Busy times in Puppyland!

All is well in puppyland! It has been a while since I have been able to sit down and reflect on how things have been going since the last update.

Raelyn is doing really well! After her two weird episodes of pooing in the kitchen, she decided she wasn't into that anymore and promptly stopped. So no more poo in the kitchen. Hurray for puppy!

She has been losing more teeth. She has lost all her front 8 teeth. She hasn't lost her canines or molars yet, but those should be coming out soon.

She is growing like a weed! Her legs are so long. I need to bug Dale to get the latest pictures, so I can post them! She is still a skinny girl even though we upped her food to 4C a day per the vet's suggestion. She is just a little bit on the skinny side of what Guide Dogs wants, so we are okay. Better this way than have her be too plump.

We stopped training her during meal times because she is pretty food obsessed. She will do anything you want for food, but then not be very interested in following commands when you don't have food around. So we are just feeding her out of a bowl and then training during play times. That is going pretty well. She is terrific on Sit, Down, Stand, Come, Stay, and Wait. She is a bit resistant on the Go to Bed command, but she eventually acquiesces.

Raelyn is still a whiner. If she can't do what she wants to do then she will complain about it. She likes to be in the same room with you ALL the time, but is getting much better about dealing with not being able to always be with you. She will still whine a little bit, but quiets down pretty quickly and doesn't throw fits anymore. Which is fantastic! She doesn't bark. She was trying to get Shadow to play with her the other day and couldn't figure out how to get the kitty interested in playing with her so she tried barking. All that got her was the end of play time and in the crate. Bummer. I think she got the message.

Raelyn SO badly wants to play with the kitties. She will not leave the poor kitties alone. She will follow them around and stare. Go up to them. Try to get them to play with her and chase her around. Raelyn just doesn't get the message the kitties aren't interested. Both cats will growl, hiss, and smack at her. I don't think they have used claws, so puppy is creeped out and jumps back when they lash out, but just goes back in for more. Shadow finally has grown some balls and can become a truly terrifying cat. She can look just as lethal as Daisy and sound just as mean. We just try to manage the amount of irritation the puppy does to the kitties by not letting her run loose around the house much. When she does we keep an eye on her and pay attention to the interactions. It is good that Raelyn has the attention span of a gnat, so that she will finally stop bothering the kitties. Maybe puppy will just have to learn the hard way.

We have been out and about quite a bit. She is very well-behaved in public. She walks well with the head collar and doesn't bother anyone or anything on shelves. She is a bit antsy, but will sit still if we are waiting in line.

Raelyn is SUPER friendly with everyone and wants you to pay a lot of attention to her. Overall, she is a good puppy. She has a hard time calming down and sitting still. She is easily frustrated and doesn't have a lot of patience, but luckily she can figure things out quickly so she doesn't get too upset. We still have a ways to go, but she is coming along really well!