JAX!

Big news in our house....

we got a PUPPY!

 

We have been meaning to get one since we moved and I have been putting it off and putting it off. I just felt like I did not have the head space to deal with a puppy...not that I do now. 

 

Here's the story. One of the little girls at Peaches preschool brought in several of the puppies from a litter their dog had, for show and tell. They were 5 weeks old purebred German Shepherds...the dog T has wanted forever since he had one as a kid. I just could not get my head around having to deal with a puppy, but a few weeks later Peanut was playing outside. I heard her come in. I went upstairs to feed the baby. Apparently she went back outside and when I came back down she had a package. "Where did that come from?" I asked, not having heard anyone pull up. Her: "Oh, I got it from a man in a big black van!" Me: "WHAT?!?" I called T and said, "Get the puppy." :P And of course we had to have a talk about not taking things from strangers, not going outside alone, and coming in the house if anyone drives up. She did say she recognized him as one of our UPS guys (they rent extra trucks during the holidays), but I informed her that she still needed to follow the rules about strangers.

Anyway...back to the puppy. T went to look at it that night and came home an hour late. We told the girls to go in the living room and that Daddy had an early Christmas present.

Somehow Bug guessed what it was even though we hadn't talked about it in months. The other girls were SO surprised!

Of course this little ball of fluff walked straight into all our hearts!

SO happy!!!

Hello!

 

 He is a very chill dog and only acts like a "puppy" for less than an hour a day I would say. The rest of the time he just kind of lays around, sleeps, or chews on his bone.

He is a bit of a baby. Haha. When T first brought him home he kept trying to hide.

The first couple days were rough. He howled and howled the first two nights so T went and got him a crate. He slept next to our bed for the next week, and although he didn't howl he did wake us up several times throughout the night. After a week we put his crate in the kitchen and now we just take him potty right before we got to bed. He sleeps all night and wakes up a little before 7...earlier than we would like but at least we're getting decent sleep during the night. 

The girls love him and he is a sweetie.

He likes to be near us, of course, and is happy to lay around as long as we are close by.

I do have to be careful with Lou...he seems to think she is another puppy and she doesn't appreciate being "rolled" and playfully bitten. :P I quickly realized that the first week of having a puppy is almost identical to having a one year old. They require the same level of care. Since we already have a one year old it was like having incompatible twins. They needed the same amount of supervision but they couldn't play together, and I had to make sure he wasn't chewing on her toys, and she wasn't chewing on his (yes she did find his bone a few times and give it a taste, yuck!). 

But thankfully after the first week and half he moved to the supervision level of the 3 year old. I have to check on him often and he still makes messes, but it's not constant.

Unfortunately the kittens had the classic reaction to him. He chases and barks and they freak out and run. They've only been in once or twice since we got him and this is what happened to Peanut when she tried to introduce him to Carrots. :(

But he really is a good dog and we are looking forward to many many happy years with him!

 

Welcome to the family Jax! We're so glad you're here.