The last two days have been packed full. Tuesday was a very long work day, leaving here about 5:40 and arriving at work around 6:15. I had to do TWO days worth of payroll activities and get it done all in one day. I worried about the little toot, Dexter all day. It was his first day alone (probably ever) and I wondered if he was just absolutely freaked out. I had imagined every worse case scenario. Needing a little love and support, I posted that I was worried about him. Instead of comfort and “don’t worries” I was met with “what, you didn’t leave him in crate”? Hell no we didn’t leave him in a crate. We shut all the bedroom doors and gave him the run of the hallway and the foyer of the bathroom. We shall have NO broken teeth from being in crates all day. For this dog that would be cruel. I felt like kinda like I had been judged (you know how Facebook is, lol). Everyone takes a side path and totally misses the whole point. I was worried about his feelings more than our doors or walls, but had made a reference to it jokingly and then felt judged by comments. (Insert eye emoji here.) I had rather him have all his teeth and a few scratches on the doors and walls.
When we came home, there was not a scratch on anything the last two days. He seemed to be enjoying his time of rest, lol. However, he was a live wire when we came home Tuesday. Everything was happening at once. Katy faced time and we tried to talk with River while trying to feed and entertain the dog, and feed the cat, and communicate about the day. I had to apologize to Katy for being so distracted and all over the place.
So we are learning as well as Dexter. What are we learning? Well we already knew he would be a live wire at times. No surprise there. But I am overjoyed that he has less of the puppy times than normal and can be really laid back at times. So we have taken him for yard walks. He can’t be around other dogs til he gets all of his shots, so we’ve been doing yard walks in our own yard. But mainly what we have been learning is how to teach a dog “no no”. The saying “he thinks his name is No No” comes to mind. So Tuesday was a lot of no no no—ing and enh enh enh—ing, almost to the point of frustration.
But a little bit of googling we are handling things a little different and it’s much less frustrating. Aside from the fact that I had to get up about 8 times (not exaggerating) to get this blog started so I could do the following.
Instead of Yelling No No and Getting Frustrated with Your Doggie
- Distract the dog and give him something different to chew on (versus his bed, our furniture, the carpet in the bedrooms, my robe, my pants hems).
- Take him outside for walks a lot and throw the tennis ball (he can already retrieve it) and tire him out.
- Give belly rubs and pat him and give him attention.
- Go ahead and eliminate anything you know he’s going to be getting into, to the best of your ability and set him up for success.
- When puppy biting/play biting give a little “yelp” like a sibling pup would do and it teaches the dog to go lighter on you next time. He’s learning too how much is too hard. And the internet said that they normally learn this from their siblings so we have to pretend to be their siblings. Allow him to nibble on your fingers but yelp if it’s too hard. It worked last night, but it might not always.
All that still didn’t help me get my blog entry done. I finally had to shut the door with coffee and let George take a turn occupying his mind while I at least got my blog entry done. I am not going to work til I get the blog entry done! (Tribe has spoken, as always!)
He is doing great and house trained to the paper and going outside. He is faithful. Sometimes he misses but we have the flooring now so that is not an issue. That has been so easy.
So the house looks crazy with pee pads everywhere. Eventually we will get down to one or two, but for now we want to have them available in most all rooms where he will see them til he gets used to our lay out.
I was amazed this morning when I did a work out that he let me do it without trying to bite my feet or clothes. He stayed back, played with toys and at some points just laid and watched. So that was good to know. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do my exercising but that was easy. I only did 10 minutes this morning.
He is a sweet heart. He sleeps all night. We both wake up about 3:30 though. And then we both have to gooooooo. Sometimes that is my fault as I get up first. But he is a good sleeper.
So yesterday, was a big day also. I had a shorter day at work since my Tuesday was so long. I got there around 7:15 to 7:30 I think, and then left around 3:30 to meet George at the vet at 4:30.
The good news is that he does not have intestinal worms. He had been given treatment for that as all dogs are when they come into the adoption center and the meds worked. But they gave us more meds for heart worm prevention, ticks, and also the intestinal worms, etc. It’s a one for all. And what they do for all young pups. We have all of his shots scheduled for the next two trips. In our world we have to set appointments ahead of time so we can get them around work and also around Mom’s doc appointments and around my own.
As for neutering, we have to wait until that last round of shots to decide so they can see his weight and determine the best time to do it. While he is asleep they will also do the chip.
Then after the vet appointment I went to get Mom and we splurged and ate out at Outback. Very expensive to get steak but we did it anyway. And then went to Aldi’s. Aldi’s was pitiful. I’ve never seen it in such disarray. The produce section was picked over and not very neat. Bags of lettuce wilted and brown in the bags. Mom and I both bought a few things. I took Mom home.
Mom has lost her blood pressure meds. She had two bottles and doesn’t know what she did with one of them. She went through her trash to make sure she didn’t throw it away. I searched the fridge and drawers and cabinets and did not see it. She finally told me to go on as it was getting close to my bed time. I told her to just call and order more and explain what happened.
Mom has not been feeling too well since the graduation. She said the day wore her out. I was pleased that Mom said thank you yesterday for doing what we do for her. I appreciated that. I thanked her for saying it. She was more feeble yesterday, using her cane and having a harder time getting around, even though she has been trying to walk some on her culdesac in the early mornings. She has mentioned she is tired of her own cooking and several times has mentioned how another boy she knows cooks meals for his father. Since she mentioned it more than once to me, I figured she was trying to hint, but I hardly have time to cook for us and that is not going to happen. I can’t be an assisted living cook. She opted out of assisted living for this house and while we can bring some meals over here and there, it’s not going to be wide operation, but maybe we can look into meals on wheels or something. Or I can order her something to be delivered. But no I won’t be over there cooking on the weekends. I already don’t have much of a weekend anyway. She may not have been hinting that, but since she mentioned it to me twice, I naturally took it as a hint. One that I will let pass by. She knows we are limited in time, so it’s probably wishful thinking. I can bring her over and eat here some and take her home some. But even that is time consuming and challenging on a work day. She may have to buy more frozen meals and eat a few more sandwiches.
But anyway, I am going to end the blog and get ready and off to work.
It makes my day when I hear from you…