11 weeks

I have been keeping mom very busy! Still not so good with potty training. For a few nights in a row I make mommy happy and then I get a sudden urge and am stuck in the habit of going in the crate for a few days. Sometimes, mommy gets me up a couple times through the night to help me but it doesn’t matter, I still have accidents. Other nights, I am just plain whooped out and don’t go. I over-heard her saying that she thinks I wake up and get bored, then that’s when I have accidents. When I don’t, mom keeps telling me how much of a good boy I am and hurries me out the door as soon as she opens the crate door. After I go, she pets me and snuggles me and keeps saying, “YES!”

I do have a schedule that I expect her to keep. Usually, I go to bed between 10-12. It doesn’t matter how late she keeps me up but I wake up promptly at 7 am. Mommy tries to ignore me sometimes but I won’t stop whining until she gets up. She has been pretty good about it. I think the latest she made we wait was until 8. She tries to play this game with me. I will whine, cry, and bark. She won’t let me out. If I am quiet for a couple minutes, then she comes and gets me and tells me that’s a good boy.

As soon as I go potty outside in the morning, I get breakfast! Sometimes, I get so antsy, mom doesn’t make her coffee right way. When that happens, she is a little grouchy. After breakfast, I always take another urgent potty break … you would think she gave me coffee the way I jet out the door. So, anyway, that is our typical first hour of the morning. Sometimes, mom is taking my crate outside and hosing it down. She makes a lot of fuss, making some gagging noises and calls me stinky after that. Same thing happens when she brushes her teeth so I don’t know why she is blaming it on me. If it is raining, I have to come in right away. She has this towel she wipes my feet with every morning. I get silly and try to grab it while she is handling my paws. She always tells me, “Leave it, Jedi.” I bark a sassy bark at her, telling her, “No!” We play in the kitchen for about and hour and then I’m exhausted, plop down and drift off to sleep. If it is not raining I get to play outside for awhile, checking out all the new sniffs in the yard from the 3rd shifters who romp the yard. I’m not sure who they are but I think they have interesting smells. Gizzy usually joins in and we frolic in the morning dew. We’ve become two peas in a pod, her and I. She showed me this place where I can go and hide on mom. It is SO fun! Along the back fence is a wood pile and some trees. I try to conceal myself in there and when she calls my name, I crouch down and peak just a little bit to see if she means it. I lay there, giggling to myself until she starts to become somewhat frantic. Then, I come barreling out like none other and crash into her. Usually, I take a mid-morning nap in the kitchen on the nice cool floor. I don’t always let her know when I wake up and end up having an accident. Mom caught me mid-stream this morning, boy was I in trouble! She took me outside and kept telling me break out there … too late.

I’ve been going to a lot of places too. On Thursdays, we go to hang out with some older people who gush about me (of course). They weigh me every week there. I average about a pound every week. Last week being 18 lbs. Mom says she bets I gained a couple this week. I’ve gone to the grocery store a couple times. I’ve been to Tim Horton’s/ColdStone … they didn’t give any coffee nor any ice cream. They did offer a tid-bit but mom said no, “meany.” It’s just not fair. There, I was scolded by mommy because I kept barking when she was flapping her jaws for too long. She said, all in all, I did really good considering all the yummy smells. Oh, we went to a picnic also. We took a day trip across state one day. Mommy’s aunt rode with us there but never came back with us. We had to stop twice so I could go potty on the way there (mom got bit by a couple big flies while I was taking my time) but I slept the entire ride home. Mommy put the small crate in the front seat next to her, turned on the AC, and we jammed to some Adam guy. Mom kept singing … the only way to escape listening to THAT is going to sleep. We went to aunt Libby's house and hung out. I got to torment a couple cats and Brenden played with me. We also went camping twice. The first trip I played in the river and mom kept making me run up and down a hill. I also got to go for a small ride in the kayak. It was fun at first, then we started going down stream. I was a little spoked by this. The second trip I was the only dog. There were several kids who fought over who was going to walk me next. I got really dirty on that trip. Mommy loved me anyway

Mom has been teaching me some new commands. She takes me for walks and I get treats. In the driveway, we pace back and forth and she tells me “Heel”. Besides “Sit”, I know, “Leave It”, “No”, “Come”, “Let’s go”, “Crate”. I don’t always do it, but I know it. Mommy keeps saying I have a stubborn side to me. I’ve been working on down and stay. My biggest challenge is all the fresh grass clippings mom forgets to rake up. She said a foster brother, Cato, got really sick on that stuff. She told me to lay off the grass … But, I really like to lay ON the grass. When the leash is on me, I get annoyed and end up sitting there with my front paws locked out straight … this usually happens when mom has somewhere to go and needs me to break or at night. We both get a little frustrated. Now, she says I have to have the leash on again every time I go outside for break because she says I am obviously not ready for that much freedom.

Well, we are going to post this now so everyone can hear how I am doing. Hopefully, we can figure out how to put pictures throughout the blog. Mom has some great ones to share while telling this story. Mission accomplished (thanks Andrea)!