The Puppy Moon

Behold the Puppy Moon. In order to prevent accidents in the crate and in order to facilitate a controllable sleep schedule we put Pax on a Puppies for Dummies  recommended routine. The ASPCA says that puppies can usually 'hold it' for the same numbers of hours as their months in age. So at 2+ months of age Pax should be going out every 2+ hours. During the day that is no problem. We have a big fenced back yard and are fairly outdoorsy anyway. At night we stretch it to 3+ hours. That means David and I switch off for the late, mid and early morning yard visits. 3 AM is the least normal feeling. The kids sleep through the night, mostly (MEGAN!), but we are not so far from midnight feedings etc. that it feels alien. Its not exactly something we enjoy but its OK. 

The week has been full of ups and downs. She wants to nip at everyone pretty much all the time. We knew she would going into this. Its very hard on the kids and they have vacillated between not wanting to be anywhere near her for fear of leg bites and wanting to play and cuddle with her when she is completely relaxed. We have gated off the living room and they have a safe place to retreat when they don't want to be around her without us having to keep her out of the socialization she needs.

The housebreaking is going really well. She has an accident about 1 -3 times a day and at her current 2+ hourly yard visit that's about  10% failure to 90% success. We are hoping for completely house broken by 6 months and as cooperative as she has been we have some hope of it. Of course winter is a tricky time to want to be outside. Last night we had sleet nearly all night and boy did she not want to be in the yard...me neither of course but it was her rushing the door. Poor puppy.

We are all getting to know each other still. She has impressed me particularly by losing and then finding toys days later in the huge leaf-pile using her super nose. She also found a board on the deck that is rotting. She started sniffing and gnawing at it and we discovered mushrooms growing in it.

On Friday Megan and I brought her along to Scearce's. They both had a grand old time. Megan played with and without Pax and spent some much desired time with Aunt Licia while Pax and I helped put together a shed that a tree branch had taken out.

There was a great deal of running and playing for both of them and they both took super long naps afterward.

Megan even got a strawberry smoothly on the way home.

They really bonded the most this week. I think developmentally they are about the same age. They are both terrible at impulse control and they both really need a lot of sleep and supervision.

They both got crazy excited by our first snow of the season.

Megan has become less fearful overall of dogs this week. She still jumps up on the couch when Pax comes into the living room but given the leg nipping I think that is a very wise choice on her part. She has gotten much much better about running around the puppy and has developed a rather hilarious and fairly effective ssslllooowwwww walk.

She also loves to tell Pax all about it.

The mornings are roughest right now. Pax is extremely energized from all her sleep and she wants to play hardcore for more than an hour say 8-9ish. The kids retreat into the living room and color or watch TV and daddy hangs out on both sides of the gate as needed.

See those nunchucks?

Kiernan's teacher let us know that while Kiernan wanted to play Zombie's with the other boys at school they all wanted to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Thank you Mrs Deane!

We started watching the TMNT cartoon after that tidbit and I hope it has made his recesses more fun. For sure it has made him want to spar and be a ninja everywhere. 

Daddy has taken him to the garage for heavy bag practice most evenings this week at Kiernan's request.

As martial art lovers we are rather thrilled by this development.

Megan wants in on the action too and has taken to kicking the garage door as it has a very satisfying boom...less thrilled but still Go Megs!

Pax helped us with yard work this weekend. She dug for (I assume) mice in the mulch pile while I worked on wood.

Dig dig dig

She helped David by supervising his cleaning of the gutters.

It was a crazy cold weekend to clean the gutters but the leaves are nearly all off the trees and the gutter goop was frozen into handy chunks.

My husband...crazy and brave. I love heights and he hates heights but he has decided that he should be the one to risk climbing so high and getting so sludgy and cold. I don' think he entirely trusts my risk taking impulses here and I think he is protecting me while I heard the kids and the puppy. 

I mowed/mulched the leaves in the back yard.

When things are working, when the puppy is calm and the kids are calm, life seems really good.

Here is to more moments of this and fewer moments of ankle biting!