Day......what day is it?

Jim asked a good question - did Katie and Will prepare us appropriately for a puppy?

In some ways yes - in some ways no.  But mostly I think we made the right decision to have kids FIRST to prepare for a dog.  Because a puppy seems to be a lot more work.  I knew going in it was going to be a lot of work, but maybe I'm just sad that I was right. 

Things you CAN'T do to a puppy that would make it SOOO much easier. 
- you can't breastfeed a puppy - this would take care of SO much whining, barking, and general puppy behavior. 
- you can't "babywear" a puppy
- you aren't supposed to sleep with a puppy (for a while I thought this was a bunch of hooey from people that say you aren't supposed to sleep with a baby....but it seems this one should stick to keep the dominance behavior of the dog in check.)
- you can't put a diaper on a baby
- you can't leave the puppy in another room alone to play for a few minutes - did that yesterday and I ended up cleaning up a mess from the garbage can.
- There is no oxytocin hormone release going on inside my body....no bonding checmicals going on here like after a baby is born.  Would make it really easier to love him at 3 am.

Things that are the same after having a baby and after getting a puppy
- I haven't slept more than hour chunks since Saturday night.  (Because before we got the puppy....Will was sick all night.)
- My emotions are sitting on the edge of a pinhead.  I had to go to the grocery store this morning and I was so tired that I started packing another woman's groceries instead of mine.  When she pointed this out to me - I started crying and apologizing.  Of course, I'm sure she thought I was mentaly unstable - which I am at the moment.

Ok - so fine.  What are you going to DO about it instead of complain about it?
I have been reading about specific issues I want to work on first.  Leash walking, crate training, fetch, etc.  I started with "fetch" and "drop it".  You know - when the dog brings the toy back, but won't let you have it.  The tips that they suggested atually worked.  Reward him with treats when he brings the ball back (as you are shouting for him to come back) - he has to drop the ball to have the treat.  Repeat words "drop it" as he takes the treat and soon enough he will do it automatically.  By golly, if he didn't pick up quickly and we were playing fetch without treats 15 minutes later.  BUT then we tried again after the grocery store - and he seems to have forgotten.  But that's ok, I know it's possible.

We also went for our first leash walk to the park this morning.  He kept up and only stopped and wouldn't move forward a few times.  The tips of calling him, rewarding him with praise and petting, then keep moving seemed to work well.  It was funny to watch him on the return home because he was getting whiney - like he didn't know where he was.  Then as soon as he got to our yard and smelled it he started jumping up and down like crazy.

I need to work on the crate training a bit more.  He was very unhappy in it last night.  I had to literally push him in there and you aren't supposed to do that.  He whined and barked and carried on for most of the night in there while he was awake.  So he'd whine and bark for a long time, sleep a bit, wake to go outside, then carry on again over and over through the whole night.  This morning it was very evident he was not happy with the crate because I couldn't even entice him into it with treats. It's getting better.  I'm also not going to let him sleep in the evening tonight - while we are awake, he is too.

On a bright note - he hasn't had any inside accidents since that first day.  He is really very good about going outside, and I guess I'm very good about making sure he gets there. 

 

And while I write this, he seems all very innocent and perfect.