Let's Back Up A Bit

Brian and I have always known that we would eventually get a dog.  Brian grew up with a wonderful labrador retriever, and I'm not picky, so we've basically always known that we would end up with a labrador.  It definitely helps that they're a great family dog.  So in talking about putting up a fence and planning for a future dog, we decided that if we wait until after the baby comes, we'll most likely wait until she is two or three years old, because we didn't want to bring home a boisterous puppy with a baby in the house.  We decided that if we were going to get a dog soon, we should get it soon, so we can get through the puppy stage before the baby comes.  We didn't really discuss it much further than that.  We knew we needed to get the fence up, and then I guess we figured we would work it out after that.

Fast forward to last week, when I was randomly surfing the internet while waiting for Alyssa to finish some school work.  I found an ad on Craigslist for a six month old labrador mix that the owner couldn't keep, because his daughter was allergic.  I thought it looked like a great dog, and asked Brian if we wanted to surprise the kids with a dog for Easter.  Brian took a look at the pictures, wondered what the "mix" part of the dog was, and said, "Look at the size of his feet!  He's going to be a monster!  See? He's eating that chair!"  But considering that dog - or not considering that dog led us to looking at other options.

We called about a litter of seven-week-old puppies in Othello and about a seven-week-old puppy just above Spokane.  We skipped a Saturday of working on the fence to go check them all out.  We liked one of the chocolate labs in Othello, and we took a couple of pictures of him with the kids and decided to keep him in mind.  Then we made the long drive to Spokane.  We stopped in Spokane for lunch at a place called The Onion, which had really good and really HUGE onion rings.  I felt bad, because I'm to the point in my pregnancy when my stomach is small, and I could only eat half of my hamburger.  It was yummy, though!

We then headed North to a place out in the middle of nowhere, to meet Sadie.  The man brought her out front, instead of us going back to the kennels, since we had looked at other puppies that day, and he was afraid of spreading Parvo.  When he set her on the ground, Brian picked her up, and she calmly sat on his lap for the majority of the time we were there.  I wanted a calm dog, so that made up my mind.  What we've discovered in the last few days, though, is that the afternoon is her calm time, and she likes to run around and go crazy when she wakes up in the morning.  Compared to other puppies, though, she is still a calm dog, and we're happy for that.

House training is going well.  She's doing great at it, but it is exhausting.  The first two nights it was worse than having a newborn - we were up every two hours to take her outside.  After last night I stopped watching the clock as much and started to pay attention to her, and I think it's going to get easier.  We were up every three hours last night, and I honestly think she could go a bit longer.  Plus, she's starting to wake Brian and I up when she has to go at night time, which is nice.

We ended up putting her kennel with a bed in it in our bedroom for now.  She's doing really well with the kennel training as well.  We put a ticking clock in there with her, and she likes to cuddle up to it while she sleeps.  She doesn't like being in the kennel if the kids are around, because she knows she's missing out on play time, but after the kids go to bed, we put her to bed, and for the most part, she goes right to sleep.

Callie also started handling Sadie's arrival better yesterday.  She's avoiding her less, and she seems to have forgiven Brian.  I think she's just accepted the fact the dog is here to stay and has decided to deal with it.  Or maybe she listened to me when I told her that she needed to make friends with Sadie before Sadie was three times her size, but honestly I don't think cats listen to anybody.

Sadie seems to be more comfortable with her collar than she was at first, so the kids and I are going to start leash training her today.  At first that basically consists of putting the leash on her and letting her get used to it being there.  That part shouldn't be too hard.

Anyway, we're really happy to have Sadie in our family.  We're learning that it's a lot of work to have a puppy, but she is a smart dog, and she's already learning (and growing!) and it's been a lot of fun having her around the last few days.