Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Saturday Morning Play Date
Jireh had another play date with her pals, Mia & Jovie. The more she socializes with other dogs, the better her behavior becomes. I can't tell you the value of play dates, especially for first time puppy owners like me. I never would have crated if it wasn't for feedback from others. Last night, Jireh didn't 'go potty' 30 minutes after dinner, and I had an appointment to attend, so I put Jireh in her crate for 90 minutes while I was out. The entire time, I was both worried and felt cruel about shutting her inside of a cage. When I came home, I let her outside and she immediately 'went potty'.
I learned today the importance of teaching the puppy to control his/her bowel/bladder, which is what Jireh had finally practiced. Dogs don't like messing in their den (aka crate), so they will wait to go potty. The crate needs to be big enough for the dog to stand & turn around, but not so big that they can potty in corner, while sleeping in the other.
Socializing is good, both for the dogs and owners.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Jireh, After Asking Her to PLEASE Let Me Write!
10 Minutes Later... All she wants is to please me. Makes me cry for raising my voice at her. She's so sweet. Not her fault I am having a hard time:
Not All Rosy
Jireh peed a lake in the living room yesterday, so I put her in her crate (for the first time) after taking her outside. She cried 20 minutes so I let her have free rein of the house while I shut myself in my bedroom. Due to recent circumstances, there isn't much in the house that she can get into. Basically, I am staying in an old, roomy much needed non-insulated house with no nice furniture. Perfect for puppy's first months.
After Addy and Jireh cried and scratched my bedroom door for 4 hrs, I let them in. Within minutes, Jireh puked on my bed, my hair, then my shoes and blanket all while Addy scratching was my iPad. God bless people with real babies.
I know this is my fault- they both sensed I was having a bad day, irritable and anxious. When I get like this, I distance myself from them until I calm down. Poor babies want to comfort me, yet when pushed to extremes, I want to be left alone. This only reinforces their acting out and it's an endless cycle.
So the positive point here is I am forced to block out all that upsets & stresses me so I can be the best mom for Addy and Jireh. Hearing Addy purr and seeing Jireh wag her tail are my motivations.
After Addy and Jireh cried and scratched my bedroom door for 4 hrs, I let them in. Within minutes, Jireh puked on my bed, my hair, then my shoes and blanket all while Addy scratching was my iPad. God bless people with real babies.
I know this is my fault- they both sensed I was having a bad day, irritable and anxious. When I get like this, I distance myself from them until I calm down. Poor babies want to comfort me, yet when pushed to extremes, I want to be left alone. This only reinforces their acting out and it's an endless cycle.
So the positive point here is I am forced to block out all that upsets & stresses me so I can be the best mom for Addy and Jireh. Hearing Addy purr and seeing Jireh wag her tail are my motivations.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Best Coworkers EVER...
As I catch up on my writing, my loving coworkers are each in their corner, giving me some focus time:
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Meeting Mia
Jireh met Mia today at the dog park. Mia is a MAJESTIC Golden Retriever whose coloring is very similar to Jireh’s, so I got a glimpse of how Jireh will look in a few years… I am such a lucky dog! *when I find the cable to my camera, I will post photos.
Mia’s sister didn’t come because Jennifer didn’t want to overwhelm Jireh with 2 bigger golden’s. That was a wise idea as Jireh instantly connected with Mia like no other dog she has met, and I was much less nervous, knowing the gentle temperament of goldens. Jennifer has had four of them so she is a wealth of information, teaching me such valuable lessons, which I never realized there was so much to learn.
The objective of this particular blog is to share information and experiences from raising a cat and puppy golden in hopes it helps others when they adopt. As I mentioned, I had a golden retriever dog as a kid, which is much different than a puppy. The next few entries will be catching up on the weeks since I brought her home on December 5th, 2010. She has grown so much!
But back to today:
I have been against crate training until Jennifer explained the security and comfort dogs feel when they have their own place for retreating. So she brought one over and showed me how to acclimate Jireh to going in the crate for fun times, rest, eating, etc. Within 24 hours, Jireh began napping in her crate – on her own and not once have I shut the crate door! I wish I had crated her from Day 1! She is not as restless and allows me more writing time.
Another area of importance is feeding – I didn’t know the type of food I feed Jireh affects her potty habits… now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. Instead of leaving food out all day, the puppies bowels are better regulated when fed twice per day.
A lot of information in raising a puppy… but the rewards are sooo worth it! Jireh had so much fun playing with Mia, then came home and zonked out for awhile… that in itself made it a great day for all 3 of us, as it gave me time to spend with Addy.
Mia’s sister didn’t come because Jennifer didn’t want to overwhelm Jireh with 2 bigger golden’s. That was a wise idea as Jireh instantly connected with Mia like no other dog she has met, and I was much less nervous, knowing the gentle temperament of goldens. Jennifer has had four of them so she is a wealth of information, teaching me such valuable lessons, which I never realized there was so much to learn.
The objective of this particular blog is to share information and experiences from raising a cat and puppy golden in hopes it helps others when they adopt. As I mentioned, I had a golden retriever dog as a kid, which is much different than a puppy. The next few entries will be catching up on the weeks since I brought her home on December 5th, 2010. She has grown so much!
But back to today:
I have been against crate training until Jennifer explained the security and comfort dogs feel when they have their own place for retreating. So she brought one over and showed me how to acclimate Jireh to going in the crate for fun times, rest, eating, etc. Within 24 hours, Jireh began napping in her crate – on her own and not once have I shut the crate door! I wish I had crated her from Day 1! She is not as restless and allows me more writing time.
Another area of importance is feeding – I didn’t know the type of food I feed Jireh affects her potty habits… now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. Instead of leaving food out all day, the puppies bowels are better regulated when fed twice per day.
A lot of information in raising a puppy… but the rewards are sooo worth it! Jireh had so much fun playing with Mia, then came home and zonked out for awhile… that in itself made it a great day for all 3 of us, as it gave me time to spend with Addy.
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