It will come as little surprise that this week's post is going to be about the puppy again. As you can see from the picture she looks like butter wouldn't melt. You just wouldn't guess that the cute animal in the picture liked to poo inside...... and then eat it if you didn't get to it quickly enough!
The house looks like a bomb has hit it. Somehow if she has an 'accident' she manages to do it just inches away from the protective coverings we've put on the carpet. Picture was taken shortly after she'd discovered the bark in our flowerbeds on the patio. The obvious thing to do was to bring it into the house and spread it over the carpet.
It's not all been a nightmare though. All last week she curled up next to my bed in her basket as I worked. Literally slept until lunch when I took her out, then slept all afternoon - until literally the moment I closed my laptop - when she leapt up and had a mad half an hour. It didn't matter though because I was ready to give her as much attention and love as she needs.
She's a lot better in her crate now, though I've been woken up twice (including last night) by the smell of poo, when she's had an accident in the crate. Fortunately she doesn't seem to want to eat those in her crate - which I guess is a blessing. I've been getting up twice in the night to take her out. Though she seems to be great at doing a wee outside, but likes to save the poo for inside (aren't I lucky). We'll get there though and she's learning fast.
She's extremely shy with strangers - we had friends around on Saturday and she curled up in a little ball pretending she wasn't there. Then sister-in-law came over on Sunday to meet her and she did the same. I suspect she'll get less nervous as she gets older - time will tell. At least she doesn't get aggressive with her nervousness. She's just very shy.
I did have an amazing stroke of luck though. There's no way she can get to back garden as it's up about 20 steps. So I ordered a sandpit frame. Into that I put 2 bags of bark and some compost. I was hoping to put some turf on top of that to create a mini garden. However, turns out it is a nightmare to get hold of turf because of the current rubbish weather.
On Saturday I decided to do a trawl of the local garden centres and DIY stores to see if I could get my hands on any at all. I didn't need much. I could have ordered some online, but it was £60 delivery - which is a bit much for 2 rolls of turf. Aaaanyway...... I set off and about 5 houses down from mine I thought I saw something in a big bag outside the house. I turned around and drove back and low and behold a neighbour had a huge bag of turf in a garden rubbish bag outside their house.
I rang on their door and sure enough they were waiting for it to be picked up and taken away. They were very happy with me stealing some. It's not great quality turf, but it really doesn't matter - it's just going to be a dog loo. I was massively excited. The last week has been a bit like Christmas when money just slips through your fingers.
The final thing I'm going to say (and I'll try to keep the boring dog stuff brief in future posts) is that the biggest issue with her is that she's worked out how to go up stairs, but still can't come down. As our house is built into a hill there are LOTS of stairs. We have six steps between our sitting room and our kitchen and dining room (where I'm currently working as she settles), then another 6 up to the next floor then another 6 up to the next floor. Husband works on the top floor (where my study is too). Essentially this means that she keeps pottering up all the steps and the first you know of it is when there's a little whimper coming from.... somewhere.
Reminds me of when son was at godmothers house and aged about 4. He went upstairs with her then 8 year old son. After about half an hour when I was nattering with a coffee, godmothers son came downstairs and it took me about 10 minutes to twig that it meant my son was upstairs alone. I went charging to go and find him - only to find him sitting at the top of the stairs like kermits nephew - crying quietly because he didn't want to make a scene and was too scared to come down the stairs. It was one of those moments when your heart shatters.
There's really little else to talk about. It's all been puppy this week - unsurprisingly. I love her to bits - though husband is not loving things quite so much - but being very good about it.
She's staying with a friend for a night soon when husband and I go to a hotel to celebrate our anniversary. I can't wait to have two nights of unbroken sleep - it's much the same as when you have a baby. And don't worry - son is coming with us too and will be in another bed in our room. So we only had sleep planned anyway!!!!!!!!!!!
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