So we’ve settled into a routine with the new pup.  She comes to work with me in her crate and stays in the back of the PT.  She has her pink snuggie blanket and toys and I go out periodically for pee breaks and walks.  Everyone at work just adores her of course and with good reason.  She gets a little overwhelmed meeting so many new people at once that want to love on her but she’s doing well.
We are learning all her traits and signals for when she has to go the bathroom.  We’ve had surprisingly few accidents in the house.  We know when that she has to be scooped up immediately upon exiting her crate in the morning because she will squat and pee anywhere at this stage in the game.
Also, any time she starts circling in her crate and clawing at the padding she has to poop.  Learned that one the hard way but now we know.  🙂
She is gotten so much better at settling down in the crate at night and going to sleep instead of whining.  Now if she whines we know it means she has to go potty but she’s also been really good at holding it overnight.
Pappy has been very standoffish with her since we brought her home.  Which is unfortunate for Shilo because she wants to play with him SO BAD!  She keeps running up and nipping at him and getting on her hind legs trying to bat him in the head.  He’s pretty much just been growling at her and letting her chase him off.  He usually runs to the top of the couch because he knows she can’t reach him up there, and then he barks out the window pretending to see a squirrel but really just voicing his displeasure at the little gal.
Last night Rob brought Pappy’s crate home from where he had it at work and he seemed to really like having a little place to go to get away from her.
This morning when we got up and everyone had been fed and done their business the dogs started to play.  For real playing.  No growls, just playful jumping and wrestling.  It was like Pappy finally realized he wasn’t going to break her.  He had to feel her out for a couple of days and now he’s cool with her since he has his crate to get in when he’s sick of her.
It was such a relief to see them getting along.  What we have noticed this week is that whether he realizes it or not, Pappy is teaching her his mannerisms.  He has taught her how to growl and how to stand on her hind legs.  She also now follows him in the kitchen and stares up at whoever is in there just like Pappy does.  She doesn’t know why she does this because people food has no effect on her yet, she’s never had it and has no interest in it.  However she sees him do it and figures it must be the thing to do.  So cute.  She has a way to go with the training but she really is doing remarkably well.

Having a new puppy that will scour the floor looking for any little particle to put in her mouth has vastly improved my house cleaning skills.  I never used to be a vacuum the carpet every day kind a gal but I’m discovering running a quick cleaner over the carpet beats chasing a 3 pound speed demon around the living room trying to remove a leaf from her mouth.

She is quite the little explorer.  She wants to see EVERYTHING and she wants to put said everything in her mouth.  And chew.

“No!” is her favorite game.  To her the rules mean that whatever I am doing when Mom screams NO means I need to stop for one second, look at her and then continue what I was doing with even more vigor than I was before.

Whining is another pastime she enjoys.  Usually while she is in her crate in any state other than sleep.  The louder the better.

Don’t get me wrong.  She is a little love.  When she is done trying to attack innocent toes and chew on computer wires she is perfectly content to curl up in your lap in a tiny little ball and sleep or just stare up at you with adoring green eyes.

She has had several successful outside pees.  The secret is to catch her right as she is coming out of the crate.  If you wait even a second, she will run off and pee as soon as she gets away from you.  However, if you get her in time and put her outside she will sniff around a bit and squat.

She and Pappy have just started in the last two days to spar a little bit.  She has been wanting to play with him from day one but he just keeps looking at me as if to say: “But Mom, she’s so small!  Can I really jump around with her??”  Now he’s trying to feel her out and is getting more comfortable with jumping back at her when she approaches her.

Much like having a newborn I have been getting up in the wee hours of the morning to let her outside and then lay with her a bit to get her back to sleep.  She’s very small and her bladder isn’t very big.  It would be unreasonable to expect her to hold her water for more than three or four hours and since we don’t want her going in her crate, that is the option.

Rob said he got her to give her first poop outside this morning so that is promising even if she did poop inside tonight when I got home.  It was my fault for not noticing her sniffing around.

I gave her the first dose of her deworming meds right after that so I’ll be watching her closely so she doesn’t get near her poop in case there are worms.

Fascinating blog entry, no?

Alright, on to the cuteness!!

Woke up this morning to the double dose of doo doo in Shilo’s crate that I mentioned in the last entry.  I cleaned off the blanket and popped it into the washer and took the pup into the bed with me while Rob got ready for work.

I got up around eight and wrote the last blog entry before getting ready and heading to the vets with little Shilo.

She really didn’t like riding in the car without being secure in someones lap but I wrapped her up in my sweatshirt and since it was only a mile to the vets office she did pretty good.

I LOVE our vets office.  Mostly because they all love Pappy so much and well, who wouldn’t.  But they were also really great when we made the decision to put Romie down.  They know us by face even when I don’t recognize them and always make us feel like they really care about our pets.

They got us right in and did what they needed to do.  The start of three series of vaccinations, a nail trim and also some deworming meds for her that I am supposed to administer tomorrow.

She weighs three and a half pounds and seems to be in good health.  She had a little scabby sore on her side when we picked her up yesterday but the vet just picked it off and declared it was healed underneath.  The vet said Shilo should be about 12 to 15 pounds at her target weight.

Since I brought her home, I have fed her twice with no problems and had two successful outside pees.  No poops yet but I’m sure that is coming.  She napped a lot as she had a very hard day, but she and Pappy have had a couple of runs around the living room.  No wrestling yet, mostly her chasing him and him not knowing quite what to do but run.  I’m pretty sure he’s scared because she is so little and he doesn’t want to hurt her.  She has backed down every time he turned on her with a bark.  This is just so much like when we introduced Romie and Pappy, it’s comical.

She has been really good at not getting into too much trouble while I was cooking dinner.

I came in from running upstairs really quickly and caught her playing by herself with a small leaf.  She would take the leaf in her mouth and throw it to the side before immediately jumping on it and starting the process all over again.  Playing catch with herself.  So CUTE!  Romie used to do this in Arizona with a tennis ball.

So far so good.  She is tucked in again by my side for a nap.  She seems to have a span of a half an hour of playing or running around followed by a two hour nap.  Lather, Rinse, Repeat.