  I like sleeping like a human on the bed.  Lisa says I'm her therapy dog.
• I got spayed, my stomach tacked (to prevent this awful thing called torsion when the tummy flips on itself), and my eyes got cleaned out... it was awful, but mommy & Dennis were there with me at the vet when I woke up.  D stayed up with me the first night -- I was scared and in so much pain.  I felt better soon though!  Lisa & D had to keep me still so I could heal.
• My mommy calls me "Iona Begonia," and D gave me begonias for Valentines Day!  I felt so special.  I'd never seen one before!
• I saw snow for the first time -- I don't know what it is, but I do not like it.  Burrrr.

March

• I started on my second obedience training class!  I'm really smart -- if you come see me, I'll show you my tricks.
• I got invited to Riot's first birthday party!  I lovey love love dog parks!  And I missed hanging out with Riot, so I had so much fun playing with him.

April

• D had more time to spend with me at home.  We're best buds now.  I love my Dennis so much.
• There was a housewarming party!!  So many people!  So much excitement!  There may have been a point where I licked a burrito... and then another when I stole a burrito... so I had to spend time in my crate, aka castle.  But I'm so pretty, people even visited me in my crate!
• I'd been to the beach before in Hampton, but now I've been to it in Virginia Beach, too.  Still not a fan of the water, but I love walks.

May

• I worked on my third puppy obedience class!  I am getting good at this stuff now!!
• I got to go to Uncle Paul's birthday dinner!  Oh boy do I love giving him kisses.  He's good at petting me.
• I got to go to Uncle Tony's house a lot!  He and Shannon have their own house now, with a y-a-r-d!!  Lilah and I tear around that thing like nobody's business.  Dennis and Tony, just stay out of the way -- I can't slow down once I get going that fast!

June

• I turned 1 years old on June 4th!!!
• Mommy & Dennis made the day all about me.  We went to the dog park where I ran my paws off, went to Carealot where I picked out my presents, went home where I got to munch on treats, and went to bed for snuggles!
• The pool has been open for a little while now at our apartment, so I make sure I stand guard and keep everyone safe.  I have a great view from my balcony.
• I weigh 100 pounds now.  I still look small to D and Lisa, but so many people have been saying I'm the biggest dog they've ever seen.  Plus, everyone says I'm beautiful.  I'm less shy now, but I still take a minute to warm up to people.

July

• My adventures continue!!

Please see the photos to see pics of all my latest happenings :)

Puppy kisses,
Iona

Vet, Schmet

So back when I was little (ahem, September), I went to the vet and got all my shots.  It's a really nice place out in Virginia Beach right next to where Dennis grew up.  It's called Providence Square Veterinary Clinic, and another Great Dane owner referred Lisa to it.  

If you're interested, see http://www.localvets.com/profile/providence-square-veterinary-clinic-virginia-beach-virginia.html

The vet gave me yummy treats, but it was all a trick so the doctor could try to get me! AWRff!

The shots made me snooze all day...

Thankfully, I have ginormous paws for pillows!


It was a series of shots, and one of the vet days my mommy was running late for work...

So I got to be hard at work at TDP all evening! 

I'm a future therapy dog :)
(Check out http://www.tdi-dog.org/ for more info on becoming one, too!)



Of course, I prefer to sleep on the bed... on a pillow...

By the way, don't worry, I recovered!

puppy kisses & lots of love,
iona

Why My Crazy Human Got a Great Dane

If you didn't know, she's been talking about Great Danes for-ev-er.

She loves our goofy, sensitive, and sweet personalities.

She even thinks she has a lot in common with Danes, which means I match her personality well and we're a perfect fit.

While she was still in college, she did hours and hours of research on dogs, Danes, and clicker training. My human is a little too serious at times!  Her getting me was also part fate. She grew up on DANE street, after all :D

Last September, Lisa got a tattoo that reads, "wake your dreams." She choose that because it's important to her to follow her dreams, to spend her life doing what she loves, and to help others improve their lives and learn how to have dreams and achieve them.

Not long after that, she was in a serious car crash, and not long after that, her close friend was in a horrible car crash and passed away. She still gets sad about losing her friend and misses him every day. Once she had stopped crying everyday about the world losing someone as great as Brennan, she started living the mantra "life is short." Mantras are thought to be capable of "creating transformation" (I'm a very smart puppy), and it affects somewhat how Lisa reacts to life and definitely how she thinks about life.

So one day my human was getting her nails done by a nice lady named Julie, and Julie told her about how one of her clients just got a Great Dane puppy. Julie showed off the photo of the puppy Iris, who had visited Julie and was a sweetheart. Well my human can talk about danes all day long... Julie encouraged Lisa, telling her she works hard and deserves to have a puppy. Well my human certainly works hard (although direct service care for people needing help has burned out the workaholic in her... so she has a little more time for things outside of work - like ME!). Julie mentioned the breeder still had puppies and got the info to pass on to my human...

My human had to make sure her boyfriend was on board with her getting a puppy, since supposedly I'm a brat and a lot of work (hmmph!), and also find out if she had somewhere she could have a puppy. Well Dennis, Natalie, and Matt (Nat's hubby) all got on board since they knew it was my human's dream. So that following Saturday my human went to visit the breeder and choose me!

Lisa's mom sent her this very nice quote: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." - Henry David Thoreau.

Where I Came From

So back before I was "Iona," I was born to puppy parents in Corapeake, North Carolina. My parents look like horses, but I'm related to them nonetheless!

Their names are/ were Blue and Orania.

My beautiful mommy, Orania, lived to be 9 1/2 years old. That's old for a dane!

Sadly she passed away not long after giving birth to me. She was too old to be having puppies safely but my puppy parents were good friends and liked to spend time together, see...

She's considered a "full" mantle.  (Check out her muzzle -- it's different than mine.)  Isn't she pretty?


So I came along, along with several others, on June 4th, 2011.

Me after I was born!  I was tiny! 

Since my mommy dane died a couple weeks after I was born, I had my pretty Blue step-mom to take care of me.

My sister, also a mantle, was very friendly but too hyper for my human. The breeder kept trying to get my human to pick her instead of me! hmmph! 




Actually, there was a lot of competition.  My human initially went to see the Blue litter because she thinks the Blues are so pretty (hmmph!)  So there were 3 Blue females that I was up against as well.  Bring it on!  (This is one of the breeder's family members holding the puppies.)

My human, Dennis, and Natalie spent 3 1/2 hours playing with me and the other puppies trying to decide who would be the best one. Lisa had it narrowed down to two sweet but a little timid puppies...

A blue "apple-head" nicknamed puppy (daughter of my step-mom and my dane dad, Blue), and ME!

I had puppy acne back then... just ignore that.


We were sleepy and were laying on the couch for the first time, and Lisa kept trying to wake us up to see our personalities. Apple-head didn't want to wake up and grumbled A LOT when Lisa picked her up. When she picked me up, I mumble-grumbled, but I struggled to keep my eyes awake and see what was up. I made more eye contact and focused in on the humans more, so Lisa picked me :D The breeder said Lisa's body language showed that I was the one before Lisa knew it herself.

Once Lisa picked me, she held me and I fell asleep in her arms.

Right before she went to leave, I woke up to say bye-bye!

My Aunt Linda says this picture is a defining moment photo :) I agree <3

Since I was born June 4, my human couldn't take me home right away. So she had to wait. But it turned out alright because that gave her time to purchase stuff for the princess, aka me.

More news on adventures soon!!

puppy kisses and slobbers,
Iona

Pshaw, I love Blogger

This puppy has decided Tumblr isn't as easy to use as Blogger and still thinks Wordpress is too difficult to set up right off the bat. ARwf!!

I gave it my best, though.

When I'm frustrated with something, or when I'm not getting what I want, I alert everyone to this injustice with "ARwf! ARwf! ARwf!" (I'm usually very soft-spoken.) But when I told this to Lisa, she said, "Quiet." Some help she is. Hmph!

Dennis suggested I use Tumblr, and it's great for posting media, which is what my Dennis human is into. He takes amazing photos with his new camera machine (it's something called a Canon EOS Rebel T3i) and video clips (featuring ME!!). But I want to narrate my adventures in text, not just in my voice-over video clips, so Blogger is more compatible with that. Blogger allows for comments, spell check, and for photos to be added easily into the text blogs. The Tumblr account I was toying with has a much sleeker appearance, and I tried really hard to make it work, but I've come back to Blogger. Besides, I appreciate the comments! Woof!

Don't worry, there will still be upcoming video clips, and if I run into any trouble posting them, I always have my YouTube channel! :) (Coming soon...)

Sadly I didn't make it to the dog park. I really wanted to meet all the other doggies!! I couldn't go because Dennis was sicky and Lisa cleaned the house all day until dark time. But it probably worked out for the best because come to find out I'm sicky! I have terrible little things called roundworms and maybe even tapeworms ;( They steal my food, which isn't fair, because the vet says I'm skinny as it is. Lisa got me medicine today though, and I go to the vet next week on Wednesday for 3 more vaccines and a follow-up, so everyone says I'll be okay.

Lisa took me on a walk before she left today, so I've been snoozing most of the day. I was even yawning during the walk!

love,

Iona

Maybe Wordpress?

Good morning!

I got to sleep in the bed last night, and even at this size my mommy says I hog it!

My human, Dennis, is a graphic artist and thought me having my own blog was a cool idea, so he's going to help create something cooler than my mommy knows how to do. He's even going to help me have a youtube channel so you can watch what I'm up to!!

So even though I was all ready to post a bunch of pictures so everyone can see how beautiful I am with my shiny coat, that might be on hold for a few days.

I think I'm going to the dog park for the first time this weekend, so I'll have plenty to share soon!

puppy kisses,
Iona

Hello World!

My name's Iona (eye-o-na), and I'm a puppy. My humans say I'm a Mantle Great Dane and discuss me becoming a therapy dog, but all I know is I'm just a puppy. I do puppy stuff. I snooze

on the bed or in my crate, nom nom on my kibble, play with (Dennis says annoy - hmmph!) my puppy pal Petey, do stuff to get treats, cuddle, snuggle, chew, and practice my manners to a clicker sound. I'm also beginning a modeling career since Dennis, one of my humans, has a fancy camera, and I'm just too cute not to photograph.


My mommy human, Lisa, isn't very good at staying in touch with people 'cause she says she's so busy. She leaves me for 9 hours a day supposedly to put kibble in my bowl and help people. I got to meet some of those people a couple times... I got to go to the admin building when I first got to my forever home, and then just recently I got to hang out in Lisa's office at the homeless shelter one day when my human was running too late to drop me off at home. It was super fun because I got to see some kids! I wasn't allowed to leave the office though. One day...


When Lisa's at work I chill with my Aunt Natalie and her puppy, Petey. They say he's a rat terrier mixed with a little whippet, but all I know is he's fast! He taught me to do the stairs plus a lot of other fun stuff that my mommy freaks out about when I copy.


Anyways, Lisa thought maybe if I post my pictures and write about my adventures on a blog, she'd be able to stay in touch a little more at least by updating people on our lives.

More to come! Thanks for reading my blog :)