There was a little girl
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid
Mr. Longfellow must have had a premonition that Miss Daisy would arrive on the scene and give truth to this little poem. Daisy is now fifteen weeks old, in dog years that must equate to the terrible two’s.
Daisy does have curly fur on the top of her nose and fits the poem perfectly. What happened to the sweet snuggly little girl that loved to sit on my lap and give me puppy kisses? Please tell me she hasn’t been replaced by this house wrecker.
Daisy has decided she loves this place but it just needs a bit of re-arranging. She has toys strewn all over the yard and the kitchen has become a mine field of water bottles and milk cartons with assorted official Caesar Milan approved dog toys.
Last week we worked diligently on the doggie door concept, amazing what a bit of roasted chicken will do. Monty and I each had a handful of chicken. He stood outside the door and called Daisy and I sat under the kitchen table pushing her butterbutt out the door. Then we reversed the process and she came back through the door. We have convinced Daisy she can come and go from the kitchen to the yard all by herself, just like a big girl. This comes with a good news, bad news deal. Good news, we haven’t had any potty accidents in the kitchen since she learned to use the door. The bad news is we have treasures of sticks and rocks all over the kitchen. Life is a series of trade offs.
Thanksgiving Daisy was going to be Daisy’s bit debut to meet the whole family; kids, grand kids and great grand kids and guests. A month ago that sounded like so much fun. Tricia has a fenced yard with grass, Daisy will love it. The logistics of loading the kennel (just in case she needed a time-out): food, toys, poop bags, leashes, water bowl, extra towels, candied sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, mom’s dress up clothes and Miss Daisy was daunting, but we could do it. We insisted we could do it right up until it was time to actually do it and we admitted we must be nuts. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and it was turning into a nightmare.
My daughter was pleased the weather was beautiful and we could eat on the patio. I thought that was perfect, Miss Daisy would love it, one yank on the table cloth and wine glasses would be flying. Nope, this just wasn’t going to work.
I might mention that Daisy weighed six and a half pounds when we thought the Thanksgiving adventure was a great idea. Now Miss Butterball weighs in at eighteen pounds! She is tall enough to just get her toes up to the kitchen table.
Long story short, Miss Daisy got a new Kong toy filled with special treats and instructions to behave herself. With access to the doggie door there wasn’t a single puddle in the kitchen when we got home. We had a great time, we told everyone Daisy had to stay home and study; she starts obedience school this week, and not a minute too soon, I might add.
We’ve been working with her and she does ‘sit’ and ‘down’, but will only ‘stay’ for a little while and she complains about it. She takes offense when we put our hand up in the ‘stay’ motion. Her attitude says, ‘You’re not the boss of me’. I swear if she had hips she’d have her paws there giving us some sass. That isn’t working too well with the adults in this household; we are the adults right?
I’m doing quite a bit of, sorry about this, but gloatful snickering. I still have an imp to deal with but he is over that first 6 months. ?
No snickering! certainly no ‘I told you so’ either. Life with a puppy is grand, if you don’t weaken. Thanks for reading me.
I can relate big time. Our little Rocky is turning out to be a handful too. We experienced the same potty training issues and the newly installed doggie door solved the problem. Yesterday was our first puppy training class, next week is leash training which he needs badly because we don’t go for walks, he puts it in 4wheel drive and he pulls me along. I think Daisy and Rocky should have a play date!
I think a play date would be fun, sometime in July. We are counting on good results from this training. Although I’m afraid it might be training us instead of Daisy. She is a stubborn little stinker. Thanks for reading me.