u/NormalBeautiful

Over the past few months, I've become really interested in genealogy and researching my family tree, and I've been sharing the things I find out with my family. I'm in my 40s and am lucky enough to still have a living grandmother (my dad's mom), who I'm close with. She is almost 90 and just this year has sold her house and moved in with my parents. She's had some health issues but is still very mentally sharp!

When they cleaned out her house to sell, my mom made sure to save all the old photos that she found and most of them are now with me. I've sorted through them and my grandma helped identify a lot of the people and places for me. Almost all of the oldest photos were from my grandma's side of the family, and my grandma had also inherited her own mother's photos when she passed away (at 99!), so she had some that went back so far that even she didn't know who they were! These photos are a real treasure trove for me, but the biggest treasure has actually come as a surprise from my grandpa's side.

Her husband, my grandpa, died a little over 20 years ago, and both of his parents died long before I was born. My grandpa and I were also very close and our whole family had a really hard time dealing with the grief over his sudden death so I haven't talked or asked about him as much as I'd have liked to since then. All I ever knew about his father (my great grandfather) was that he had died of malaria (despite us living in Canada!) when my grandpa was still a child, and that he'd somehow contracted it during WW1.

I'd already found myself really drawn to researching my grandpa's family, I guess because of our closeness and the loss I feel from not getting the chance to ask him more questions while he was alive. I found some great stuff via Ancestry (and confirmed the malaria COD) but still didn't really know his story. Then while searching through this box of photos, I came across a separate Ziploc bag with a scrapbook and what looked like postcards inside it. I pulled it all out and it took me a bit to understand what I was looking at as it was just so far outside of what I'd been expecting based on the other photos I'd found!

As it turns out, my great grandpa was part of the East Africa campaign during WW1. He originally left his tiny town in Ontario at 18 or 19 as part of a battalion deployed to defend the coastline in BC, but was later shipped to Europe, where he enlisted with the British Expeditionary Force and left for East Africa. He brought a camera with him and documented his whole journey in a scrapbook and several photo-postcards, which he sent back to his mother. The photos and postcards are annotated by him with names, dates, places, and sometimes descriptive captions. The photos are really *good* (I guess I now know where my grandpa, dad, and I all came by our photography hobby!). Once I found the photos, I did some additional research, and my grandma helped me fill in some blanks from what she knew of his life as well.

I had always planned on scanning and cataloguing the family photos and integrating them with my tree, but it just feels like I should be doing *more* than that with these ones. They feel "historically significant" I guess? The scrapbook is falling apart a bit, but most of the photos are in pretty good shape and just *so* interesting! Especially with the information he included. Has anyone else come across a treasure like this in your family's archives (I'm sure you have)? What did you do with it? Where would I even go about figuring out who or where might be interested in them? And in that vein, should I be doing something to better preserve them? The photos are safe with me for now but I don't want them to be lost to history!

My partner and I got a puppy this winter and we ended up spending so much time out in our small backyard with him between Feb-May that the already very iffy lawn mostly turned into a mud pit from the foot traffic (and puppy digging lol). We were doing a bunch of yardwork and garden-building anyway, so we decided to just rip the half-dead turf out and replace it with a clover lawn.

We didn't end up seeding till mid-June because we waited until just before we were going to be away on vacation with the pup for a couple of weeks to give the seeds time to sprout undisturbed. We used a 2:1 combo of West Coast Seeds' Microclover and Bee Turf mix, which is working well! The germination rate was high and so far the new clover seems to have dealt well with the dog running around back there. However, there are a lot of bald spots (I think all the rain we got shortly after we seeded pushed some seeds around, and also caught birds eating them a few times). We are going to grab some more seeds and do another seeding soon to try to fill in those spots.

The thing I'm wondering about is: how well is all of this going to survive the winter? The lawn definitely won't be seeing the winter foot traffic it did this year, but I'm worried that because we were late seeding this spring, and will now be reseeding in mid-summer (and maybe again in early fall), it won't have enough time to establish itself well before everything dies off. We know we'll likely need to do some additional reseeding again next spring, but I'm hoping we'll just be dealing with bald spots again and not starting from scratch! Does anyone here have a clover lawn? What was your experience with it coming back from the winter?

My partner and I just spent three days driving across Canada (Alberta to Ontario) with our 7-month old "shepherd mix" and we are so happy we decided to bring him! Our friends and family are here and we head home every year at this time, but normally we fly. This year we got a dog hammock thing for the backseat of the car, bought a smaller crate that would fit folded up in our cargo box, asked our vet to prescribe some carsickness meds, and away we went!

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Our puppy is having the time of his life, and we are having a blast on this adventure with him! He was already a really good puppy - which I would say is partially just his personality but also a result of all the time and effort we've put into training, socializing, and building a connection with him. But I've been so impressed and proud of how he's doing on this trip so far! He was amazing in the car, so chill on all our stops, did great on his first two nights sleeping in a tent, and has been such a perfect guest at our friends' house this week that I think they want to keep him lol.

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Today we're heading to a big annual friend camping event for the weekend, where he'll get to spend the next few days frolicking in the woods, playing with another puppy, and getting constant attention from all the new friends he's about to meet. I can't wait!!!

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Has anyone else taken their pup on a roadtrip at this age? Or taken them camping? The only thing I'm still not sure about is whether he'll be off leash at the event this weekend. It's on private property and far from any roads, we have an LED collar for him, and he has very good recall for a puppy (and never really wants to be very far away from us anyway), but we haven't tested it in this type of scenario before.

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Is it crazy of me to feel like I can already trust my puppy not to take off? We have a very strong bond, he has been incredibly trainable, and I honestly feel like he understands me and makes decisions based on what he knows I want him to do (or not do). This week he even faced some fears of his (walking on metal grated stairs, and being near a loud waterfall) just because I was coaxing him to do so. He isn't an anxious pup at all in general, but I get the impression that for him, being near us feels safe and when encountering new things or situations his default mode is to stay close and pay a lot of attention to us/listen for guidance. I see him wanting to do that this weekend.

I've had my nearly 7-month old "shepherd mix" puppy since he was 9.5 weeks old and he's been an absolute dream in almost every way. He's super smart and highly trainable, fully crate- and house-trained, knows tons of words and commands, easily settles in the house, great with our cats, not very destructive, etc. The one issue we've had that's been ongoing is that he's a frustrated greeter when on leash.

This pup is extremely friendly. He loves everyone and everything! He wants to say hello to every person and every dog we see. When he's off leash at the dog park he's amazing - he LOVES playing with other dogs and is very socially aware with all the dogs he meets (gentle with the little ones, backs off from the ones who don't want to play but rips around with the ones who do, etc). He also runs up to greet random people but doesn't jump all over them, and he gets lots of love and comments about how friendly he is. And despite his excitement, his recall is actually surprisingly good! He always stays with us and although it may take a minute or two, he's capable of disengaging from play when we call him.

The problem arises specifically when he's on leash. I've been walking him nearly every day since he came home, so at this point we've had a lot of experience with it and he has improved a lot, but I'm still struggling to keep his focus on me and not other dogs and people when we're out in the world.

After much practice, at this point when we just see another person or dog while walking, even if they are close to us, he is mostly able to maintain neutrality. What I usually do when someone is approaching, is take him aside by a few feet, then have him sit and stay while I give him treats. Once they have passed, I say "let's go!" and we move along. He is very good at this now! We have spent a lot of time sitting on benches in the park watching kids playing and people/dogs walking by and he's great at this too! Recently we've started working on engage/disengage when he gets focused on something and he is responding well to that as well.

Basically, as long as all the people and other dogs are also ignoring *us*, he is able to mostly ignore them. However, as soon as they begin to pay us *any* attention at all, he becomes an absolutely maniac. A person makes eye contact on the street and asks me how old he is? He loses his shit, barking and lunging like a little psycho lol. Another dog starts staring at him? Barking and lunging. A mailman says hello? Barking and lunging. And God forbid he spots another dog off leash playing ball or something. I have never allowed on leash greetings during walks either, aside from a handful of times that it's happened by accident.

None of the barking and lunging is aggressive in intent. This pup has never shown a single hint of aggression. He just wants to say hi and be friends. But it definitely appears aggressive to others and although I have had no issues physically controlling him and can usually distract him away pretty quickly, I obviously don't want this behaviour to continue long term!

The worst of it happens when we go to his training classes or to the vet. He's been through puppy preschool and puppy kindergarten and despite being the brightest pup and fastest learner, he was also the "problem kid" in class lol. Any time the trainers would approach us, make eye contact, or try to talk to me directly he would bark like crazy and lunge trying to get to them for pets and treats. Even my hot dogs and dehydrated sardines couldn't compete with whatever the trainers had. The same thing happens in the vet reception area. If he isn't allowed to greet the receptionists by jumping all over them he acts like a little crazy man and scares all the other patients. I may as well not exist in these scenarios, he forgets all about me.

The funny thing is, at home he isn't a barker or a jumper. He greets both my partner and I very politely when we get home! At home he's extremely attentive and so good at responding to commands! He also isn't like this when we go places with *lots* of dogs and people. We live in a city so everywhere we walk is well populated, but most of his walks happen in a more residential area where we are only seeing one or two people/dogs/cars at a time. When we occasionally take him to the main street full of shops and restaurants and traffic, he seems to become a bit overwhelmed so he sticks close to us and is much more attentive than he is on his normal walks and kind of blocks out whatever is going on around him.

I'm wondering who else has gone through this, or is currently going through it with your pup, and if there are any specific tips, tricks or training methods that have worked for you! Is this relatively normal and something that will just take time and consistency to grow out of? Should I just keep doing what I'm doing? Or am I doing it all wrong? He's truly such a good boy and I want us to be able to go all the places together without it being stressful!

My partner forgot to put our 6.5 month old shepherd/husky mix pup back in his crate when he left for work this morning so our boy was on his own while I was upstairs showering and getting dressed and such, oblivious to the fact that he was wandering free on the main floor. As far as I can tell, this sweet boy just chilled and snoozed for about an hour before popping into the bedroom all happy like, "Hi Mom, look at me!"

He is just such a good boy and it just made me think about how much has changed in the past couple of months! I've been pretty much obsessed with this guy since the day we brought him home (at 9.5 weeks) and I never felt any puppy blues, but we have still gone through the usual challenges with housetraining, biting, loose leash walking, etc.

However, between about 4.5 and 6.5 months soooo many things seem to have fallen into place! He is house-trained and crate-trained, his 'frustrated greeter' reactivity on leash is tons better, he is amazing at settling, he knows tons of commands and listens super well, he can be outside in the backyard on his own, he can be off leash at the dog park, he's great in the car and in new environments, he has *mostly* stopped chasing the cats, he can chill with me while I work from home now instead of needing to be in his crate, he knows how to occupy himself with a toy or a chew and doesn't destroy or get into things in the house that he's not supposed to.

Basically, he is just so, so good and I'm now getting worried about whether this is just like...the calm before the adolescent storm lol. Whenever someone posts that they have a "good" or "easy" puppy I see so many comments like, "Just you wait...". So I want to know about your pups and the adolescence experience! Do you have a puppy who was nearly perfect at 6 months but became a monster at 8? Or was it the other way around? How long does the monster phase even last?? Does their behaviour and training in the first six months have any bearing on how they'll act in the next six? Is there any hope that my perfect pup might just...stay perfect??b

I have a 6 month old pup who is a mix of working breeds. He's a rescue so we don't know exactly what his mix is but based on our locality it's likely to be some combo of GSD, husky, lab, malamute, and possibly great pyrenees and/or another livestock guardian breed. He is a great puppy! I'm super in love with him and the feeling seems to be mutual. He is extremely smart, excited to learn, and eager to please me and show me what he can do.

We've been doing tons of training since he came home at 9.5 weeks (and he already knew several basic commands from his foster home!). He's completed "puppy preschool" and we're currently enrolled in "puppy kindergarten". Both classes have been hugely helpful and we practice what we've learned all the time.

The thing is, he picks up new commands crazy fast. It only takes a handful of times showing him something new before he gets it and will reliably do the thing every time. Even as a little baby he was like this, but now that he's a bit older and has better self control and a longer attention span, in a dedicated training session we can blast through like every single command he knows multiple times, and then he's looking at me like, "okay, what next?" and I'm stumped about where to go from there lol.

I will for sure be getting him into more advanced classes like agility, scentwork, or rally obedience after he's finished with kindergarten, but in the meantime, I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for fun and/or useful commands I could work on teaching him! He already knows: go pee, go poo, outside, inside, sit, stay, it's over (release word), lie down, get up, come, let's go, leave it, take it, drop it, catch, go get it, toy, off, place, go home (crate), touch, focus, heel, spin, close, go sniff, high five, other high five, paw, other paw, roll over, quiet, kisses, speak, and perch.

We are continuing to practice all of these and use them on a regular basis, particularly when we're out in the world as he's still working on dealing with the excitement and distraction of having other people and dogs around. But when we're at home he's just so attentive and seems to really enjoy learning and mastering new skills, so I'd like to continue introducing new ones too to keep the momentum going!

Posting this as a bit of a contrast to the "puppy blues" posts, as it's (understandably) more common for folks to come here with their problems rather than their wins! My partner and I adopted our nearly 6-month old "shepherd mix" pup from a rescue when he was 9.5 weeks old. We're in Alberta, Canada and he's a rez dog so although he has shepherd colouring, there is highly likely to be some combo of shepherd/husky/lab/malamute in his mix along with the possibility of various other working breeds. He weighs around 50 lbs at present, he just finished losing his baby teeth, he has floppy, expressive ears, an extremely curly tail and the softest fur. He is so smart, so sweet, so goofy, so confident, and such a little lover. He loves everyone and everything and is just happy to be here. He is perfect and we are obsessed with him!

We have had two huge wins in two consecutive weekends and I am so proud of him! Last weekend we took him to the dog park for the first time and he had the time of his life, although I actually think I may have had even more fun than he did! The dog park we took him to is huge, fully fenced in, split into several different sections, and includes a stretch of river where pups can swim and play. He did incredible off leash, made many new dog friends (and some people friends lol), and didn't even hesitate to run into water for the first time! He was socially aware and responded well to signals from older dogs who didn't feel like playing with a puppy, and he was super gentle with the little dogs he met. He stayed close to us and even (mostly) listened to commands! I can't wait to bring him again.

This past weekend my mom was visiting from out of province and he was such a good boy with his Grandma! He was left alone on Friday for the longest he's ever been (4.5 hours) and he was chill as can be. Then yesterday we took him on a long road trip through the mountains and for his first mini hike along a mountain lake in a provincial park. He was an absolute star in his new car seat and didn't make a peep throughout the whole drive. He took in his new surroundings and the other day trippers on the hike without any fear, but didn't pull on the leash or freak out with excitement trying to greet everyone! It all went about as well as it possibly could have gone and we are so excited for him to grow up to be an amazing hiking buddy!

I just love this little pup so much and I want everyone visiting this sub to know that having a puppy isn't all stress and biting and sleepless nights and cleaning up pee. We definitely got lucky with our puppy's personality, and we've also put a *lot* of time and effort into training him, but I think the biggest factors in whether raising a puppy ends up feeling like a joy or a chore are managing expectations and embracing the philosophy of "journey before destination".

I knew my whole life would change when I got my puppy, and I've accepted that raising him will be my main hobby and part-time job for a while. That said, I also know that even the best, most well-trained dogs are still adorable little pains in the ass at times, and that even poorly-trained dogs are still usually not *that* bad, so I haven't stressed much about whether I'm doing it right. I'm just doing the best I can and I need to trust the process!

It is truly a delight to watch him learn and experience new things every day, and it feels like such a gift that I get to be the one to facilitate that learning and experiencing! Of course there have been frustrating moments, but having patience and reminding myself that he's just a little baby who is wholly dependent on me to teach him about the world really helps to wash that frustration away. I love the sense of pride I get when I see something I've taught him finally "click" or when I expose him to something new for the first time and he absolutely rocks it. I love the way he looks at me when I get him out of his crate in the morning and how excited he becomes over a new toy or chew or treat or game.

I know it will be wonderful when he is finally a "dog" and he just knows how he's supposed to act and I don't have to think about it anymore, but I will miss this time when he was just a little baby puppy and I was bursting with pride over all of his accomplishments, big or small! I don't want to rush it, I am enjoying the journey.