Our Nora pup is almost 10 weeks (or if you rather, a bit over 2 months) old. She is a good dog. She goes potty outside about 85% of the time (#1&2) and she is fairly good at chewing on her own toys (not the kids'). She still gets rambunctious at inopportune times, i.e. bedtime, but for the most part keeps a steady line of "energetic", which we can manage.
She does still nip a bit too much, especially at the kids, but she never means it in an aggressive way, just too playful. She is growing fast and is sometimes unaware of her bigger, stronger size; she has knocked over the kids a few times.
Last night she threw up apart of her new chew toy she apparently ingested. That was fun at 2am. She has also taken to pooping inside the outdoor play area for the kids. They then step in it and go down the slide. That is definitely something we need to figure how to correct.
She insists on eating out of Phoebe food bowl, which is only fair, Phoebe insists eating out of Nora's. The only thing is Nora needs the puppy food, and Phoebe absolutely does not.
Nora thoroughly loves walks/runs outside, though doesn't yet grasp the idea that to road is not just a giant sidewalk. She loves to pounce on leaves, and even munches on a few of them.
She dislikes the vacuum greatly, but loves to attack the broom.
The biggest issue we have at the moment is what to do with her when we leave. She hates her crate, which I understand. Phoebe hated hers too, and I simply feel like it is unfair to crate up animal for hours in a small cage if you can avoid it.
I did fashion a small dog run with our toddler gate, and that worked great for few weeks. It was big enough for her to walk around in, it had her bed and a couple toys, but there was no top to the "pin" she she didn't feel too caged in.
That ended officially on Christmas eve when were greeted by her and Phoebe at the garage door. Nora figured out how to climb out. The damage wasn't too bad, just bathroom messes to clean up.
I then reconfigured the gate into a circular shape, eliminating the 90° angles I watched her use to climb up and out of the pin the next morning. This only worked for a short trip out, today she had escaped again and somehow knocked down the hall tension gate, granting her access to rooms I was not prepared for her to go in.
Thankfully, once again, she had just used my carpet as a toilet and nothing was chew up or destroyed. While I hate cleaning the carpet over stuff like this, I can, in fact, clean it and no long-term damage is done.
When she did this, I was out at PETSMART, buying a metal cable leash so I could tether her to the kitchen table when we need to leave. (I knew the circular pin would not work for long.) This leash grants her access to her food and water bowls, her bed, her toys, and under the kitchen table...which is one of her favorite nap places. It will also keep her from having too much freedom in the house without supervision. She can reach a bit of carpet, so she might do something gross, but it's not much, and I can't avoid it. It is a leash she cannot chew through, and it's rooted to the base of our table which she cannot move. I hope this is a good alternative to the dog pin.
(Also, I don't mind having the dog pin down...my kitchen feels a lot bigger with it gone.)
I will probably take down my tree earlier this year though. She does like to occasionally chew on the branches, and the leash tether still allows her to reach it. I don't put anything past a bored, annoyed Nora pup.
I also might buy a storage bin or bench to put the kids' toys in. We barely had enough space before Christmas, now I will need something else to help keep the new over-flow safe from puppy teeth.
All in all, she is a sweet, energetic puppy...and she is everything you would expect from that. Nothing too surprising, she just makes life a bit more interesting. ;)
M.LEWIS
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