With those eyes she looks full of sorrows doesn't she? Or is working it for sympathy. One or the other.
Yesterday marks week one - one week we have had Delores Long-body, or as we like to call her Lola. And she is about eleven weeks old now.
We had a rough start because the breeder gave us a lot of bogus information. Including what to feed her and how to potty train her. The breeder wanted me to keep her inside for thirty days since she hasn't had all of her shots yet. Which would mean I would have to use puppy pads (flat disposable diapers) to train her. But it is hard to force her to go on a schedule then. We had to wash her quite a few times those first few days because we were trying to keep her in the kennel like she told us too.
I called our vet who pointed me to a trainer who helped me out a lot. Now we are taking her out every two hours during the day and every four at night. Though she gets so cold outside at night I may just rely on the puppy pads for nighttime. This schedule has helped a lot. The first day I did it we had no accidents. It is now our fourth day and we have had a few but mostly because her "potty times" haven't been a full five minutes (the time it seems to take her to fully eliminate). So another week or two of this schedule and then we can try and extend the time a little bit. For the times she is not with me we now have a play pen set up in the kitchen that helps out a lot too. She has her little puppy pads in there, some water, toys, her crate that she is learning to like again and a bed.
It has also helped a lot to put her on a tether outside. She can't get into too much and can spend some time exploring and rolling around in the grass. Yesterday she discovered the joy of sticks! Being outside is definitely more stimulating than being in the kitchen. We were both going a little crazy being locked up in there.
We also had to switch her food and stop giving her canned food. The food the breeder had me buy contained corn which is apparently part of why they had those pet food recalls last year. And canned food can rot her teeth. So now we have a better food and just put a little warm water in it to make some gravy.
So little Lola has had a lot to adjust to lately. But she is doing really well and seems to really like both of us. It is pandemonium when daddy gets home from work.
We are outside now enjoying her morning exercise. In a few more weeks we can start taking her on walks. For now running around in the back yard will do. The occasional excitement from the cats helps too. They are all getting along. Stink seems to want to play with her but is still scared. Monkine just stays away. Lola seems to me more scared of Monkine too. Stink just looks like someone to play with.
She is also learning how to sit down and look at me when I call her. Though she as learned that sitting gets her treats so now she will just come up and sit in front of me to get a treat. She is a smart puppy. We will have to work on the sitting on command part of it but that will come in time.
