Park Time

I've started taking Maya to the park in the evenings to let her run off a little energy.  I can't take her to the dog park yet, but there's a little park by my brother's place that we go to.  It's grassy and open, and there's little to no traffic, so she can get off her leash and run.

Since I play tennis, I have plenty of old tennis balls around the house that I can give her to play with.  I grabbed one today as we walked out, thinking maybe we can play a little fetch.  I don't know why, but I just always figured dogs naturally knew how to play fetch.  Think about it -- they like to chase things, they like to carry things in their mouths, and they come when called.  Seemed pretty natural to me.

Maya does not know how to play fetch.  She likes to chase things and she comes when called, but it's the whole carrying things in her mouth that seems to be alluding her.  I'll throw the ball, she'll chase it, stop it, then leave it there and run back to me.  And since I have to keep going to get the ball, that was a very short game of fetch.

Attacked by a Bed

Last week, my brother brought over a bed that used to belong to Amos.  Apparently Amos likes to eat beds, so he doesn't get one anymore and Maya inherited this one.  She wouldn't go near it until I washed the cover.  I guess I just needed to get the smell of Amos away.

Anyways, she doesn't ever sleep in it.  I'm pretty sure she just considers it an extra large toy.  Here's her favorite activity:

 

At one point, it actually flipped over on top of her.  She was trapped underneath and couldn't figure out how to get out.  I couldn't help but laugh.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of that, or better yet, a video.

Oversleeping

One of the things I've noticed since having a puppy is that I don't have to rush as much to get to my morning class.  I have an 8:30 class two mornings a week, and I used to have a really hard time getting there on time.  Since I've gotten Maya, she wakes me up with time to spare.  Today, she overslept.

We normally get up between 6:00 and 6:30.  I take her out, feed her, play with her for a bit, and go for a short walk before getting ready for school.  Well, today she woke up at 7:00.  I still needed to take her out, feed her, and take her for a walk, but she didn't get much play time today, and I didn't get to put on any makeup.  Oh well, we both have to sacrifice sometimes.  ;)

Sleep? What's That?

I've never been a morning person, but Maya is slowing changing that.  No wait, she's managed to change that in less than a week.  In the few short days that I've had her, I've already realized that I can't go to bed late like I'm used to doing.  Regardless of what time I go to bed, she's going to wake me up around 6:30.

On the up side, I finally figured out how to get her to stop crying -- don't leave her alone.  Apparently she doesn't care if she's in her kennel so long as I'm in the room with her.  So now I put her to bed but leave her in the living room until I go to bed too, then we move to the bedroom.  Mystery solved.

Vet Visit

The puppy now has a name, Maya.  :)

Maya had her first vet visit today, and the vet says she's a healthy little girl.  I talked to him about her not eating, and he gave me a few tips to entice her.  His first suggestion is mixing the dry food with some wet food.  That worked like a charm.  She smelled the wet stuff and started chowing down.  That girl can eat!!

She Won't Eat

So I'm really worried about the puppy.  She seems to be getting better as far as getting used to me and the house, she's playing and running around, but she's not eating.  She didn't eat Friday, she didn't eat Saturday, and she only took a couple of bites this morning.  She hasn't eaten anything since then.  She is drinking water, so that's something, but I'm still worried.  I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow for a puppy check, so I'll talk to him about it tomorrow.

First Bath

I didn't expect the puppy to be housebroken when I got her, but I didn't realize that she would use the bathroom in her kennel.  The puppy and her family were kept in a big pen, and they used the corner as a bathroom.  Everything would fall through to a tray below, which would be removed and cleaned.  Very sanitary because they never step in it, but makes the dogs think they can go wherever they sleep, play, etc, and not have to worry about it.

I woke up this morning to a crying puppy.  She peed in her kennel and started crying because she couldn't get away from it.  So I took her out of the kennel and took her outside.  I ran into one of my neighbors who asked me how it was going with the new puppy.  I told her what happened and that I was about to go give the puppy a bath.  Since she has a dog, I asked her if it was ok to use shampoo on the puppy (since I hadn't had a chance to pick up any puppy shampoo).  She said it would probably be ok, but that it would be better if I used puppy shampoo, and that she had some I could borrow.

So I got the puppy back inside and gave her a bath.  I thought she would be scared or cry, but she really did well.  She initially tried to jump out, but calmed down quickly.  I knew she was small, but once she was wet, she looked about half her size.  She is tiny. 

So she doesn't particularly mind getting a bath, but she hates the hairdryer.  I was going to try to use the hairdryer on her, but the noise scared her, so I didn't.  Since it's pretty warm outside (translation: ridiculously hot for 8:00 am), I decided to take her for a walk instead and let her dry in the sun.  She was completely dry in about 5 minutes.

And the Adventure Begins!

Yesterday was puppy pick-up day.  I went and picked up my new yorkie/poodle mix puppy and headed home. 

I knew that I would eventually fall in love with her, but I didn't expect her to pull at my heart strings so soon.  Obviously she doesn't know me, so she was scared and shaking when first put in my arms.  I sat down with her in my arms and talked softly to her, hoping she'd calm down.  She eventually did, but I knew right there that this was going to be harder than I imagined.

When we got home, she wouldn't come near me.  She started exploring the house, but would run away if I came near her.  I knew that it was because she still didn't know if I was safe or not, but it was still tough.  I was given a bag of puppy food when I picked her up, so I figured I'd entice her with food.  That didn't work.  I was also given a chew toy, but that didn't work either.  She didn't want food, she didn't want water, she didn't want me.  I think she just wanted her mom and sisters, the only thing I couldn't give her.

We got home kind of late, so it wasn't long before we went to bed.  I decided that she would sleep in her kennel until she was housebroken.  She didn't like the kennel and didn't like being alone, and she cried and cried.  I'd been told not to let her out the first night or she would never learn to sleep on own.  I didn't know she'd cry that long. 

Today, my brother and sister-in-law came to meet her, and they brought along their bulldog, Amos.  He's about 4 months old and really playful.  Unfortunately, the puppy was not having anything to do with him.  She basically hid behind me the whole time he (Amos) was in the house.  When my brother took him outside, she walked over to my sister-in-law and started running around and playing.  Looks like she's starting to get used to things, but we might have to work on getting along with other dogs. 

Finally Made the Decision

Those that know me know I've been saying for years that I want a dog.  My brother was the first person to convince me not to get one.....by asking me to doggy-sit his dog, Wrigley.  Don't get me wrong, Wrigley is a great dog.  She's a lab mix that he got from the SPCA years ago, and she's one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met.

Years ago (I'm guessing about 8 or 9) she was just a puppy.  He was heading out of town for a few days and needed someone to take care of her.  Since I was considering getting a dog, he thought this would be a good test run.  Everything went great until day two when she ate my sleeping bag.  I didn't particularly care about the sleeping bag, but she ended up getting sick.  Over the next three nights, I was getting up every 2 hours to let her out.  That was not fun. 

Anyways, Wrigley eventually recovered and is a healthy, happy dog.  I, however, was no longer wanting a dog.  Over the years, I have alternately said I've wanted one and would never get one.  But in the last couple of years, I've noticed that I've wanted one more and more.  And now I've made the decision to go ahead and get a puppy.  Wish me luck!!