Shhhhh....
My Better Half and my puppy are both fast asleep on the bed. The cutest part? THEY BOTH SNORE. Occasionally the puppy makes a little whimpering noise. Occasionally my BH will say something incomprehensible. It's lovely.
I can't believe I have a dog. A cute little spud of a dog. He is brilliant, of course, and didn't pee or poo on us during the long ride home yesterday. He just whined every time he needed to go, we would pull over, and voila! Poop! Pee! We must have looked like complete nutters. Every time he would do his business, my BH and I would do a little happy dance at the side of the highway, and praise the puppy in a sing-song voice. "Good boy! You made a poo! A perfect poo! You are perfect, little puppy! Oh look, a pee! We are so proud of you! So proud!"
Holy crap, holy crap. Cheeseballs. But honestly? You try talking like an adult around a baby bulldog. It's hard. Math class hard. (Pick the tough subject of your choice, math whizzes)
We haven't chosen a name. We have some favourites, but we just can't decide yet. He actually seems to respond best to Oliver, which I like a whole lot. Mordichai and Solomon are still in the running. I'll let you know what we end up with, of course. Good luck getting me to talk about anything else.
I'm a little paranoid about his training. He obviously super smart, but we did just pluck him out of his home in the country and bring him to our big old house in the city. He's a little confused. He peed on our floor twice, but always does his dirtier business outside. I'm worried that it will be hard to get him to pee where he needs to, but I've only had him for about 15 hours. I'm sure things will change. I hope so, anyways.
It's also really REALLY hard to crate train a cute puppy, even though I think it's the best choice for teaching this little dude what the rules are. You get them in their crate, they seem happy with their treats and their toys, you leave the room, and BAM. Heartbreaking whining. It's so hard to listen to, but if we go in to stop the whining, he'll learn that making sad noise is the best way to control us. Have any of you ever crate trained a dog? How did you manage? We're sticking to it, but it's torturous, and we don't want him to think the crate is punishment. Advice please.
I'm hoping to take a video of him today, and I'll post it as soon as I can. I've honestly had my hands so full of puppy that I haven't even been able to pick up my camera.
Puppies!!! Yaaaay!!!
Oh, PS, the gig was wicked fun and I didn't make any sexual jokes on stage! Off stage is a different matter, but I'm progressing here people. One step at a time.
Welcome
8 comments:
Frig! I'm happy for your new parenthood status, but the whole training thing...you're only supposed to put him in the crate when you're home and then take him out ever hour, on a leash to do his business. At night he's just supposed to sleep in there.Each time you let her out, put her on leash and immediately take her outside. The thing is to never let him run around your house until you know for sure he's not going to poop or pee in it. If you do, it will get really, really hard to train him. The idea is for him to stay crated until he knows he's only supposed to go outside. It sounds mean, but it's really not. The better trained your dog is the happier he'll be.
Congrats on becoming a mommy!
I like Oliver - but also really like Solomon...I think of the novel Solomon Gersky was Here - great book!
Cannot wait to see photos!
Congratulations - it sounds like you're off to a phenomenal start. I can't believe he didn't pee or poop in the car.
I've never crate trained anybody, but I think if it's done right, the puppy will soon start to see his crate as his refuge: a place of safety and security.
We did crate training. The hardest part was at night because our puppy would totally flip when we turned off the light and went upstairs.
One thing that worked was when he would cry in the night, we'd put him outside. Then right back in his crate. I'd go sit near the bottom of the stairs and every few minutes would go up a couple of them. He would fall asleep before I got to the top and wouldn't cry until he had to go again.
We had to do that for about 2 weeks because whenever my husband would go put him out, he would actually hold him until he slept and then as soon as he put him down he'd cry again and it undid all my work! I had to ban him.
Congrats on the potato the stork brung in!
I like Oliver.
Shawna
So cute (especially the snoring part!) My family crate trained both our puppies, and as heartbreaking as it was at the time, it seemed to work. Hang in there, no matter how heartbreaking the whimpering gets!
Congrats on the new pup. Sounds like he's a perfect little puppy.
My old dog is crate trained. It is hard at first, but the benefits in the long run make it all worth while.
Thanks for all the advice everyone... We're sticking to it as best we can despite the depressing whimpering sounds...
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