Oh we have a new baby in the house and don't we know it. Our world has suddenly spun back into toilet training and nap times, and after one night of our new baby coming home we are already feeling the sleep deprivation!
Betty arrived yesterday after what seemed like the longest wait (and an even longer drive) and already the whole family is in love with her. She is the sweetest little thing and, true to Boxer form, wants to spend all her time with us. Of course while this is lovey, it did make for a bit of a horror show last night.
We had discussed what we should do in respect of sleeping and in the end I decided that the best thing to do would be to pop her in her crate next to Bertie's bed and see how we got on. This didn't get off to the best start as she had already managed to get her jaws stuck around her metal crate (goodness knows how but she did it twice and yelped madly), so we brought out the travel crate instead which is softer and so looked the better option. Lulled into a false sense of security we put her to bed and went upstairs ourselves. So far so good - we got into bed thinking "gosh this is easier than we thought it would be..." Oh how wrong can you be?!?
At 1:30am Glenn got up to use the bathroom and went downstairs to put her out for a wee which she did without any hassle. Unfortunately this woke her up and from 1:30 until 3:30 she yapped whined at the top of her voice while we lay upstairs gritting our teeth. At 3:30am I could listen no more and went down to her, only to find she had weed and messed and then danced around in it (not just on the floor of the crate but up the sides and all over herself. So I got her out, trying to avoid the paws and kisses she wanted to plant on me, took her outside then tried to clean up the worst of it. On went the washing machine, back in she went (protesting), light off and back upstairs. All without me trying to make her feel special. That bit was pretty easy given how I felt. She then whined until gone 4am at which point either she fell asleep or I did and we slept through until my alarm went off at 6:15am - set optimistically on the thinking she might be some miracle puppy - no such luck. This morning we all emerged looking a little jaded - hopefully things will get better and quickly!
In contrast, today she has been a complete super star. We've had a couple of friends stop by and admire her, all of whom she has been happy to meet. she came for a cup of tea with Zsara and fell asleep on Aran's lap without disgracing herself on their carpets. She has mainly done her toileting outside, with no major accidents today inside, and she and Bertie have started to form a very happy bond. We've already had to phone the vet as somewhere along the ling she seems to have picked up a limp, hopefully nothing serious, so all good.
We now just have to look forward to the week ahead. Be under no illusions, this is MY dog (I've been told this a number of times) and so while Glenn goes cycling tomorrow, I will be left juggling work calls and puppy day care. I have decided to set up her playpen - put in because she clearly hates her crate - in my study with a water proof base so she can have some freedom but not the run of the house. My next couple of days are not completely back to back so fingers crossed it will all be OK. I haven't quite worked out what happens on Thursday when I'm in London for the day - hopefully by then Glenn will have realised that going a little way to help on the puppy front will go a long way with me!
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| Big brother watching out for little sister |
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