So many things!
As time goes on, we won’t have as many “firsts” to report. But this first week has been so full of them that I couldn’t keep up! Nutmeg has settled in wonderfully, and is now sleeping through the night at less than 9 weeks old. She gets up with the other dogs in the morning, and she is not the one who wakes me up! We all go down for breakfast, she potties on her tray in her pen while the others go outside, then we all go back to bed for another hour or two. She has been great!
I’ve made a point of getting her out in the car every day, as I mentioned before. On Tuesday we went for her well-puppy check-up, where she was pronounced a “perfect puppy”. Then we went to Masterpeace, our training facility, where she met some friendly humans and a Tervuren puppy who is just a week older than she is! They both learned from this. Nutmeg learned to stand up for herself when someone bothers her, and Praline learned that “no means no”! (which she did, very nicely!) <video here>. Their whole interaction was less than five minutes. You do NOT need long “play dates” for young puppies!
Could she get any cuter?!?!
New Years Day, we started our “Loose Leash Walking” training, Which we always start without a leash! Our first session was in the kitchen, was a little tight, but we made it work! <Video here> It rained in the morning, but it was warm and sunny in the afternoon. So we moved outside for our second session. <Video Here>
Since she was already wet, and in need of a bath, this seemed like as good a time as any! So it was into the tub for the munchkin. Oh, she proved that she has the mouth of a sailor when she gets mad! But she looked awfully cute when she was finished! <video here>
I also brought up our puppy slide for her to play with! Do NOT go and buy one of these when you bring home a puppy! They are not appropriate for an older puppy, and most folks will not be bringing home a puppy as young as Nutmeg I have one for my litters. I knew she had been playing on one with her breeder, and since I have one too, decided to let her continue playing with it here. She is appreciating it!
Thursday is my lesson day at MasterPeace, and, of course, Nutmeg came along, and had her turn too! Here she is doing some loose Leash Walking as she explores our training ring! <Video here>
Things continue to go well with the other dogs. Lili is playing beautifully with her. This morning I watched as Lili played “tug” with her. Of course Lili could easily take any toy away from her. But she oh-so-gently tugged JUST enough that Nutmeg could keep hold of her end, even with her tiny teeth and light weight. When she lost her grip on it, Lili would stop and wait for her to grab it again. It was really adorable to watch. Unfortunately, no video of that, but here’s a photo!
Probably our biggest progress is that we have had two GREAT days as far as potty training is concerned. She just was not learning the way my other puppies have, so I started sort of modified “crate training”. She was in her pen rather than a crate, but she was not coming out until I saw her potty. It took some time and close watching to catch her the first couple of times, but she’s smart, and it DID only take her a couple of times to learn that the way to get out of the pen was to use her potty tray!
Then I set a timer for 30 minutes. Back in the pen, where I told her to “go potty”. If she went, she came back out. If not, she stayed in. Again, it took just a couple of times before she was going the moment I said “go potty”. She has also been pooping outside first thing in the morning, along with the big dogs!
Today she had one accident, but it was when Daddy let her out while I was at the grocery store, without making her potty first. Oops! I am still not seeing any sign of her going to use the potty tray on her own when she is loose in the kitchen, in fact, I haven’t trusted her in the expanded ex-pen yet, but we’ll get there! Considering that for the first couple of days I thought she had sprung a leak, we have made HUGE progress!!!
