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!!!