Puppy Update

 

Maddy the Guard Dog

 



A Pic from the Breeder at ~8 weeks old - She already looks different!

I was wary of getting a dog for a long time, and rightfully so. This dog is adorable, sweet, funny ... and a headache. I knew getting a puppy wouldn't be easy. We got our cat when he was still a kitten but he picked up on the litterbox thing immediately, and with the exception of a UTI that threw things out of loop for awhile, has been a great cat.

Potty training with Maddy has been slow moving. We are using the wee wee pads and a crate, but it didn't seem to be working, so I bought one of those folding pens that can be configured as small as you want, in any shape you want. I read that this is great for "passive training," when you can't keep your eye on the dog every second to actually move them to a pad when you see them sniffing around. I covered the whole floor area of the pen with pads, and then praise her everytime I see her going to the bathroom, because she has no choice but to go on the pads. Then I started cutting down the number of pads in the pen. It seems to have helped. She has far less accidents when she's roaming free around the apartment, as long as we have a couple pads strategically placed.

"Far less accidents" doesn't mean "no accidents" though. It just means 1 miss for every 5 successes, as opposed to 1 succcess for every 5 misses, which had been the case for the first week or so. She's still crated at night, which is frustrating, because she starts crying/barking as early as 5:30 in the morning. I tried attaching the pen to the crate, so the crate opened into the pen, and put pads in the pen. I left the crate open so she could sleep in it, and come out and have a little more space when she wanted. This didn't help. Not only did she still start crying for attention at 6 in the morning, but she also shredded her pad and then went on the floor because she no longer had a pad to use. That was a fun mess to clean up.

There are other little puppy behaviors we're working on - the nipping, jumping on people, playing in her water bowl and making a big mess. I know these and the potty training will all be resolved soon (eventually?), and I can't wait.

Even though we started the potty training inside, she still goes for walks, to get fresh air, exercise and meet people so she's not shy/aggressive later. She still gets so much attention - people stop to say hi, pet her, even take her picture. Sometimes she just stops for no reason and lays down on the sidewalk. Ooook, Maddy.

Bum.

She's still trying hard to befriend the cat. Or maybe just herd him. (Corgis are herding dogs.) Either way, he isn't having it. Max has a lot of patience with her, and usually just walks away or hisses at Maddy when she's getting on his nerves, but the other day I guess she nipped at him one too many times and got a swat on the face.

 

The little scratch on her nose ... poor baby.

She's adorable, so as crazy as she drives me, the little doggy smile or her silly little legs or her big ears always win me over.

I still can't wait till she's outgrown the puppy stage though.