Puppy Mayhem

We bit the bullet and got another Great Pyrenees puppy. Boy, have I forgotten how much work a puppy can be! Our last puppies came as a matched pair so they entertained themselves and are very bonded to each other, since they're still alive and with us, they're not taking to the new member of the family as readily as I'd hoped.

Part of why we decided to get a pup is that our 8 year old female Pyr has so much going on with her - a heart arrhythmia, hypothyroidism, bad hips and now Lyme disease - we have no idea how much longer we'll have her. Our male on the other hand, also 8, presents as if he's 5 instead of 8 because he's so healthy. He's also so bonded to our big girl that he whines and pouts when she goes for a vet visit or just a walk down the block. So we picked out a new female for him to bond with in the hope that he won't die of a broken heart when it's his sister's time to go.

It's been a week...I'm somewhat sleep deprived as I'm on-call this week. Tonka Tala Tama (Tala for short) knows to pee when told "go potty", understands inside/outside/treat/bone and comes and sits on command, no leashes needed. Pooping outside remains a challenge, just like with our big girl and we're still learning Tala's signs for when she needs to potty.

My mother's day started off with cleaning up a poop pile full of dead round worms (it's actually a good thing), rescuing a variety of shoes from being destroyed, redirecting her chewing to a small rawhide and a bone. The rawhides have to be swapped out as soon as they are flexible enough for her to chomp a piece off...I don't want her to swallow it.

No paper is safe from her shredding puppy teeth, I have cuts all over my hands and arms from her razor sharp teeth, and I'm getting a heck of a workout carrying her downstairs to go potty. She can come up just fine but down is a challenge. She weighed 20.5 lbs. on Wednesday, I swear she must weigh close to 25 now and I've had to size up her collar and harness twice now.

On the plus side, she's a ton of fun, very sweet, loves everyone and is giving our neighbors a chance to enjoy the puppy experience that they missed out on with their youngest dog. She's also smart as a whip, evaluates what the big dogs are barking at before chiming in and will change direction or stop what she's doing when she hears a stern "no". And she's super soft.

None of this has anything to do with writing really, other than that the spare time I used to have is being eaten up by puppy care.