Y’all are going to get a fair few puppy posts. Needless to say, I’m not getting much crafting done. Missy the mystery pup sleeps quite a bit, but when she is awake we have to stay wary! Even when she is sleeping we have to have one eye out for when she wakes up. Potty training is still going OK, but if her little feet hit grass or carpet after a nap she will do her business. So we’ve taken to carrying her out when she wakes.
Crashed puppy
She is also chewing everything, as puppies do. I didn’t realize how many cords are in our living room for charging various devices! To help keep the little miss from getting into trouble, I put a sheet of poster board between the chairs to keep her from the cords. (Hey, I managed to squeeze something crafty into the post!)
Poster board rolled between two chairs to keep the puppy out
We’ve been looking for another dog for while now, both as a companion for our current dog, Griffin, and as a potential family lap dog. We are an adopt kind of family, not a buying kind. We applied for some adoptions but were not selected, visited some other adoptables that were afraid of Griffin, then stumbled upon a litter of Chihuahua (maybe) mixes at a rescue where I had previously applied. Somehow, we ended up at the top of the list and so we went to meet a puppy at the foster home. So much sweetness and cuteness in a such a little package! And the puppy was enamored with Griffin.
Sleepy puppy getting ready for a nap
So this is Missy the (maybe) 2 month old, 3.6 pound puppy. Oh, puppy. It has been a long time since we’ve had a puppy, and never one this young! We’ve been puppy proofing the house, and watching carefully. When she wakes from a nap (I forgot how much puppies nap), we take her outside and she does her business! The only accident in the house was totally my fault. She whimpered at night and I thought she was lonely. Nope. Watching a 3 pound puppy play with our 50 pound dog is hilarious, and he is so careful around her.
Missy and Griffin
We are crate training, and taking turns with the cuddles with the hope she will bond to the whole family rather than one person. The humans are all enamored. Griffin was much happier when he realized she was a dog (she did the play position). Sophie the cat was wary, and Izzy the cat is hiding either in the catio or the craft room. She is an 11 pound, very long calico, absolutely scared of a 3 pound puppy. Oh my.
I like to take the kids kayaking at one of the small local lakes. This last trip we saw all sorts of different wildlife! Great Egrets, great blue herons, lesser blue herons, diamond back water snakes sunning themselves on logs, and a leech. Attached to the bottom of the boat. Very interesting trip. We have started taking our dog Griffin too. He sits in my eldest’s kayak and falls out once per trip, then lays quietly the rest of the trip. The handles on his life vest make it much easier to get him back in the kayak! Still, he seems to enjoy the outing.
Griffin our dog in his life vest standing in the kayak (pre fall)Diamondback water snake (non venomous)Diamondback water snake (non venomous) photo credit to my eldest Leech in motion
My dog loves laser lights. Correction: my dog is obsessed with laser lights. He is funny about them though, he doesn’t chase it just wherever, he has a self defined path that if you flash the light at the beginning of the path, he will traverse the whole trail, whether or not the light leads him. If you shine the light elsewhere you are given “a look”, and he waits until you get it right. Goofy dog. This behavior does result in a dirt path through the yard. For me, though, this is not a bad thing necessarily. We have clay soil, which is hard and unforgiving to dig. In the dog’s trail, the clay has been churned to a fine dust, which is easy to scoop up and add to the ash and diatomaceous earth for the chicken’s dust bath. So really, the dog’s favorite activity in the whole wide world is also providing a chicken service. So there we go. The dog is happy, the chickens love their dust bath, and even the cat, when she dashes through the door, beelines for a good roll in the fine dust.
Griffin’s new boots arrived, so we put them on and took a walk. He had a small adjustment period, but settled into his new footwear pretty well. They certainly stay on better than old socks! And no stickers in his paws.
Critters and Craft 