Today marks the one week anniversary with our new puppy, Tessie.
Have I mentioned how utterly adorable she is? And how sweet? Well she is both, in spades. We just love her.
Our biggest challenges right now are:
- House training
- Chewing
- House training
- Chewing
- House training
And did I mention house training?
I am working from home for two weeks to facilitate the house training. I can already tell that is way too long for me, and way too short for her. I am starting to feel a little cabin fever-ish with being home all the time! Next week I have a conference to attend for work one morning, so I will be gone for half the day then….should be interesting.
At 10.5 weeks old now, the books say Tessie should be able to go roughly 2-2.5 hours between pee breaks. And yet, we probably head outside every hour, and sometimes more often. I have learned her signal as to when she’s about to go, and usually manage to divert her outside. But of course there have been accidents, usually when I am not paying attention (only once right in front of me). I think I’m the one being trained here…
We also started a Puppy Kindergarten class this week which is the first time I’ve ever attended formal training with a dog. I am very committed to doing whatever possible to have the most pleasant, well-behaved dog I can.
The other dirty little secret I have is that as much as she has brought into our home, I’m feeling very stressed out, and I’m taking that stress out on my children, in sometimes unfair ways. I need to be more conscious of that. And stop it!
Niceties and Nasties from New England 
Yeah — you need to watch that.
Goodness knows I never get stressed out and take it out on my kids. (And if you believe that …)
Heh. It’s basically having a new baby in the house. Just a different species. You’ll all get used to each other soon enough. Actually you may have more trouble with the chewing than the house training. I had a Dalmatian that chewed everything in sight. Including furniture. I have several tables with gnaw marks.