Life with a New Puppy

We are all doing well. This is the second night Emme has slept through the night. We went to bed about 10 and she woke up at 5:47. Not bad. Right now she is in her crate in the kitchen, I am up in my sewing room and she is quiet. Everything takes much longer when we add in the responsibilities of a puppy. I am just now reading my email and getting ready to take a shower and it is after 9:30. I think things will speed up as we get to know one another.

When she first gets up, she in not ready to eat. She is just so excited to be up and alive that she has to dash around the kitchen, play with toys (for 2 seconds each), bark a little, run over to be cuddled, smell everything and wake up. After about 30 minutes of this, she is ready to eat her tiny bit of kibble. While she is running around the kitchen like a wild thing, Ken and Rudy are in the dining room having coffee and reading the paper and I am sitting on the step stool in the kitchen, drinking my first cup of coffee, petting her when she stops by and SLOWLY waking up. After she eats breakfast, I take her outside and then put her in her crate. Only then do I take down the gate to the dining room and join Ken and Rudy for some quiet breakfast time. She fusses a little and then settles down. After we finish the paper and have breakfast, I get her up again while we clean up the kitchen. Then after I wash her off a little, she is back in the crate again while I go upstairs to check my email, take a shower and dress.

This in and out of crate goes on all day. She is up when we take her outside, feed her, play with her, brush her, etc. She is in the crate at other times. Emme has gotten the message that you don't mess in the crate. She hasn't had an accident in there yet. She has gone outside to pee 100% of the time but we have had two times when she went to the far side of the kitchen to drop a load. The first time was not too bad because I saw it almost as soon as she had done it. The second time was another matter. I had gone to the grocery store and she was gated in the kitchen. When I got home, I carried in groceries and didn't think to look for land mines. As I was walking to the pantry for about the third time, I noticed some squashed poop on the floor. Guess who had squashed it. She doesn't go a lot, but when you step in it and walk it all over the kitchen floor, it covers pretty well. I got to work on the floor with paper towels and cleaner and your dad took my tennis shoes outside and hosed off the soles. Well I guess this is not too bad a track record and I am sure that there will be others. She is not allowed to walk on the carpet so any mistakes will be easier to clean up. Oh, the joys of puppies. She really is a joy, however. So cute and so playful. You will love her when you meet her.