Whatdaya Want From Me??!!?!

I'm a cool kat...I mean, DOG!


She's sitting on my lap!

Hey, stay away from the phone, Pip! This is mine!

Awww...

This is a game they play which they've named "Criss Cross Applesauce" due to the fact that one will sit indian style because Pip will immediately jump in their lap and snuggle and then when they want her to go to the other brother the one that has her will open his legs and she'll run to the one sitting indian style. It's pretty cute.

So my children literally run around singing this Adam Lambert song and I swear it's been the story of my life lately! What do you want from anyway?????? It seems like everything and all at the same time!!

The Pip saga continues....So after trying to abide by the laws of the puppy books and take the dog out when "they" all say she should be going (she's not, she didn't, she CAN'T)...I took matters into my own hands last Tuesday and decided, by god, I WILL get this puppy to pee AND poop outside IN the goddamn spot if it's the last thing on earth I do...you can see where this is leading...I literally spent all day outside standing there with the dog figuring if she doesn't actually GET it then by the end of the day when she "accidentally" goes there 10 times and maybe a couple poops that maybe, JUST maybe it'll click..."OH, so THIS is where I go potty". So really, at this point, the dog is peeing outside. I'll say that much for her. She has a random accident sometimes but I'll forgive her those. It's the pooping that's the issue. You would think we were in an unclean, gas station restroom or something and not the comfort of her cushy leave pile in her own backyard! What is the problem?! To get back to my story, however, by 2pm the Pip has still not pooped AT ALL on Tuesday (unless you count the mess in her crate at 4am). So it's been 10 hours and no poop. Literally, I've tried everything with this dog...treats, praise, singing a little potty ditty, walking around, standing still....short of popping a squat and showing her how it's done, I've done it! I get back in from standing outside for god only knows how long...where are my kids you ask? I don't know. Seth was outside with me some of the time, otherwise, they're inside fending for themselves. "Mommy's busy with the dog." I've been outside so much that my neighbor commented, "I saw you outside, standing in the middle of the woods, and it looked like a scene from a horror movie. You were just standing there, staring down, catatonic-like and I thought 'uh oh'". He didn't see the dog...thanks Walt!

Anyway, I bring the dog back in at 2pm, put her in her crate and proceed to go do something. Imagine that, me being able to DO something other than be outside with the puppy! She starts whining and having a fit and this time I ignore her....and you got it...she poops in her crate. I am SO livid that I actually could have killed the dog. DOES IT HATE ME? I mean, really, come on...what are the chances??? We had spent SO little time indoors. I just couldn't believe that I'd tried so hard and spent so much time getting her to go even accidentally outside and she still waited to go in her crate. Ugh...totally stressed out.

By Wednesday, after that awful, awful experience and utter FAILURE. I decide there's no way I'm doing that again. I'll just take her out when I think she needs to go and otherwise not waste my time. Wednesday also marked the first morning where Eric would be home in the morning (every Wed and Fri). These are the days that I do things...ie go to the gym, schedule appts, etc. On this particular day, it's a little frantic. We have a vet appt for Pip and I also have a dermatology appt. Plus we scheduled in gym time and have to work out who gets the boys from school, etc...all while watching Seth AND the puppy. It felt a little ridiculous to now be telling my husband, "Make sure you feed the dog at 10am and take her out after that!". It's like giving the 4th kid's schedule, "She's pooped twice, and had a nap, so play with but get her too riled up, she'll need to nap again at 1!" So insane....

I get to my appt and realize that we hadn't discussed that Eric was picking the boys up from school so I got nervous that in the chaos of feeding a snack to Seth and Pip and taking Pip out that there was a possibility he'd forget to get them at 11. I'm not going to lie...there's been days I've completely forgotten that I even had two other children off at preschool and didn't even keep track of what time it was and when I needed to get them! Then I'm in with the nurse at my appt and she says, "So did you get your bloodwork done?" as she's flipping trying to find it. UGH! Until that moment it has never even crossed my mind to go do this the day before like I do EVERY month. I'm so flustered that I blurt out, "I just got a new puppy". She kind of rolls her eyes and looks at me like, "what kind of excuse is that?". I hear her out in the hall telling the doctor, "No bloodwork, she just got a new puppy" and I feel like an idiot. Thankfully, the dermatologist just got a puppy in February so she totally understood and we talked about puppies for the first 5 mins! Who doesn't love a puppy right?!

The next couple days are a blur. We're both exhausted from getting up with the puppy 2-3 times per night. The fact is she's too little to hold it through the night and when she does have an accident she squeals and screeches like there are 50 pigs being slaughtered in my kitchen. It's a little freaky. Due to poor planning, I had the unfortunate circumstances of Eric going away on a guy trip the weekend after we got Pip. So here it is Friday, 6 days after we get the puppy, and I now have to do everything. Ugh! I planned for reinforcements on Saturday but nighttime puppy duty and all the other kid duty was up to me! After a day of literally running around like a chicken with my head cutoff, I decided to lay down the law. You see, getting the puppy made me realize a few things. First and foremost, that I do WAY WAY too many things for my children, mostly Ben. The kid is almost 3 1/2 and I help him do EVERYTHING! I know in my head that he can do it...usually it's just faster and easier for me to but since the puppy came on the scene I don't have time to anymore. So effective immediately, Ben had to put his shoes on, wash his hands, and go potty ALL BY HIMSELF. He hemmed and hawed and said, "But MOMMY, I can't!". Yes, you can. NO. Yes. NO. Finally, I bribed him to put his shoes on for 15 mins of TV and that's all it took. I turned to Pip and said, "Will you go potty outside if I let YOU watch TV?" She didn't reply.

Anyway, after now 11 days, we've settled into somewhat of a routine. Eric and I have decided to alternate nights staying downstairs so that at least one of us can get uninterrupted sleep and the other can take care of the puppy. I don't take her out as much now and if she has an accident, I don't care. The boys just adore the heck out of her. Ben has decided he definitely likes her and plays with her as if he was never afraid of a cat or a dog. Even Seth has gotten used to her and will let her sit on his lap and lick his face. The only problem now is I think I might be allergic to the dog!

To be continued...

Ri-dog-ulous!

WELCOME HOME PIP!

Taking a rest...believe me, we all felt this tired at the end of the day.

Ben is actually HOLDING the dog!

Cal is Pip's absolute favorite. She just jumps up in his lap and snuggles down anytime he's around.

Ben is SMILING and holding the dog...one for the books, truly!

The day before we got Pip...Seth thought he WAS the dog. When I asked him if he wanted to get out he told me, "No!"

So not to say that we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into...WE DID...however, the books lie and I urge you to talk to many, many dog owners about what to expect if you've never had a dog before...and a person you can call at all hours with answers to your dog questions would help too! Let's just get one thing straight from the get go...getting a puppy is NOT like a having a baby. Yes, it's similar in that you have to get up a few times at night but really that's about all. A puppy is more like a potty training toddler...you know, one you don't want to take out anywhere for fear of the dreaded accident. It restricts your outings for awhile until you're sure the child is not going to drop a bomb somewhere and leave you in a puddle with crap all over your hands. THAT'S more like a puppy! There's no comparsion to that instant bond from the baby you grew and carried for 9 months and whom you can now diaper and leave in one place and the baby will STAY there. The puppy, yeah she's cute and all, but we're going to have to forge that bond...hopefully quickly!

Having made that whole disclaimer above, we love our little bundle of baby girl puppy joy! She is SO cute and SO little. The breeder showed us one of her brothers who was literally 3 times the size of her. The drive to get her went seamlessly. We had my friends Amy and Scott come up the night before and stay over so we could leave by 7am. We got there by 9:30 and had her in her crate and in the car by 9:45. We had to make a pit stop on the way home because she pooped in her crate but we figured that was ok. However, we started thinking...the breeder let her pee and poop in her crate all day since he worked 12 hour shifts and she hadn't really been outside at all...how WAS house training going to work?! The book makes it seem like if you take your puppy out frequently (after eating, after naps, after playing, and every other 2 hours in between) that she'll be house trained in NO time. The first day she REFUSED to poop outside. She peed every time in the designated outdoor area but even after eating at 5:30pm the first night and taking her out every freaking half hour she still had not pooped at 11pm. We went to bed and of course, I woke up at 3am to a mess in her crate. Err.....The whining I can handle. After all I am the champion of How to Train your Baby to Sleep and have no qualms about letting anything or anyone cry as long as they must. Pip can miss those littermates all she wants, they aren't coming back anytime soon.

Day 2 with the puppy went a little better. She did poop outside (once in the designated area) and once not and once on the kitchen floor. Really what it comes down to is dedication and constant vigilance. She hasn't been messing in her crate unless it's at night. We're not sure WHY she won't go before we go to bed but she's been holding it FOREVER and then freaks out when she goes in her crate. I got up twice last night to take her out. The first time was at 11:30 when I heard her whimpering so strangely that she almost sounded like a bird chirping. She gets out there and doesn't go. Great. Back in the crate and back to bed. Again, at 1:30 and as I come down the stairs I smell it. She tricked me though, I thought I smelled poop, but she had somehow folding the pad so it just looked like it was a little dirt from being outside. So I took her outside and when she didn't go AGAIN, I came in and inspected her crate more carefully and sure enough she'd gone in there again. Does she hate me?!

Day 3 is going....she doesn't go in her crate in the day and has either been holding it or going outside for the most part. She has accidents mostly when I'm not paying attention...either because I can't or because I don't really get how this is supposed to work yet! Eric has done some extensive internet research so I'm hoping to have a new plan by tonight and a much better tomorrow!

On the flip side, the boys adore her. Cal is her best friend. She just totally loves him. I'm not sure if that usurps my alpha-mom status or what but it is cute to see them be so snuggly together. Ben held her and patted her when Pip arrived home but has cooled off since. He hasn't held her again and doesn't like when she chases after him. Seth is on and off. He has moments where he'll go right up to her and wave and say "Hi" and make a P sound. He'll pat her and pull her ears (ouch!) or sometimes he'll freak out if she's running around with him or just comes up to him. So we're working on intergrating Pip into the family. I just hope we all figure it out soon!