the sunday after christmas we welcomed our first baby, Axel, to the family. he's a german shepherd puppy and if the size of his parents and his feet are any indication, we should enjoy his smallness and cuteness now because he's going to be a big dog.

at 6 weeks:

at 8 weeks:

more pics and videos at flickr

within just a couple days he was picking up on "sit" and "come", figuring out what "outside" meant and what the back door was for, and sleeping almost all the way through the night without needing a potty break. less than a week in and he's down to only an accident or two a day.

he's not crazy about riding in the cars, insisting on sitting in the driver's lap, but he's not tearing up the car or whimpering or anything.

we're still working with him on the biting/chewing thing, but he's only 2 months old and teething so it's to be expected somewhat.