Before I start, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that good stuff, since I won't be posting again until at least Saturday.
Having an 11 (now 12) week old puppy in the house is taxing. She has to be watched nearly EVERY second. She's good tempered and not too destructive (puppies like to bite the hell out of things), but she's not housebroken yet. So there's been a lot of scrubbing the pee off of the carpet with OxyClean, and two post-poop carpet shampooing (handy having one of those machines). A few of these were situations where she dropped off her payload before anybody could get her leash on her and take her outside.
Speaking of taking her outside, I've been outside more in the last week than I've been in months. We're talking something in the neighborhood of about every 2-3 hours. In fact, I think I'm catching a cold, since I usually don't have time to bundle up before the little bomb goes off.
There's a lot of chewing on things. My tips of my shoelaces on my sneakers look like I put them into a woodchipper. For that matter, so do my hands. I know it's playful biting, but I wasn't ready for that! She also likes chewing on metal, so her kennel is great for that. (I've also never seen a living thing eat so fast. I don't think the dish is even on the floor sometimes before it's empty.)
Under the Christmas tree is a favorite hiding place. Other tree related hobbies include knocking down ornaments and chewing on the wires for the lights. So far, she hasn't done any "decorating" of her own under the tree.
We have one of those "crate" kennel things. She doesn't seem to like it in there too much yet. You have to train them to like going in those. We've been putting her in there as little as possible, because she was whimpering like crazy the first two overnights in there. She likes her bed, it's just important to remember to take her outside. New baby/pet gates on the doors of the room we usually have her in should prevent any unauthorized "off to explore/go to the bathroom" expeditions. Now, it's just a matter of remembering how long it's been since she last went, and watching for her tells that she needs to go. (I can't wait until we get her trained like the books and websites say. It'd be awesome if we could turn her into one of those dogs who goes and gets her leash or stands next to the door and barks to let you know it's time.)
I'm not the only one in the house, but this week most of the care of the dog has fallen on me, with everybody else being busy... out handling Christmas stuff, work, etc. So I'm the guy outside at 4am holding a leash. I've been sleeping in short, two hours bursts from mid morning or early afternoon until about 4pm, and I'm not liking that too much. I'll be psyched when things get a little more normal again.
I don't know how my friend Tony handles three dogs, a toddler, and a new baby. Going to work must be like a vacation for him! (Speaking of which, Tony, if you're reading this I know you called yesterday (or was it the day before?) and I didn't get a chance to call you back yet. I don't know which would make me a crappier friend, not having called back yet, or calling back at 1:30 am.) Then again, I'm also surprised that my phone didn't crap out on me again and that I even got to check my voice mail and hear your message.
Well, time to go check to see if master needs to go outside.
Having an 11 (now 12) week old puppy in the house is taxing. She has to be watched nearly EVERY second. She's good tempered and not too destructive (puppies like to bite the hell out of things), but she's not housebroken yet. So there's been a lot of scrubbing the pee off of the carpet with OxyClean, and two post-poop carpet shampooing (handy having one of those machines). A few of these were situations where she dropped off her payload before anybody could get her leash on her and take her outside.
Speaking of taking her outside, I've been outside more in the last week than I've been in months. We're talking something in the neighborhood of about every 2-3 hours. In fact, I think I'm catching a cold, since I usually don't have time to bundle up before the little bomb goes off.
There's a lot of chewing on things. My tips of my shoelaces on my sneakers look like I put them into a woodchipper. For that matter, so do my hands. I know it's playful biting, but I wasn't ready for that! She also likes chewing on metal, so her kennel is great for that. (I've also never seen a living thing eat so fast. I don't think the dish is even on the floor sometimes before it's empty.)
Under the Christmas tree is a favorite hiding place. Other tree related hobbies include knocking down ornaments and chewing on the wires for the lights. So far, she hasn't done any "decorating" of her own under the tree.
We have one of those "crate" kennel things. She doesn't seem to like it in there too much yet. You have to train them to like going in those. We've been putting her in there as little as possible, because she was whimpering like crazy the first two overnights in there. She likes her bed, it's just important to remember to take her outside. New baby/pet gates on the doors of the room we usually have her in should prevent any unauthorized "off to explore/go to the bathroom" expeditions. Now, it's just a matter of remembering how long it's been since she last went, and watching for her tells that she needs to go. (I can't wait until we get her trained like the books and websites say. It'd be awesome if we could turn her into one of those dogs who goes and gets her leash or stands next to the door and barks to let you know it's time.)
I'm not the only one in the house, but this week most of the care of the dog has fallen on me, with everybody else being busy... out handling Christmas stuff, work, etc. So I'm the guy outside at 4am holding a leash. I've been sleeping in short, two hours bursts from mid morning or early afternoon until about 4pm, and I'm not liking that too much. I'll be psyched when things get a little more normal again.
I don't know how my friend Tony handles three dogs, a toddler, and a new baby. Going to work must be like a vacation for him! (Speaking of which, Tony, if you're reading this I know you called yesterday (or was it the day before?) and I didn't get a chance to call you back yet. I don't know which would make me a crappier friend, not having called back yet, or calling back at 1:30 am.) Then again, I'm also surprised that my phone didn't crap out on me again and that I even got to check my voice mail and hear your message.
Well, time to go check to see if master needs to go outside.
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1 comments:
The kennel thing will most definitely be amusing once she starts treating it like her safe zone. "Oh no! I'm in trouble! TO THE CAGE!!!"
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