12 Weeks

I find myself very frustrated training humans.  Teaching canine rules to a child is painfully slow.  Many people we meet ignore the "four on the floor" rule immediately.  Despite great efforts, all family members aren't consistently reactive to Clover's excessive vocalizations. I fear my work is undone and our girl will be hopelessly confused. It's very defeating.

A good friend recently posted a nice photo comment "Aren't puppies precious?"  I respond with mixed emotion.  Puppies are like looking after a colic stricken infant while being perpetually hung-over for several weeks (and for the record, I don't handle alcohol well in minimal amounts at best).  Like children, cuteness saves them from you losing your mind while helping them to grow into an emotionally secure, confident, obedient (law-abiding), respectable adult.   Don't get me wrong, the process is incredibly rewarding but realistically speaking, my opinion of "precious" highly depends on two critical factors.  How much sleep I've obtained and which minute of the laborious day you ask.♥

19 lbs 16" wither

The daytime hours alone with her have significantly improved.  She can actually be quite relaxed and obedient without the boy running about the house like an impending tornado.  The cats have still avoided direct confrontation.  With a hiss or two it seems they've claimed their territory.  The dog has learned to be cautious around these odd cranky creatures.  She sits patiently, watching them move about and probably dying inside with feline enthusiasm.

We can confine a lot less now that she is better at house training.  I'm still holding on to medical science and a maturing bladder.  12-14 weeks should be the magic number and life will get significantly easier.  The increased room space from the pen is helping with the constant barking.

A day at the park

Socialization continues.  There's an adorable chocolate lab pup in the neighbourhood and a sweet Brittany spaniel she's had the opportunity to share some play time with.  We are meeting as many different dogs, people, places as possible with a few more car rides thrown in.  All sites and sounds are on my radar.  We watched a motorcycle parade down the street and met a man in his big crazy helmet (I loaded his hands with dog cookies).  We've received excellent support from the trash collectors and utility trucks!  Many more trips to area lakeside parks from one end of the region to the other.  It's a game of cramming great experiences every day.

She's learned a few more moves like "spin" and "sleep" and continues to work on "crawl", "sit pretty" and "roll over".

11 Weeks

14.9 lbs

William and I headed out to see my favourite vet and have Clover vaccinated for the second time.  It couldn't have been a more perfect evaluation.  She's bright, has a beautiful dental bite, a clean healthy pup.  Like a studious detective, she investigates the clinic room, impressively alert and obedient...it seems those hours of training paid off  (it helps to have a canine with finely tuned genetics *wink).  Clover weighed in at 14.9 lbs with a lot of rib showing.  She's lean and eats like a friggin' horse.  Seriously!

She knows sit, down, and come.  Stay or "wait" is a little more tricky. I'm still holding out for some bladder control but the weather is warmer so I manage to keep her outside long enough to eliminate more often.  I was getting pretty frustrated with the refusal to pee on the cold wet ground.  The grass looks like hell, but I own a dog AND have a boy...the manicured lawn won't be a priority this year.

My biggest challenge is that the anxiety levels have reached an all time high.  It was more than I had bargained for to be honest.  If she can't physically touch me all the time she's a basket case.  But learning she can have unabated access 24/7 isn't a realistic picture for balancing a healthy family life.  I'm still persistently crate training, following all the non-excitement rules, still following a reliable schedule, changing up the mental games along with plenty of physical exercise.  I've tried offering my scented sweater...however returned to find my buttons bitten off and partially eaten.  Clover has been known to chew the baseboard through the bars of the play yard, just to try and get across the room to me.  She urinates on every blanket or towel and has begun to shred them too.  She howls, then barks, urinates then whines..repeat.  I love her dearly. Please, I plead, make it stop. 

Week Ten

The barking and the training and the patience continues.  I'm not seeing much progress on the toileting issue and sensing the cold snow isn't helping.  The noise level is astonishing.  Really, how can such a small beast make that much racket and not be A: hoarse or B: tired or C: completely board of hearing their own voice?

The bouncing puppy stage continues. We are all tired now and just running the paces with consistency and praying it will all work out in the end.  I still sleep barely 3 hours at a time. William is becoming jealous that Clover needs mummy A LOT.  It seems that every time I begin something with him, the dog eliminates on the floor... barks her head off... needs feeding... needs washing from soiling herself or fresh water because its spilled EVERYWHERE.  I try to reassure him, but the truth is, many hours I am so beyond coherent from sleep deprivation I could probably collapse at any moment.  

Winter is hard, and this particular year, very long.  Playing fetch down the front hallway is about the most high intensity exercise we can come up with. Still sniffing and strolling and meeting the children daily from school and meeting "safe" (well/vaccinated) dogs.

The Ninth Week

Our pointer is POINTING!

Learning to use a treat ball

Shhhhh! Puppy's sleeping

The Eighth Week

First night home was very peaceful

 Time for a bath

      

Retreat!

  

One clean pup

Loving the oatmeal-almond shampoo

It just seemed rather cruel to be outside in -10 temps.
A practically fur less puppy needs a little help.

Loving the sleepy puppy. She's not very happy with the crate training and has spent most days and night barking whenever confined - even in the play yard. The visitors continue to come for socializing and she's been out daily for a sniff and stroll up and down the street in the morning while the neighbourhood is quiet.  The obedience training has started and she's a very eager learner, with the exception that she prefers to shred puppy pads/newspapers, whatever the substrate. Ugh. All but three hours of sleep at a time for me and the exhaustion was catching up by the end of the week.