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January 25th, 2007
10:19 am - Days of haze
My world seems to be disappearing into a sleepy haze. The puppies are still going through the pangs of house-breaking. We are seeing improvements, but things aren't perfect yet. They may not be perfect for many more months. So far, the worst of the imperfection is the 3-4:00 a.m. potty time. I get to bed at a reasonable hour only to be awoken by pups needing to go out. I want to teach them that if they ask to go outside, they get to go and this is a good thing so I drag myself out of bed and out we go. The brisk Minnesota mornings wake me up enough to make getting back to sleep a bit of a chore and the puppies get up again at 6:00 a.m. for their morning feeding (and outside again right after).
So lately, I've been eating breakfast right after the puppies get in from their potty break following the 6:00 feeding. I watch The Daily Show while I eat and start on The Colbert Report but doze off before it's done. I wake up sometime around 8:00, get myself ready for work and get Ericka her morning medications.
Yesterday I got home and stayed awake long enough to get the puppies their evening meal at 6:00 p.m. They got a potty break right after and once they were back inside I laid down for a quick nap. I figured I'd catch an hour or two, have some time to do some gaming or reading and then be ready to take the puppies out again before getting to bed by 11:00.
Well, that plan didn't work as I slept until 10:00, got Ericka her evening medications, took the puppies out and set about to get myself ready for bed. I was a bit wakeful and got some food in as I watched The Daily Show but after that I collapsed back into sleep. The puppies did not wake me at 4:00 or so this morning, but that may have more to do with my need for sleep rather than their lack of need to go outside.
As I arrived at work this morning, a pixie dust flurry of snow, shining in the early morning sun was swirling around the streets of downtown Minneapolis. It made me wonder, briefly, if I was still asleep and dreaming.
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I have no idea what's involved with housebreaking a dog.
K. ![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/26794803/53954) | | From: |  jbru |
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| Date: | January 25th, 2007 11:03 pm (UTC) |
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I can explain (without getting too graphic) if you are at all interested. We're going through "sympathetic" puppy training - our neighbor to the west has a new pup and our wonderful old dog, Madison, seems to be feeling some mommy urges.
When the neighbor pup (Tysto) is let out at 5:30 AM and then cries to get back in, Madison goes to our back door and whimpers to go out. Like she's worried about the pup! When I let her out, she runs around to the fence to check things out. Sometimes I don't get back to sleep.
You, Peter, are a wonderful dog owner! I wish you much happiness with the pups! And I remain thankful to you for your great kindness in helping me out with Willow a couple years ago. So sorry about Brandy. She was one of the good ones.
| | From: | jbru |
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| Date: | January 26th, 2007 06:30 pm (UTC) |
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Thanks, Jeff! It was very nice to watch Willow for you. I miss her and, of course, Brandy.
One of the things that I'm trying to take forward is the experience with Brandy and the rest of the dogs I've known in order to help groom these puppies into the best sort of dogs. I feel an extra sort of obligation in that direction because these cute little fuzz-balls will be 85-125 pounds of dog when they're full grown and misbehavior in a dog that big can be down-right dangerous. |
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