The First Few Months

Mosby's first few months were pretty normal. Doing battle with sharp puppy teeth; making too many trips outside on dark, snowy nights; finding far too many stray turds on my new carpet. In retrospect, teaching bite inhibition was more difficult in our house than it needed to be because we added him to our family probably a couple weeks too soon, but we did eventually teach him it wasn't nice to nip the humans.

8 weeks old. Ready for a game.

Really, we didn't have much trouble teaching him much of anything. At 8 weeks, he learned to sit on command. Shortly after, he would lay down. Rollover was tricky, and we still get some attitude, but he'll do it on command - especially when there's cheese involved.These are the days I think of when I need to remind myself why we fight so hard to keep him.

Mosby at 10 weeks. This is his first trip to the park. We walked a half mile to the park. He was pooped three houses from home on the way back and had to be carried.

Looking back, we had a fairly smooth go of raising Mosby. Sure, at the time each little obstacle seemed insurmountable, but our puppy has been extremely smart his whole life. He picked up on tricks very quickly, understand not peeing in the house after a couple of mishaps, and was eager to learn anything we could throw at him. The time from he came home with us until he was about 4 months old is my base level for measuring his happiness.

 

Mosby at 11 weeks. He grew so quickly!

Meet Mosby

Mosby is the spitting image of the Internet's favorite dog. He's 2 years old and displays his father's Miniature Australian Shepherd markings while wiggling through life shaped like his mother, a purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He came to us from a farm two hours from our home, the first in his band of 5 brothers to find a forever home.

Mosby at 6 weeks, 2 days. Leaving the farm for the first time.

Forever home is the key word here. When we scooped up that 6-week-old little ball of cuteness, we meant forever. We had no idea how many times we would be tested on that promise in the short time he's been with us.

First night at home, posing with his first toy--the only one to survive puppyhood.