IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

I never thought the day would come when Molly would be potty-trained but just this week I noticed she’s stopped going in the house!  Hooray!!!  She’ll be 5 months old tomorrow and I guess she just felt it was time, we didn’t chide her for her accidents at all, she decided on her own.  This is part of the puppy-hood that I can tell you I won’t miss at all 😉  That being said there are things I do, already, miss.  Molly is growing like a weed and she’s almost (physically) fully grown.  Next month we will be getting her spayed and microchipped…already.  In spite of how many bottles of Pine Sol, etc. I went through it still seems like yesterday we were just picking her up.  I now can understand why many people who have children want to have another one after a year or two 😉  I’m already talking about putting our name on the waiting list for next year…?!  It wouldn’t be anywhere near as expensive since I already have everything we could possibly need to welcome another puppy into the family.  When I tell my husband this he looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind, lol, but I know he’d love another one too.

Molly, at almost 50 pounds, still thinks she’s little and she still likes to jump up on my lap and cuddle.  I have to admit it’s one of my favorite parts of the day when she does that 🙂  I don’t want to miss any chances to cherish our time together so she will be welcome on my lap no matter how big she gets.

Oh Wow.

Life with a puppy is one thing but when they hit their ‘juvenile’ time…totally a different time.  Molly is in this stage and still not house-broken  I was talking to a friend yesterday and she recommended we bring someone to our house to work with her.  I don’t know how much that’s going to cost but we need to invest in whatever will work.  She eats everything, she goes to the bathroom everywhere and she bites, in short, she’s a terror.  It’s hard to believe this is the same puppy we had a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve never had a puppy so this was a shock to me.  I can see why more parents say no to getting a puppy for their children and the ones who can’t say no end up bringing their pups to the shelter.  They’re very costly and a lot of work.  Mind you, we will not be bringing Molly to a shelter, but I can see why people do.  It’s an almost overnight change in behavior and not a welcome one.  We’re exceedingly grateful to be able to bring her to doggy day-care when we work now and it’s made life at the office much more palatable because we’re actually able to get things done!

We have 5 days off starting this Friday and I’m hoping to get my house put back in order and cleaned up again.  I bought like one of every cleaning product they had available at the store because I’m so desperate to have my home smell normal again 😉  I’m looking into outdoor kennel options that are easy to install in our backyard so she can go out at will between the porch and her run.

I share these things because they’re real.  No one should take getting a puppy lightly and it’s important to know what you’re getting into when you take that step.  I know all puppies are not the same but I’m imagining they all go through the same stages in one degree or another.  They count on you big-time, you’re their everything and you need to be prepared to do what it takes to help your puppy grow to be the companion you want to spend time with.

The Adventure Seems Endless

My last post was about our first trip with Molly.  We had a second weekend away, planned pre-Molly, and thankfully that went SO much better.  Molly still isn’t potty-trained, she seems hellbent against it in fact, but we were able to keep up with it and didn’t clog the hotel toilet this time

Molly had her 3rd and final puppy vaccines this past week and can you imagine she gained 10 lbs. in 2 weeks?!  She’s been to 2 puppy classes and we work on it at home when we have a chance.  We’ve been bringing her to the office with us since we first brought her home and it’s worked great until this past week.  We couldn’t get anything done at all because she was into everything.  Tomorrow, again thankfully, she will begin puppy day-care where we hope she can burn off some of that excess energy while we work.

Don’t get me wrong…she’s adorable and we love her very, very much but…this is not the fun part of the process and I’m looking forward to her learning better behavior.

Do you have any ideas to pass along???