Progress for Puppies
Weegie likely is the only puppy we will ever have. I have done my best to pick a healthy, long-lived dog, so barring unforeseen misfortune, she will take us both well into retirement, at which time, I wouldn't think we'd get another puppy. We would probably adopt a middle-aged dog.
Knowing that we'll likely never have another puppy, we are taking great pleasure in this one. She gets us up in the night, and gets us early-risers out of bed earlier than early, but we don't mind. It's like Christmas morning every day, and Santa left the best present ever: a puppy!
My family first got a puppy when I was barely eight years old (and she's the only one I've ever had). We named her Chiisai Inu, "Little Dog" in Japanese (we were living in Japan). We called her Chiisai. Chee sigh.
Chiisai and her sister were abandoned in the street. Someone had at least had the decency to keep the two pups until they were old enough to be weaned, and then left them in a place where they were likely to be found.
Or maybe it was just a homeless mother dog who left her two healthy, six-week-old babies to take their own chances in the world, with nothing but their cuteness to protect them. The cuteness of a puppy is a powerful defense, however, and both little dogs made out just fine. Chiisai found a home with us.
According to the wisdom of the day, we put her in a cardboard box and tried to take her out as often as she needed. We laughed as she grew big and strong enough to stand up on her hind legs and hook her puppy paws over the top of the box.
Eventually she scrambled out of the box into the house, and then she was a house dog. Pandemonium ensued, because she was incompletely house trained and just getting started chewing. And of course she had just learned what fun it is to jump the fence and run away.
We were really dumb about puppies many years ago. I don't think we were the only ones. I am glad to say I never knew anyone who actually put a puppy's nose in its own mistakes, but some people used to call that a way to house train a dog (when in fact it was nothing but loutish cruelty). Nowadays, everybody knows about using crates and ex-pens.
I don't think there were so many books back then, either. I've been using Puppies for Dummies, by Sarah Hodgeson. It's a great book, very helpful. Even so, it's a scramble.
Weegie needs four things, Hodgeson tells us: she must eat, sleep, play and go to the bathroom. These necessities are intricately interwoven. We are warned, for example, that she will need the fourth thing (to go to the bathroom) after each of the first three (eating, sleeping, and playing).
I would add she also needs or wants attention very frequently, and she is on auto-chew almost every waking minute.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that she will tend to repeat behavior that gets her what she needs and wants, and of the things she needs and wants, we want her to have all of the former but not necessarily all of the latter, which means we have to figure out which is which. Our daily life is an entertaining riddle right now.
She is sweet and trusting, though, and perfectly adorable. She won't be a puppy long. They are the most ephemeral of joys, but when it's all over, we will once again have a dog. She promises to be a good one.