I just realized that Saturday, Freya will be 9 months old! Holy crap, where did all the time go? It seems like yesterday that I got her and she's still cute as a button and still terribly independent.

She really hasn't changed much in the last three months. She's a bit taller and longer but her weight has remained a stable 18 pounds even with the spay job. Once again, the Vet doesn't believe that she will be getting much bigger--she may fill out, but not that much. Either way, she's a healthy dog despite having issues with the internal sutures. As a testament to her size not changing significantly, her shirt that I bought 3 months or so ago, still fits her! Because of the weight, I still can't buy a 6 month supply of Advantage Multi--which kind of sucks but then maybe that's ok.

She picked up some cute mannerisms from Milo. Milo always scratches the ground after he goes potty. I suppose after the few times that she walked with us, she started to do it too. It's really cute.

I am quite amazed that she hasn't gone potty in the house for months now. I suppose all it took was me watching her go potty outside and praising her while she was in the back yard. I still have to watch her though. She loves to greet me the second she leaves her crate. Then she likes to greet everyone else and I practically have to man handle her to go outside and lock the doggy door until I feel that she has gone potty.

I remember one night, we locked them in the house. I could've sworn she would have gone potty in the house. I woke up all tentative and careful--immediately grabbing my shoes. Turns out, she didn't do anything at all. I'm so proud.

Her barking is our biggest problem though. The one condition my boyfriend gave me was to not get a yappie dog. I picked the biggest one on the block apparently. Freya loves to dig, which doesn't bother us as we don't use the backyard for anything. But it's the fact that she has to bark at everything that flies past her as she digs that is the problem. At first it was a day thing only, but now it has graduated to all hours of the day and night. It's kind of maddening, really.

I have resorted to locking her in her crate at night now just to give everyone a break. I feel bad about that but I really don't know else to do. The vet suggested that it was a puppy thing and I truly hope so cause I can't take much more of it. I'm almost tempted to buy a bark collar as I really think that is the only way to help. Thankfully, she doesn't really talk in the house unless I'm making her wait for something and she's getting antsy.

In September, I'm going to schedule a health check, get her records, and ask about sedatives/anti nausea medication for the trip we will be embarking on soon. I want to cover all my bases. This will be the longest trip to do date ever for her--she had a 3 hour drive when we first got her and she did great at that. I will be getting a tether system for the car since she has a harness already (which surprisingly has not grown out of that either--I think her puppy martingale and collar still fits too.)

All in all, she's a great dog. She's pretty socialized too. She loves meeting new people and isn't afraid of any dogs (yet.) She's pulling me and whining at me to meet new people--I think that's her favorite thing in the whole world. Hopefully, I can take her to my mom's house again and she won't pee in the house like last time. I'll give it another month.