Tails + Paws | “Puppy” Diesel Turns 1!

It’s been a day of reminiscing. Looking back through photos & videos of when our German Shepherd/Rottie pup was well… a puppy. He used to be so very tiny. I’ll never forget the day that Rob & I drove 1.5 hrs to a parking lot, and waited with an empty leash in hand, among other eager soon-to-be puppy parents. I didn’t sleep much the night before in anticipation. A white truck finally pulled in… a white truck with about 15 barking 4 legged paws who just traveled 24 hours up from Alabama.

One by one the dogs were unloaded. As the dogs’ were called out by name, owners stepped up to accept their new family member. Most of us had tears as we listened to the dogs’ stories.

Finally we heard, “Quimby” called out. I eagerly stepped up towards the open door of the truck to accept our new puppy into my arms. I had tears of joy & excitement as I took this 4 month old shaking puppy into my arms. He was actually a lot heavier than I was expecting. His paws were huge. He was so scared from the trip and commotion that he peed on me. I could care less at that very moment as I was so happy to finally meet our new addition.

Skip ahead a few hours later, and we were all playing with our new puppy on our living room floor. Getting him used to our current resident, our kitty named Pisano. We renamed Quimby to Diesel thinking he’d be a big pup by the size of his paws.

It’s been a wonderful year of training & graduating from puppy classes, getting him used to scary things in life, learning to slowly trust people one-by-one, trying to get him to stop chasing the cat…
He’s such a wonderful dog & Rob and I are amazed by how much we truly love the little guy. We sure miss the days when he was younger, but he’s grown into such a special boy.

Of course, being the crazy pet lover that I am, I had to bake Diesel a special cake. His favorite treats are ice cubes, carrots & peanut butter. Therefore, I found a carrot & peanut butter cake recipe & whipped that up for him last night. Being the photography that I am, I of course had to simulate a “Cake Smash Session” by allowing Diesel to get messy and capture it all with photos. I was actually hoping for more mess with peanut butter all over his face, but that didn’t quite happen. Turns out, he likes to be clean. Happy 1st Birthday little man. We love you so much!