Athena Anderson

I thought I would dedicate a short post to our little girl, Athena.  Ok, so maybe " out little girl" as Andrew likes to call her, is actually our dog. Prepare for a TON of pictures with this post. Andrew bought me a puppy in March while I was visiting him in Missouri.  We went to Petland and fell in love with a fluffy, white puppy.  At the time she was hardly more than 3 pounds. This little puppy is an American Eskimo breed and should be about a medium sized dog with a big, fluffy coat.  Yes, lots of grooming for me to do. She turned out to be just the sweetest, most mellow puppy.  I named her Athena after my favorite Greek goddess and of course after my aunt's famous white jeep, also named Athena.  She was just 9 weeks old when Andrew got her for me. 

In Petland after we picked her up

Walking around on her new leash

Sometimes I think he loves that dog more than me :D



After, I took her home with me to Arkansas while I was with my grandparents.  Let me tell you a puppy is a million times worse than a baby.  I remember taking her outside every 2 hours in the middle of the night. And yes, puppies do whine at first in the middle of the night. Worse than a baby you ask?  Just imagine skipping the newborn stage straight to the toddler stage except this baby is faster, doesn't listen, chews EVERYTHING,  and wears no diaper.  Those of you that are new parents be thankful they don't have many motor skills at first, it is overrated.  But she did keep me from going crazy with loneliness because I finally had something I had to take care of 24/7.

Bringing her home!

She loves ropes

My poor little, sick, sleepy puppy



Poor thing, when I first brought her back it was a 3 hour car ride.  She threw up about 12 times in the first 2 days.  She wouldn't eat anything and my grandma and I finally had to start force feeding her some food.  I really did feel like a new parent who worried all the time.  To top it all off I had to take her, by myself, on the airplane with me when I went to my parents house in Utah.  Our flight was even delayed.  Luckily she is an excellent traveler.  Nothing is as easy as it looks.

She loves toys that are twice as big as her

While at my Aunt's house before we left she loved going "Ya-ya" outside

Our poor puppy has had quite the experience.  Moving everywhere.  But I guess being an Air Force dog she had better get used to it.  As of now we have her up in a kennel in Minot, North Dakota while we have to stay in on base housing. She is now 16 weeks old and growing quickly! We literally moved to the least dog friendly city in the United States I swear.  Off-base they allow no dogs in rentals.  But with Andrew's parents coming up with an RV we can stay on base with her.  Who knows maybe some day she will have another little puppy friend since the housing on base allows up to pets! 

 For now, we can't wait to see what the future holds with our little family.  Especially once she get fully trained!

Love this picture of my little sister and our pooped puppy



Well that is all for now.  We will continue to keep you all updated on our lives.  For now we hope to get Athena back with us by the end of this week.  Then it back to teaching her potty training again, yay....But, we are waiting for permanent, on-base housing so hopefully that comes soon too!

How can you say no to that face?

~The Andersons