A Puppy Update Because …. Everyone Likes Puppies?? Also, We Need Tips On Mud, Peeing, Walking, And Chewing

Seemed like a good week to talk about puppies. I woke up more depressed than yesterday, but someone in the comments yesterday requested an update and it seemed like a decent thing for me to focus on today, for me at least. It’s been 4 months with these rescue pups and they are adorable but PRETTY NAUGHTY. It’s been so long since I’ve had a dog and I forget how they are truly such good family pets. These two just want to give and receive love so much (Bearcat was like that but Mimi WAS NOT). So here’s the update and some cute photos of my pups.

In the grand scheme of things, these two are VERY GOOD DOGS mostly because my definition of a good dog is not jumpy/barky and is super cuddly/sweet (I have a lot of noise sensitivity issues and can’t handle a lot of stimulation – something I didn’t know until I moved up here full time and realized how much happier I am out of a city). They bark at other dogs, of course, and can jump of course, but for the most part you really don’t notice that they are there. But they are still chewing up all my shoes, ALL MY UNDERWEAR, but honestly, I’m a bad dog mom and not even trying to prevent it or doing any tricks or tips that I know exist. So we had to bring back out the big pen thing and they sleep in it because at night we would come down to the house destroyed. And yes, we give them lots of bones but they are pups and will grow out of this chewing thing, right?

They are super gentle with the kids, but we’ve had to have A LOT of discussions with Birdie about not treating them like stuffed animals and squeezing them so hard. We even watched a bunch of youtube videos as a family on how to pet a dog and have had to ground her from them (this is surprising because she is so full of love and she’s not being rough, just likes squeezing them literally like a stuffed animal) but she’s also not learning her lesson.

We thought they were house trained and we were smugly patting ourselves on the back for that “problem solved” when we realized that one of them had been secretly peeing ALL OVER THE RUG in the guest room. Like 10 pee spots. But again, we know that it’s not their fault, it’s ours. We had friends up (safely, all tested before) and had a house full of kids and strangers (to them) and I think we weren’t walking them enough that weekend, so they relapsed. Luckily the company of that spray I linked up last week got it out (even super dried up pee). In not so shocking news, the days where they get 2-3 walks (not just running outside) we have way less accidents so we just need to be better.

They are still pretty bad on a leash and pull really hard (we got harnesses which helps). When we were first walking them I was like ‘we need a professional dog walker to teach us how to do this’ and then I remembered that I WAS A PROFESSIONAL DOG WALKER. Literally, I did it for a year when I was 22 in New York on the upper east side, and have forgotten all my skills. I had 5 dogs at a time and I was honestly so good at it. I think I just had more patience. Or maybe it’s because I was being paid $20/hour. Oscar can get aggressive with other dogs – but again mostly because they aren’t socialized. He barks a lot at them, you can tell that he is STRESSED when he’s sniffing another dog so it always makes me nervous (and always makes the other dog and owner nervous (I know we aren’t supposed to say owner, right? What are we supposed to say now?)

They also STILL get in the pond then mud and then destroy our house. Charlie accidentally let them in while I was working recently and I found mud literally all over the wall, splattered on the ceiling, and then they were just laying guiltily on the sofa (see above – LOOK AT THOSE MUDDY PAWS). I don’t know what we are going to do when we move to Portland because we are likely going to have a big backyard and it rains so much. Are they just muddy every day? I even have visions/fantasies that my brother and I have talked about of a dog washing/drying station in the mudroom, like a booth that they go in and get hosed down then dried before they come into the house. Stay tuned…

When we aren’t here they do try to escape to find us when we are gone (a la homeward bound) and I felt SO BAD for Ryann and Jess who were house-sitting while we were in Portland because Butter escaped out the backyard (under the fence) twice and I can’t imagine out stressful it must have been to potentially have lost your boss’s dog. (I wouldn’t have blamed anyone, btw and we have them microchipped and they have tags). Luckily she came back after a desperate search. But it’s a GREAT excuse to get a new fence!!

In short, they bring so much comfort, happiness, and fun to our family, more than the nuisance and responsibility that they add. I personally think they are the cutest dogs I’ve EVER seen (we like shaggy, floppy mutts over here). Buttercup thinks that she is Brian’s mistress. They cuddle and snuggle in a way that does seem kinda romantic and when I catch them she immediately stops with a ‘nothing to see here’ look on her face. Oscar is a clumsy, floppy teenager and just wants to play fetch and do ‘show and tell’ (in the mornings when I come downstairs he has to giddily find something to give to me or show off a bone in his mouth). It’s VERY cute.

So that’s the update on life with the pups. Any tips on chewing, peeing, or walking and mud please send 🙂 Thanks for reading. Hopefully, this gave you a positive distraction from the insanity of the election. xx