Happy Wednesday – I went to the vet yesterday for (almost) our last round of shots for Tex and Cali, so I thought it would be appropriate to give ya’ll a four-month “pupdate.” They turned four-months old on August 28th, and I’m just so glad they are members of our little fam.
If you’ve been reading here awhile, you know that they were the teeniest tiniest little things. Tex was 4.5 pounds and Cali was just four pounds. When we pulled up to pick them up, I didn’t think I’d ever seen a smaller puppy in my life. They were just the cutest. I mean….. I die every time I look at their puppy pics.
We brought them home right before we started our home renovations, so they came during kind of a hectic time. Luckily, I had a lot of help: my husband and our friends all came over to help me love on some puppies. I was kind of unsure if I could handle two new puppies, but I finally feel confident that we’ve made it through the hardest part.
For awhile there, I was taking them out to the bathroom every hour – and I couldn’t leave them alone to even take a shower. We’ve made some good progress!
The Spuds have gotten huge. They are 28.5 and 29.5 pounds. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold both of them for their five month pics.
House training
We are officially house broken. I tried the bell method – and just kind of pushed their noses against the bell before I would take them out. And, lo and behold, one day, I was working in my office – and I heard a little bell. Tex was over there ringing his bell to go out. Now, they also use it to go outside to just play in the yard, but at least they associate the yard with the bathroom.
We had quite a few little accidents in the house – so I’m not trying to make it seem easy. And, it was hard because I couldn’t really tell which dog was having the accident. But, now, I’m pretty confident that they will go outside.
Training.
We are working on some basic commands with both of them. They both know sit and shake really well. We are working on stay, come and down. I’ve also been getting them used to the leash. My vet decided to start them completely over on their vaccinations, and they just got their last round of vaccines today. So, in two weeks, we can start taking them out on walks around the neighborhood.
They are pretty hyper little things, so it will be good for them to meet new people on their walks – it will also help them focus their attention a bit.
We’ve got little swimmers
Sawyer didn’t love the water – in fact, he would run every time he saw me getting his stuff ready to give him a bath. Buttercup loved the water, and we wanted to get Tex and Cali used the water. They love to play with the hose. So, when Aaron and I are out in the yard watering our flowers, they love to be sprayed and to get wet.
We’ve also started putting them on the top step in the pool, and they love it. They’ve gotten more and more confident over the last month or so. They aren’t quite going off and swimming on their own, but they love to get in the water and blow bubbles under the water – and just hang out in the water.
Crate training
I can’t say that they love the crate. We have them sleeping in the crate, and it’s going well. They will usually sleep in until about 7. So on the weekends, if we feel like sleeping in, we will take them out at 7 – and put them back in the crate to sleep for a bit longer.
We also leave them in the crate anytime we leave the house. I’ll stick a couple of toys in there – and turn on the TV. I use the command “go to your room,” and they know what it means. They will go – reluctantly. But, I’ll also leave the crate open during the day when we are home – and I’ve found them in there just hanging out a couple of times. We never use it as punishment, and I’m hoping that they grow to like it a bit more.
But, I’m so glad we got two. It’s going to take some patience to get through the puppy stage, but they are the sweetest things. They love to cuddle, and they are still just (barely) small enough to fit in our laps.
