Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Puppy Boom!

Remember that movie I always talk about, "Baby Boom?" Well, three days ago my life became like "Baby Boom. Only, instead of a toddler suddenly being airlifted into my life, it was five pound, ten week old puppy! 

We weren't even planning on getting a dog, let alone a tiny puppy. Sure we've toyed with the idea over the years, but always tabled it because it didn't feel like the right time or we were just unsure. On Wednesday though, I received a call from my mother about one of our life-long family friends who needed to re-home her puppy due to a serious allergy, and right away! So we've gone from zero to puppy in a just matter of days!

I want to be honest with you, but first off,  I need to say, the puppy........ it was instant love. We adore her. She is the sweetest, most adorable and cuddly puppy I have ever met. She's fantastic and hilarious and has surprised me with her smarts. I have always thought myself to be a "cat person", but I have a feeling that this puppy has turned me into a "cat and dog person" in a matter of hours. Which I would say is a most impressive feat!

That said, we agreed upon this being just a "trial", we're first "fostering" the puppy, and truthfully, I'm not 100% sure it will work out. I hope it will, but we're still figuring a few things out. 

How much trouble can a teeny, tiny puppy be I thought. They're puppies! Not babies! See, that's the thing though. That's where I thought wrong. Babies, they might put a lot of things in their mouths, but puppies, they put EVERYTHING in their mouths too AND they also put the rug, the side of the couch, your shoes, the wallpaper, every leaf in your backyard and every random stick in their mouths as well! You just can't leave them alone anywhere!  Also, babies wear diapers and puppies........ you know.

So basically, from now until who knows when, the puppy and I are going to be spending a lot of time together. If we're not outside, then she's needs to either be in her crate hopefully napping, or with me. There's no leaving the pups alone. She might eat something that wouldn't be great or she might pee, or worse....like at 6:00am yesterday morning when she pooped in my room and then on my night gown as I hurriedly carries her outside. She also accidentally ran past one of our baby gates this morning, made a B-line for Noah's room and pooped in there too! (I'm glad the things are tiny. Makes for easy clean up. Once you're a Mom though, these things aren't such a big deal.)

We were able to reasonably puppy proof our family room, so I'm hoping that she can spend some time in there while I play with her and attempt to blog. But right now, she seems to be on a every 20-30 minute outdoor pee-pee break schedule. We have to take her out and stay there with her. So who knows how much of anything I'll be getting done. If today is an indicator, not much.

Also, even though Noah has begged for a dog for years, suddenly now he's finding himself feeling overwhelmed. He's cried for three nights now. The puppy gets a little over excited sometimes, which puppies often do and it overwhelms him. So I'm working hard by reading training books and working with her. Noah's felt a little wary playing with the puppy when she's so excitable. It's hard.

And the cats. They're coping, but they are afraid and I worry that they're sad. They spend a lot more time upstairs these days. I'm worried about them, but doing all that I can to make the cats feel reassured and loved.

I guess in a nutshell, we had to make a quick decision. We didn't realize quite how much work a young puppy would be. If I'm going to have a dog though, I really want to do it right and put the time and effort into raising her the best that we can.
I guess you could say that I'm feeling a little overwhelmed  and exhausted by the sheer amount of work, but I love this sweet dog.


*** UPDATE***

I'm so happy to report that day three went a lot better! I was even home alone because Jon had a business trip and it still felt easier than the first two days. I was careful to plan ahead and set everything up the night before for the morning rush...... from the coffee pot to the cat's food  to Noah's outfit and mine. That helped! Also, I worked hard today to really watch Josie's cues for when she was hungry, needed to potty and was ready for a nap, and I think we started a nice play-eat-potty-nap schedule. Just like a baby!  Noah is still worried, but we're working on it!

And the MOST HELPFUL thing ever....today my Mom brought over a large 4' x 4' puppy playpen! Oh my gosh, this has made all the difference! Now Josie can watch me while I work in the kitchen. It's safe and secure, so I can put her in to play and if I have to run up stairs just for a second, to change the laundry or something like that, she's safe and secure. So thank you Mom!!! 

I feel like we're all starting to figure out how to manage a young puppy, the cats and the kid. So fingers crossed that things work out and keep getting easier.

And now without further ado..........

Friends, family, I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful  JOSIE!!!!!
Josie is a ten-week-old Petite Goldendoodle. She is a Golden Retriever/poodle mix. They say that Goldendoodles have the laid back, friendly personality of the Golden with the smarts of a Poodle. That sounds good to me! Josie is supposed to grow to about 15-20 pounds and stand 12"-16" tall.

I think Josie had a really nice first two days with us if I had to guess. We spent a lot of time outside playing and took many walks too.
She knows how to fetch and can push a ball around so well!


This is how Josie slept during her first nap. She was tired out from playing. :) My friend told me that she sleeps with a stuffed animal that has a recording of a Mother's heartbeat from inside the womb. The original stuffed animal had to go back to my friend's neighbors, so I went out and bought our own. I could only find the giraffe version, but Josie doesn't seem to mind.


Here is Noah and Josie when we walked down our street to a nice, open green space. We have a backyard, but this is a nice place to visit. We went twice yesterday and three times today!


I thought this was cute.



Josie loves to flop on her back in the sun and have her belly rubbed. Sometimes she is so relaxed and mellow. I took her to the vet yesterday for the next round of her vaccinations and basically she just hung out like this the whole time! I was proud of her, what a good puppy.


And can you guess who one of her biggest fans is? Yep, Jon. I think the admiration is mutual.



The cats are getting extra attention these days. Hector and Willow are curious as to WHAT Josie is, but they're also afraid. I bought each of them a mini-catnip pillow today and a container of live wheat grass in hopes of helping them feel loved.


Oh, and a little off topic, but look how nicely Jon fixed up the backyard on Sunday. He even planted fall Mums. Beautiful! I will tell you why we fixed up the yard soon. It involved some video cameras!


For all of the feelings of our life suddenly being turned upside down, it's difficult not to fall in love with this sweet girl and feel attached. 


I've really enjoyed our walks together. We chat and it's so amazing to see her seeing the world for the first time. I absolutely love that.


Today we took a long walk/carry, with lots of sites and sounds. Afterwards, Josie began to play and then just fell asleep like this! Poor girl was tired out. :)


I feel like, if Noah can be ok and the cats can be ok, surrendering myself to a puppy for a few months and slowing down, would actually be a good thing for me. For years now, I've always felt driven to ALWAYS be doing something day and night. I don't know how to slow down. 
Josie lives in the moment though. I noticed that today at the park. She's not worried about the future or the past, she's just enjoying the now! Like when she finds a patch of sun at the dog park, suddenly lays down and stretches out to enjoy the rays. 

And last night, last night when I took her out for her 11:30pm potty trip, Josie and I sat there staring awe struck at the super moon! It was BEAUTIFUL, and I wouldn't have been standing out there seeing such an incredible site with out her. (And the night before we saw a satellite!)

She's already taught me so much


I Love you Josie!!!
xoxoxo

9 comments:

stephanie bean said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Lauren said...

Hi Stephanie! I am so so sorry, I accidentally deleted your comment! I meant to hit "publish" but instead, I accidentally hit "delete! :(

I am terribly sorry, but thank you so much for your sweet words about Josie. We just love her to bits, she's fantastic. :)

I promise never to delete your comments again. I'm so tired, I think after I take Josie out to potty, I just need some sleep!

Thanks again Stephanie!
xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy for you that your family and this wonderful puppy have found each other! Such an exciting time :)

I trained my first puppy this past Fall, and am happy to share tips. First, for the chewing, try the grassfed chew sticks (premier pet supply). They're more expensive, but our dogs love them so much, it keeps them away from other things! Everytime I found them with something they shouldn't have, I replaced it with their chewy and would say something about "Go find your chew toy" or "That's not a Pauly chew toy, THIS is a Pauly chew toy".

The best part about training a pup was the realization that it was SO much more rewarding that trying to train a child/husband. To work on something for a month, and actually have it stick, was kind of mind blowing ;)

Having the right supplies (baby gates, crates, chewies, cleaning sprays, etc) makes a huge difference, just like with babies.

The phase passes before you know it, and the love is worth the inconveniences. Keep swinging! :))
-your silver sorority sister :)

Lauren said...

My dear Silver Sorority Sister,

THANK YOU!!!! Thank you!!!! :)
This is EXACTLY what I am looking for. Puppy tips! Thank you bunches for taking the time to write. I am going to Premier Pet Supply, (you must be my neighbor!) and getting the grass fed chews! I think that will help a lot. I'm always trying to re-direct her chewing and nipping to something appropriate. She has tons of chew toys, but nothing edible to chew on. Perfect! Thank you.

Thanks for the encouragement too. I laughed out loud about dogs being easier to train than children and husbands. Ha! ;)

I hope you have a fantastic day. Thanks again.
xoxoxo

Our Adventures As A Family of 4.... said...

She is very sweet and cute. I have heard Goldendoodle's are the best dogs so you certainly picked a good dog for Noah. My daughters were a bit overwhelmed with our dogs too, so it takes time but Josie should settle down some. When you have settled in you might have Noah feed her to start out with. Also I noticed you had a plant in your pics and in your yard. You might want to read up on plants that are toxic to dogs as they will get into them. My friend had her sweet lab puppy die from eating a toxic plant that was outside, he went into kidney failure. You also have that wonderful ship that has all the toys in it? Might want to put some of them up out of her reach. Dogs will eat/swallow anything and so you might want to puppy proof the plants and toys she could possibly eat. Other than that you are doing everything right, crating and taking her out on a schedule. It will be awesome that you are home with her too because that is a great way to train her. She will be small enough once she is trained you can take her with you places. Don't give up, because once you get past the puppy stage she will be a great dog. As far as the cats go, just work on Josie not chasing them as most dogs like to do. If your cats are tired of her they will bat her and she will learn to leave them alone. Good luck! Our next dog sometime in the way distant future will be a Goldendoodle.

Lauren said...

Hi "Our Adventure As A Family of 4" !

Thank you so much. I am really appreciating all of the tips and input and insight from you and other readers. This is so help and I appreciate it!

Oh what a sad story about your friend's puppy eating a toxic plant. :( How tragic. I am going to read up on that RIGHT NOW! Thank you so much for suggesting this, I hadn't thought about it. Nobody mentioned anything about plants. We did quickly realize that if we didn't remove that plant from the room, Josie would chew on it, so now it is safely away in another space. She does not have free roam, so thankfully she can't get to plants.

I will definitely be going over my back yard plants. Thank you! I have a feeling she won't be able to be alone in the yard for a long time. I will stay eagle-eyed and research and make sure things are safe.

You are right about Noah's "Ark" and the toys. I keep wondering if I should remove the toys. So far, she hasn't been able to stick her snout in far enough to grab the toys. We stay in that room with her and watch her and play. I might take them out though. Good suggestion!

Good points on involving Noah too. I have heard the feeding suggestion for kids before. I;ll have him feed Josie tonight! We also found a well reviewed, local puppy training course that kids can take part in. We might try that as soon as she's old enough!

Thank you again, this was so helpful. Off to research plants and puppies!
xo

Lauren said...

Thank you again! I can not believe how long the list is of toxic plants. How scary! I am going to canvass the yard and figure this out. I won't take my eye off of Josie.

Knowledge is everything. Thank you!

Our Adventures As A Family of 4.... said...

I am glad I was able to share the tips with you. I felt so sorry for my friend, she loved her puppy. They have a new one now, he's a white golden (he's huge from the pics I have seen, LOL) and I think she removed the plants.

Good tip on having Noah be involved in the training. That's a great idea and I think it will give him more confidence. Right now my girls are sort of afraid of the kitten (a year old) who doesn't like our small dogs (one chased playfully when she was a kitten and she got scared) so she will sort of stick her paw out at them when she's scared and that makes them hesitant so we are working on it.

But yes, plants are toxic. Horrible to think it. I love Hydrangeas and they are super toxic to dogs, so haven't had them in my yard. I am bummed. In the front it's too much sun to grow them.

Good luck with your pup, from your IG or FB posts it looks like someone was glad their "dad" was back. :-)

Molly (sorry forgot to sign my name before)

Off to read about your grey products, I have almost 3 inches of white/grey coming in now. :-) I am one of the grey ladies!

Lauren said...

Oh Hi Molly!!! :)

Now I know it's you! Thank you so much again. Really. It just broke my heart about your friend and her puppy, but I'm glad she has a new (huge) pup.

I started reading up on toxic plants and I could not believe how long the list is! Then I went outside and started worrying about all the plants! It's good to know what to watch for though. Especially because puppies put everything in their mouths. So thank you for letting me know!

Lots of luck with the kitty/dog situation. I hope mine will come around. Actually, today was a good day with cats and puppy sloooowly starting to say "Hello" to each other. :)

And a big congrats on your 3"of growth! That's a big deal! I hope it's going well. That freedom that you get from having to touch up your roots can be so so nice.

Thanks again Molly! <3
See ya around the internet! :)
xoxoxo