Cute puppy hiccups!

Raelyn has survived another day! Hooray!

Well to start off, we have to admit that the "honeymoon" period with Raelyn has quickly come and gone. She is spunky, full of energy, and sassy!

She wasn't as good in the crate last night as she was the first night. She was very whiny, barky, and unhappy to be in the crate and not have us in her direct line of sight. (Our poor neighbors...) Dale, the awesome puppy guy he is, went and laid next to her crate and slowly rolled away from her so she would stay calm and quiet. Worked like a charm! She slept through night once she calmed down.

It is so amazing how quickly Raelyn is learning new things. In less than 24 hours, she figured out that lunging after and barking at the kitties is not productive, so she quit doing that for the most part. Most importantly, she has figured out that she needs to go outside before she can go potty! We will take her outside and she will "Do her business" just like that. A few times she whined and then went to the door to indicate that she wanted to go out and shortly after that she relieved. She has always relieved on a leash, so she is doing great with that. We are learning her cues so that helps as well!

I think the funniest and cutest thing we have learned so far about Raelyn is that she gets the hiccups whenever she chews on her bone for an extended period of time. At first I was concerned as she was making weird noises, but when I listened and watched closely she just had the hiccups! She gets them regularly after bone chewing sessions. The cutest thing ever! :) She also really loves to sleep upside down. Paws up and belly showing, kind of spread eagle...hilarous!

She is full of crazy energy! Holy cow. We took her out for 2 walks around the complex today and she ate up every minute of it. Sniffing around at all sorts of things. She walks great on a leash most of the time. Pretty amazing. While we have been out for our brief walks, the neighbors are coming out of the woodwork and are drawn to Raelyn. They have all gushed about how cute she is and how they could help with taking her out for walks. Tonight she met her first adult dog friend named Bear who lives with Tara 2 doors down. Raelyn did pretty well. She sniffed and wanted to play. A little bit of jumping, but no barking, so it went well. Bear was super tolerant and friendly and didn't mind a bit!

With all of her energy we have discovered she loves to "dance". We will jump around in front of her and she'll jump and dance around too. Sometimes she will get a little too excited so she'll lunge at you and try to nip, so we end that game.

Raelyn has also decided that being on a tie down isn't so bad after all. As long as you take a little bit of time to pet her and calm her down before you walk away, she doesn't mind most of the time. She stays quiet, chews her toys, and is mellow. Crazy how quickly she learns! Although she did end up sleeping most of the day and when she is sleeping she doesn't care about much of anything.

As part of her training we are supposed to do frequent "puppy handling" which is where you calmly poke and prode the puppy all over. You rub in between all of her toes, around her body, her tail, and play with her ears. The reason why this is important is because when she is with her blind partner, her partner can't see if there is anything wrong with her, so they will handle the dog and carefully check to make sure everything feels okay. Raelyn is totally cool with having everything touched and being puppy handled. When she is in the mood for play, then she will try to mouth/gnaw at you, but all other times she just sits there and goes to sleep.

Hopefully she will be okay tonight and not wake the neighbors! Wish us luck! :)