Autumn has arrived

Wow, I just realized it's been a long time since I posted last! To catch you up since my last post, Ozzy was neutered and had his double dew claws on his hind legs removed. He recovered very well but it took us quite a while to be able to take off the bandages on his legs as he kept chewing on them. Now you can hardly ever tell there was anything there nor that he had surgery on them. His intermediate class will be over on Sunday. I'm sure he'll graduate but it's been a harder 8 weeks than the puppy class. Ozzy just doesn't like to walk so nice on the leash. We finally broke down and bought an Easy Walk Harness for him. It reduces the pulling he did on just a collar or regular harness. Makes the walks much more enjoyable for me anyway. We've finally learned where to stop while running the yard and to not run away to the neighbor's house. For the most part, he really likes to stay near us when we are outside with him.

I have figured out that Ozzy does not like to be cold. I recently made him some polar fleece pajamas that you see in the photo. When I first put them on him, he seemed uncomfortable and acted like he couldn't walk in them. Now, if he isn't wearing them and he's cold, he will find them, bring them to me and want me to put them on him. Very cute!

Ernie and Bert have lost a little weight again. I catch them every once in a while trying to eat Ozzy's food so that's probably why they were gaining instead of losing. Ernie is getting more and more lumpy however. He acts healthy otherwise. Bert still tends to be Ozzy's play thing. Poor kitty can't be on the floor anywhere near Oz as Ozzy chases him until he jumps up on the furniture to get out of the path of the puppy. Ernie still tolerates Ozzy better than Bert, even letting Ozzy lick him now. Who would have thought our cats would like a dog? Not me!

I'm home all day, every day now with them. Seems to be a good bonding experience with all three. Ozzy follows me everywhere, including the bathroom. When Dave get's home at night he switches to him but then will still be excited to see me again. That's the beauty of a dog. They are always 110% happy to see you even when they just saw you 5 minutes before.

Cute note, I took Ozzy fishing with me the other day. He kept barking and growling at my bobber when I reeled my line in but as soon as the bobber landed, he would run away from it. So very cute!

Time To Grow Up

Well, the day has come, Ozzy is going to get neutered tomorrow. He has no idea so please don't tell him, he'll figure it out soon enough. Poor puppy anyway. But unfortunately, unwanted behavior has already started such as marking his territory outdoors and attempting to have his way with the cats, people's legs and such. The vet will be removing his rear double dew claws at the same time so that we don't have to make Ozzy endure 2 surgeries. On a more positive note, Ozzy's training is going very well. He graduated from puppy class 1 week early with flying colors! We began intermediate class last Sunday and I think he is already ahead of the class. But we're very biased. Bert & Ernie have not really been doing well on their diets. Just when we think they are eating less, they look like they are gaining weight again. Ernie ballooned up to 24 pounds! Not sure what that's all about. They tolerate Ozzy even better than they were before but we have to keep a close eye on him with them. Summer time sure gets busy and hard to post but I wanted to give our update.

4th of July fun & nonsense

The weather was absolutely FANTASTIC this past week. We spent a lot of time outdoors gardening, walking Ozzy and playing with him in the yard. It was great. Saturday, July 3rd was a lot more humid & warmer. Also a lot more people shooting off fireworks during the day. It was hard to have Ozzy outside because of the noises and flying debris. Some friends came over for a picnic, air show and the official fireworks show. Before the festivities got started my friend and I took Ozzy for a walk with the intentions of putting him back in the house for his own safety and sanity during the air show. Near the end of our walk, some very rude neighbors up the street, were shooting off bottle rockets from their chain link fence posts, aiming them towards our street. The wind was blowing all the debris over the road, right where we were walking! They didn't even stop as we walked by! I should have called the sheriff's office but didn't really want to deal with the drama right then. Some people just don't use their heads. By the time we got home, we could hear the planes in the distance for the air show that was about to begin so we brought Ozzy inside to krate him up for a while. The cats had already sought shelter from all the noises in the basement. Fireworks and loud air shows just aren't conducive to having your animals outside.

After the majority of the air show was over, we brought Ozzy outside to "use the facilities" and decided to keep him outside to see how he would do. Our newest neighbors were outside with their 2 dogs, Tyson and Meaty and they seemed to be doing just fine. Meaty, who is a small dog, decided to come visit Ozzy. That was hilarious! We now have a dog for Ozzy to have play dates with. Meaty is 5 months old but I'm not sure what kind he is. All I really know is, Ozzy and Meaty are fast friends now! It was great watching them play. Even Tyson, who is a 9 year old Rottweiler, did well with Ozzy. Of course Tyson has been well trained and surprisingly gentle for a Rott. All the dogs seemed oblivious to the fireworks so Ozzy stayed outside with us for the rest of the night. I think everyone had a great time!

Our 3rd puppy class was yesterday. Ozzy did pretty well. Our assignment for this week was "Leave it" and "Take it" in regards to food and treats. Ozzy had that one "mastered" this week. He did really well. Also, we were to keep working on loose leash walking. He's doing much better with that but usually does better if it's only one of us at a time. This week's new lesson was "down" from sit. As the trainer was trying to get Ozzy to do this for the first time, Ozzy just did't seem to get it. He refused to lay down! Finally, with a little gentle persuasion, Ozzy went into "down". Once he got it once, he understood what we wanted so he was very cooperative in doing it again and again. He even repeated this at home so I know he is understanding. We also practiced "leave it" with toys in an aisle of the pet store and sit when stopping on the leash. That needs quite a bit of practice. Ozzy loves toys! Scratch that, Ozzy loves ANYTHING he can pick up and carry around including socks, boxer shorts, shirts, etc....Josh can not leave his bedroom door open when he is here as Oz gets in there and wreaks havoc.

Last night the cats got some lap time as we watched 2 movies at home. They have been on a diet since last week. Ernie was weighing 22 pounds and Bert was 19. I'm concerned that they will develop feline diabetes if they haven't already so it's time to start limiting their food intake more. I give them their allotted amount at night before we go to bed and in the morning, if there is anything left, it gets put away. Consequently they like to try to eat Ozzy's food when we feed him but we keep chasing them away. They even push him out sometimes so we have to monitor meal times quite diligently. It was nice to have a chance to let the cats have some lap time though. They needed the attention too. Today, we'll be leaving after lunch to take Josh back to his mothers and Ozzy will ride along. He's doing pretty well in the car for the most part. Fun times!

Lessons from Puppy training 101

So, do you think I should always remember the main rule of puppy training 101? NEVER LEAVE YOUR PUPPY ALONE!!! You have to know where he is at all times. So if you don't want your puppy to sneak off to a place where you can't see him, DON'T TRAIN HIM HOW TO GET THERE!!! Yes, there is a story behind all this. Ozzy has been scared of our basement stairs so we worked and worked with him to get him to go down them by himself. Then we worked and worked with him to get him to come back up by himself. So, fast forward to tonight....I'm sitting on the couch to watch the news and all of a sudden can't hear his little claws clicking on the floor. I get up to find him and just as I'm calling his name, I see Ozzy peeking out from behind the basement stair door. Right away I knew he had went downstairs by himself so I better go inspect the basement floor for "presents". Of course, there was a little package, right on the area rug in the family room. YAY!!! And it isn't even my birthday! Blahhhhhh! Not happy. Of course, too late to scold him because I didn't catch him in the act and he wouldn't understand why I was scolding him. So, I took him outside anyway just to see if he would go again. He did go potty when I asked him to. Gotta love these little ones. Speaking of which, he's sniffing around again, better go outside! He's a good little pooper!!!

Puppy Class day, take 2

When I woke up this morning, I wondered how in the world we would make it through this puppy class today. Ozzy was not a good listener this weekend, AT ALL!!! Could it be the full moon or just rebellion? Well, whatever is was, it was frustrating. Everything we did with him seemed like we were starting all over again with our training. So today I dreaded the puppy class. We didn't get to take him for a walk before we went because it was raining pretty steadily until about 9 and we had some things we had to get done here before we went to class. So off to class we went. We first had to go to the hardware store. When we got to the pet store for the class, we were about 20 minutes early so Dave and I worked with him in a grassy area to try to help him work off some of that puppy energy he was storing up. Since Ozzy is the only puppy in the class, the instructor didn't mind starting a bit early. I was happy to hear that today was LOOSE LEASH WALKING day! We just weren't sure if we were teaching him correctly or not with walking on the leash but mostly we were assured that we are doing pretty well with it. Nice to practice in a controlled environment with the instructor right there to "critique" us. There were plenty of other dogs there with their owners, shopping. So Ozzy had to try to pay attention to walking with other dogs around, dog food smells and other people. Overall, I was very pleased with how he did and how we did with him.

After the class we had more errands to run. Dave walked him in a grassy area that had a nice, muddy, puddle due to the rain storms in the night. Ozzy discovered this mud puddle and enjoyed it very much. By the time I caught up with Dave and Ozzy, his white parts were a nice shade of brown!!! But boy, did he have fun. We successfully wore him out at least for a while anyway. Tonight are the fireworks in our town, we'll see how he reacts to those. Should be interesting to say the least!

PLAY TIME IN THE YARD

It's always interesting to try to help an 11 week old puppy use up all his energy outside so he'll chill out inside! The newest fun we have with Ozzy is with an empty Pepsi bottle. He loves chasing it around the yard. Run, Pounce, bite, carry, roll around, repeat.... Very cute! I can't seem to be able to walk around my yard barefoot however as he chases my feet and bites my toes. Anyone have any suggestions to get this behavior to stop? I know that you can substitute other toys to replace things you don't want them chew up but what if he doesn't get distracted and keeps coming back for the toes? HELP!!!!

We've been having a lot of thunderstorms lately and Ozzy doesn't like them so much. This morning, I decided during a severe storm at 4:15 a.m. today, I didn't want to be laying in bed beside a south facing window when I heard the wind, rain and hail pounding against them. I got dressed and headed towards our basement just to relax away from windows but Ozzy was whining. I couldn't just leave him up here so I took him out of his kennel to bring downstairs with me. Of course, then he needed to go outside.... In the thunderstorm, Dave took him out the back yard. It was very dark and Dave lost sight of him for a minute. We thought that perhaps he had ran to the front door so I ran back upstairs to check. Dave yelled up the stairs that Oz had come back into the basement door. Of course, then the storm had mostly passed. Wow, what fun that was.

Since I overslept this morning and went to work late, I couldn't come home for lunch like normal. But since Dave went into work early, he came home early so it all worked out. Oz and Dave had already taken a walk by the time I returned home. Keeping this puppy exercised and entertained is a lot of work but totally worth it. I can almost can feel the muscles getting firm in my legs already!!! Enjoying my time with the little stinker!

I got looking at the fat cats last night and decided to weigh them. Holy, moly, Ernie is now 22 pounds!!! Bert is 19!!! Hard to believe they used to be the little kittens pictured above. Bert has been eating fast and throwing up his food much more than he used to. I think he is stressed more than we realized with the puppy in the house. Last night Bert growled and hissed at Ozzy but Oz didn't seem fazed. Ernie just is taking this strange, wiggly, puppy in stride. Overall, I still think the pet dynamic is going well!

GIGGLES

On Sunday, I got up too early after staying up late Saturday night. After letting him out for his first potty break of the day, Ozzy was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, looking at his reflection in the fireplace glass, growling at it! Too cute! It made me smile and giggle quietly to myself. Do any of us truly ever just get childlike and giggle every so often.

We had our 1st puppy class on Sunday. We are ready to find out what the best method of teaching him is. I'm sure Bert and Ernie will appreciate having the dog around more if he doesn't harass them every step they take around the house. Josh got a little better with him Saturday. He wasn't quite a skittish around him and took more control of the relationship as the day went on. He'll learn. He LOVES his new best friend!

The puppy class was mostly orientation but the last 15 minutes we worked with a clicker. First we "loaded" the clicker. Sounds weird but once I understood why we were doing this, it made sense. Ozzy caught on very well for his first class. The first homework is "Watch Me". We have to teach him to pay attention to us and by saying "Ozzy, Watch Me", directing his eyes to ours and having him calm down for a moment is a very important lesson for our family. Ozzy has begun to just run away from us when we call him so "Watch Me" will be good during those times. We also worked on "Sit". Ozzy is perfecting that quite well! He's such a smart dog! Dave's biggest wish for Ozzy's education is "come" or "here". We are using the clicker combined with treats to teach these new obedience skills. The store bought treats aren't going well. The trainer said we can use low sodium hot dogs cut up into bits instead. So today, I cut up a whole package of low sodium turkey dogs and put them in a baggie for quick, 15 minute training sessions.

Ozzy did well in the car ride yesterday to take Josh home. For being in and out of the car 7 hours, Ozzy did very well.

Today, when I came home for lunch, I did a quick 15 minute training and Ozzy now seems to have "Sit" pretty well mastered at least for me. "Watch Me" is a close 2nd with me. He impresses me day by day! After supper we took him outside to run the yard. Dave had an empty plastic pop bottle that Oz kept chasing around. It was HILARIOUS!!! Oz would jump into the air, all 4 legs spread and POUNCE! Cute as can be! While he was distracted, I would say, "Ozzy, Watch Me" and HE WOULD!!!! Yay!!! The training is working so far! Dave worked on "here" with him. I know that will be super important while we are out in the yard more than anywhere else so that we can feel like he can run yet will come when called. I'm loving this adventure so far!

Ozzy meets his boy.....

The time finally arrived for Josh to meet Ozzy. The original plan was for my oldest son, Chris, to surprise Josh with Ozzy when Dave got home with him but then something else came up, Chris and I had to go somewhere so that didn't work out. But Dave caught the first meeting on video which is attached below.... Josh is so awesome with animals or kids smaller than him. He is very gentle and loving. So very sweet! He is a little timid when Ozzy starts to nip at his fingers, toes or shoes. We will have to work on showing Josh that he is dominant over Ozzy, not the other way around. Can't wait for the puppy class to begin tomorrow. Our friends are out of town for last night and today so we are also dog sitting for them. Ozzy tries to "take control" over the other dog and she lets him. He also tried to suckle on her but wasn't very successful! Kind of funny if you think about it.... Took Ozzy to the vet for the 1st time yesterday. The vet thinks he is just barely 10 weeks old NOW judging on his baby teeth. He gave him 1 shot and won't give him a rabies shot until 4 months old. I don't know why the pet trainer at the store says he should have one now when 4 months is the earliest the dogs should have them. I called the pet store and said that if they insist that Ozzy has a rabies shot before we can take puppy classes, I would have to request a refund and not take puppy classes there. A manager is who answered and told me that they don't expect puppies that young to have their shots yet. If we have any problems with the trainer, we are supposed to have a manager come talk to him. Anyway, the vet did say we can use Advantix to get rid of the fleas and he gave us the 1st month's treatment for free. Next month he said we'll start the heartworm preventative medicine. Today will be interesting to see how Josh does with Ozzy. Looking forward to more adventures! Michelle......

Surprise Day!!!

The day has finally come when we introduce our new puppy to our 8 year old! I'm not sure who will be more excited, us, the dog or the son. And to top it off, my eldest son made a surprise visit for a few days. The 8 year old hasn't seen his oldest brother since New Years when we had our family Christmas! So right now, the plan is for the oldest to be holding the puppy in the 8 year old's room with the door shut. My husband will call when he is about 2 blocks away and the surprise will get set up. My hubby will have the 8 year old take is bag into his room and SURPRISE!!! Both a puppy AND a big brother to say hi! We'll have to hide the eldest's car so the youngest doesn't get suspicious. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! It's going to be great. I'll take photos and video so I can post it here tomorrow. So, stay tuned!

On another note....I had to take our morning walk by myself with the pup today as my husband is travelling for work today and have to leave early. The pup did well. It's amazing to me that he already remembers which houses we pass have dogs whether they are outside or not. He acts so tough, growling and pulling on the leash just in front of those homes. I wish the cats would like walking with me, they sure could use the exercise. The are both 20 pounds each now. The grey cat is all lumpy and I don't know what that is about. He hasn't always been that way. He also has a growth/sore on his back that occasionally oozes blood and a clear liquid. Kind of worried about that so I need to get him into the vet too. Day off of work to spend time with my son. Will be an awesome day!

4th & last work day of the week! Yay!!!

This morning we had a wonderful break through! The puppy walked with us for 20 minutes and only stopped once!!! Yay!!! He is getting used to the leash. The one time he stopped, another dog a little bigger than him came out to greet us. Oh, boy, look out! Our fierce pup was very protective, showed his teeth and everything. The cats seem to be doing even better with him. They are beginning to hiss and growl at him when he gets out of line with them. They always seem to go back to liking him however so basically, they are showing him who was here first. Looking forward to 3 days off to spend with all three pets.

Days 2 & 3 work week

Argh, still getting up early to go for walks in the morning before breakfast with the pup. He's doing much better on the leash but I'm worn out. Also going for a walk every evening with him and feels great to have a good excuse to get outside. Today when I came home for lunch he was very playful and bit me on the hand. OUCH!!! Not sure how we'll handle that but he did it again when I got home from work. He is just playing, I know but it hurt just the same. I said, "ouch" very loudly when he bit me after work (because it really hurt!) and now he's been sitting on my feet, cuddling up to me on the couch and most generally showing me how he feels bad. Ah, what a sweetie pie. Another thing we've noticed is he does not tolerate cooler temps very well. I have the air conditioner on 72 degrees and he's shivering. The cats seem to be doing better putting him in his place and regaining their place at the head of the pecking order here in the home. This is working out very well and I enjoy every second of it! (Except for the biting.)

1st workday morning with new puppy....

Okay, so 5:30 a.m. came WAY too fast for me this morning. But I'm committed to getting up early EVERY DAY to go for a walk before breakfast with the puppy. And there is no better way to do this than with my great husband by my side! The puppy was very distracted this morning by birds, cars (parked), spots on the street, the garbage truck on the next street over and anything else he could see or hear. My husband ended up carrying him part of the way as he just would not walk on the leash near the end. But I can't forget to tell you about last night.....

The puppy was on our laps relaxing while we watched the t.v. when all of a sudden I saw a bug crawling on his little white leg. I brushed it off him but then it jumped right back on. Oh my gosh, it was a flea and we could not get to the store fast enough to buy something, ANYTHING to get rid of them. So the puppy got his first bath in our kitchen sink at 10 last night. The cats didn't get off scott-free either. We treated them as well as putting flea collars on all 3 pets. The bedding in the puppy's kennel was washed in HOT water and the teddy bear was sealed in a large Food Saver bag to kill any fleas that may be hiding there. At last, 11 p.m. rolls around and I was so ready to sleep!

Back to today......

This morning my husband took him outside to potty bright and early. Right after he came back in, the puppy proceeded to run onto the area rug in the living room and pee again! What??? But he is a puppy in the process of being housebroken so.... Back to the drawing board. When at first you don't succeed, wipe up the pee and try again..... This week I'm driving myself to work and coming home for lunch every day to let the pup out of his kennel for a while. He was really happy to see me and very grateful to be stretching his little legs. I was only home for 1/2 hour before I had to go back to work which didn't seem long enough for him I'm sure. The cats looked at me like, "what is SHE doing here? She never comes home just for us...." I was "forgived" after letting them lick out my tuna can after lunch. My hubby got home around 4 this afternoon and had the pup in the front yard running around when I pulled in the driveway. Cute scene! After supper, my husband mowed before taking me and the pup for a walk. I was so ready to sit down and relax. Me time!!!

2nd morning with the new Puppy... June 13th, 2010

Morning 2 was very uneventful. My husband woke up early to check on the pup and take him out for his first potty break of the day. Since I really want to get into the habit of going for a walk in the morning before work, I also got up, got dressed, put on my shoes and out the door we went for a short walk. Since the pup's new to his leash still, we didn't go too far yet. He really does well walking for being a newbie. When we got home, he did his "business" again before climbing the mountain we call stairs into our front door and going inside for breakfast. Our pup doesn't eat much, maybe only 1/4 cups of food before being done. My hubbie played fetch with him while I made our breakfast. I braided some strips of microsuede together, put knots in the ends, and snipped each end into fringe. He seems to enjoy this better than the little rubber toys I bought him at the store. Every time he brought the toy back & dropped it at my husband's feet, my hubbie made sure to offer praise and head scratches. But then after playing our 10 week old pup started HUMPING my husband's leg. Seriously? I didn't think he would do this already. Could it be he is really older than what they told us when we bought him? It wasn't a breeder so no papers were provided. I guess we will be making an appointment with a vet SOON!!! I made an appointment with the puppy training class at our pet store beginning next Sunday at 11 and lasting for 8 weeks. These classes are an hour at a time and we chose Sunday so that our youngest can go with us every other week when he is here. They say it's important to include all family members in the training when possible. I think it's because the people need to be trained more than the pet. Well, now that everyone has had their breakfast, the couch is our home for awhile. All 5 of us. The pup between my hubbie's legs, one cat to his left, one in between us and me on the end. Nice Sunday morning! Looking forward to many, MANY more like this!

June 11th-12th, 2010

Welcome to my blog!

My husband & I have 3 adult children, 1 elementary age child, 2 cats and just tonight added a very cute, lovable 10 week old Rat Terrier to the family. We stopped at WalMart on the way home as it was the only store still open, bought a small bag of Iams puppy food, a collar, a leash, a pop-up kennel/bed, and a teddy bear to keep him company at night. We arrived home at 11 p.m. with our newest family member and the cats truly surprised us! They weren't upset at all! Neither of them hissed, growled, howled or ran away! Both of them sniffed the puppy and tried to eat his food. It was so much fun to see how well they got along from the start. In the past the cats got very upset when other animals came to our home. This must have been the right time and the right puppy. After a little play time and one more trip to the yard to go potty, it was time to get settled down for the night. We weren't sure where we should put our little puppy for the 1st night so we decided to keep him in our bedroom in his kennel. Oh, my, he cried and cried. My husband said he bet it would only last 20 minutes. Much to our surprise, he settled down after ONLY 5 MINUTES!!!

He only whined once in early in the morning when my husband's alarm went off and he got up for work. After taking our little guy outside for me before he left for work, the puppy went back in his kennel and back to sleep! I got up with him at 7 a.m., took him outside again. It was sprinkling and thundering in the distance. He didn't like that a bit so did his business and made for the door! After a little breakfast, he sat on my lap for awhile, sleeping again. The cats pretty much just acted normal this morning. Every morning they meet us at the bedroom door to "talk" to us. The puppy was a little more skittish around them this morning but he warmed up to them again after an hour or so. After just relaxing awhile and waiting for the thunderstorm to pass, puppy and I trekked to the pet store.

His first trip to the pet store was great. He was a little scared of a big dog that was there and wanted to be up in my arms most of the time. The store offered a free nail clipping for your puppy's first visit to the store so we got that out of the way. The groomer informed me that the puppy has "double dew claws" on his hind feet. I knew there was an extra nail on each foot but didn't realize he had 2 extra. This is new to me as any other dogs I've ever had, the dew claws were already removed before I brought them home. I'll have to get him into a vet to have him checked over and find out when shots will be needed. I had a great time shopping for him. Because I really don't like it when dogs are bouncing all over the car while I'm driving, I found the best answer to this problem. A DOGGIE BOOSTER SEAT!!! It wasn't very expensive and straps right onto whichever seat you want it to be on. With a harness, you can secure your dog in the booster seat safely and keep him from getting hurt during sudden stops, turns, and accelerations. I got him a set of toys to chew on and play fetch with. There was a very cute doggie t-shirt on clearance that I just couldn't resist, despite my husband's objections. I also got him a doggie "Snuggie" on clearance. Not sure how that will go over but we'll see! Since the cats were almost out of Iams as well, I bought a big bag of food for them as well. I can't forget the soft treats the store manager recommended for training purposes! I think we are set for a while! After we got home, my husband played with him in the yard as the rain had stopped for a while. The puppy loves to run and roll in the grass. It's so much fun watching him explore! By the time he came in the house, he was exhausted so took a very long nap. A couple hours later he woke up and seeming to be ready to go again so I put his leash on him to take him for his first real walk. Armed with a bag of the treats and the mail box key, we set off up the street. He doesn't like the leash much but I kept it slack as much as possible. I watched a "how to walk a puppy on a loose leash" video on the web and tried out this technique. Every time he tried to "dig in his heals" I stopped walking, patted my leg and said "Walk" or "Come". Once he did what I asked, I rewarded him with a bit of a treat. He started reacting to his name as well so that was also rewarded. The only real problem I encountered occurred in front of a neighbor's yard when their labradoodle came barking to the edge of his lawn. Wow! Our little munchkin tried to take off after this large dog. He barked, growled and overall tried to act pretty tough. That was the first time he showed any aggression at all. But once I patted my leg and said "Walk", he looked up at me and obeyed! I was pleasantly surprised how well he did on his first walk and look forward to many, MANY more walks with him.

The rest of the day has really been a lot of sleep. I think I wore him out! Occasionally he crawls into his little kennel to snuggle with his bear but for the most part, he wants to be right beside me or my husband on the couch. But since we also read that this should be by our invitation only, if he "begs" to get up, we don't let him. When he settles down and waits for an invitation, we are sure to reward him by allowing him on our laps. Even the cats sat on the couch at the same time as the puppy! Only once when the puppy was starting to get playful and nipped one of their tales, did this become a problem. I can't wait to see what tonight & tomorrow brings with our PET ADVENTURES!!!