Buttercup’s update was actually sent to me early — and got buried under emails. Sorry, Buttercup!!! Here is her fun update:
“As we approach the 4 month mark Buttercup is 31.6 pounds and almost 18" at the withers. She has that baby colt appearance of being "all legs". Her adult coat is coming in on the stomach area first. The fur on the stomach is very black, shiny and straight. Her fur on her back is wavy almost to the point of being curly. It's still puppy fur though so that may change. The end of her tail, where the adult fur is unwinding looks like an exploding cigar.
She's lost eight deciduous teeth (milk teeth) four on the top and four on the bottom. The tooth loss starts in the front middle (top and bottom) and moves toward the back. I can't wait for the canine teeth to fall out (i.e. "fangs" - isn't every tooth in their mouth a canine tooth? :-) Those will be next. Fun fact: Dogs have 42 teeth that's 10 more than humans. I have found at least one tooth from almost every dog I have owned. I keep them in a baggie with the name of the dog and the date. Most of the teeth that I find are the premolars (P1-P4). Those are the "mountain range" looking ones and I usually find them by noticing that the puppy is rolling something around in its mouth. Most of the puppy teeth are swallowed. Hopefully I'll be able to snag one of Buttercup's baby teeth as well.
We've had very unhealthy (even dangerous) air quality for a couple of weeks because of the forest fires in Oregon and California. It looks like super dense fog, only it's toxic. It even blots out the sun and makes it as dark as twilight all day long. I've only been letting the dogs outside just to potty, then right back inside, which has been difficult. They don't understand why they can't go outside and play as usual. Needless to say, we haven't ventured very far from home but we did go to our swim lesson this week and there was a marked improvement. On our way there we stopped to take a photo of Buttercup-the-small-fry getting caught by a fish.
Buttercup has reached the housebreaking milestone of asking to go outside to potty. (She bonks the bells hanging on the door) Yay!! We've been diligent about taking her outside every couple of hours, whenever she wakes up from a nap, and after every meal and thus she hasn't had an accident in a long while. Now she tells us "I need to go outside, please!"
A friend wrote to me and asked what Buttercup's "call name" was. She knew that her registered name was Kaibab's Kindhearted Buttercup CGC TKN. I told her that we kept the puppy name Buttercup (which I usually make even longer by calling her "Pup, pup, Buttercup") but that there wasn't a good nickname for Buttercup. I've thrown out calling her Butt for short or B'cup. HA!”
LOL! Not sure if it is worse to be called after a tushy or a bra size??? Good thing Buttercup is so easy and fun to say. Thank you so much to Georgia and Patty for this wonderful and happy answer to my favorite question (see post title).