Saturday, May 16, 2009

sore bum

poor little grover has a sore bum. took him to the vet this morning to get his rabies shot (it's 12 weeks & he's 11 weeks, 5 days) & he got his 3rd booster for distemper, i think. boy did he yelp when dr. y gave him the first injection, then cowered over to cuddle into me. then he turned him around and poked him in the other side & he howled some more. so he's all drowsy & tender in the rear when i pick him up. luckily, i don't have to pick him up too much anymore. in the past 2 weeks, he's progressed so much, it's incredible! when we first got grover, he was none too stable on his feet and weaved around like a tiny drunk. barely able to climb over the lip on his crate. last weekend we picked up a playpen to go around his crate & the edge is easily 3" high; now he can hop right over it like a furry hurdler.
yesterday i taught him up, which is the most adorable thing ever! i showed s this morning & he almost died it was so cute.
motherhood is grand!
speaking of motherhood, i get to meet up with the fun & talented suzanne of cuss tonight for an impromptu party for her sister's newborn, who wasn't supposed to arrive until june. can't wait!

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

motherhood

wow, this is a totally different experience. there is definitely a reason i've said i'm much too young (yes, at 30) to be a mother. taking care of a baby (particularly a furry one) is tough work. i have always had the utmost respect for parents, but even moreso in the last 10 days since we've had grover. when s was gone for his grandfather's funeral last tuesday & wednesday, single motherhood was rough. i have been lacking in sleep these last days. having to get up in the middle of the night once or twice is painful. for the first few days we let him sleep on the floor, which he still seems to love doing. 3 nights now he's slept in his crate & whined, but i haven't given in to his crying. that was a problem with the first night; we gave in so he wouldn't be sad. grover's mostly been okay with accidents in the house. once we figured out his mannerisms & potty signals. also, we've been trying to take him out after meals/drinking & when he wakes up from naps. accidents have still occurred daily, particularly because he wants to 'play' with me & gets bitey/chewy on my hands & feet. i try to replace my skin with an appropriate toy & show encouragement, but if i don't cooperate, he'll act out & pee on the rug. he knows that's showing me. tomorrow night i'll be calling our local, highly recommended training class (spot & co.) to start her puppy class next wednesday. scotties are notoriously stubborn and aggressive (they were bred to chase vermin), so whatever i need to do to get him off on the right paw. he is still the cutest thing ever & he only seems to act out with me (probably pent up energy). s takes him all over the place & comes over to let him out of his crate a couple times a day. next week will be a challenge because he starts an 8 to 3pm job about 10 miles away, so he won't be available to let grover out during the day. i'll have to adjust my lunch break & haul @$$ back to the apartment to give him a break in the middle of the day, so he's not stuck in his crate for 8 hours at a time. we'll make it work. s thinks he's the cutest thing & i think he's second cutest only behind s himself. i'm trying to imbed a video, but i can't get quicktime to work on my laptop. (and of course he just bit me in the boob, so that's awesome)

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

my baby!

grover is the bee's knees! he is positively adorable, potty trained or no. he's not even 10 weeks old yet & had been living in the (heated & air-conditioned) dog run with his parents, siblings and the other dogs (wheaton terriers mostly) when we picked him up, so he's still getting the idea of eliminating outside.
he's taken to his crate quite nicely, but yesterday we had an extremely busy day and saturday i took him the 15 miles to his vet check. as the vet told me, it's hard to tell with these kinds of dogs (he has a dachshund), when they're squatting in prep to pee or poo because they're so low to the ground already. having never had a dog, i'm finally getting it. need to watch his mannerisms or he may pop a squat when my back is turned. he got a clean bill of health & was told he was the perfect patient for his calmness.
after the vet, i came home to wake up s & douse him with more cold meds (swine flu, i'm sure) before we went to the 2nd annual midwest one bank microchipping. only $5, so i donated some more to the local shelter, then we took him to meet s's mum at a family friend's daughter's 1 year birthday. on the way back for a nap in his crate, we introduced him to s's dad. he's been just a little doll with everyone who's handled him so far.
unfortunately, we had to leave him alone in his crate for a couple hours to go to s's sister's birthday dinner. i knew we'd left him too long because he'd only gone potty all day since i'd taken him to the vet & we came back to a poo-filled crate. s bathed grover & i got to clean up the crate. he took that in stride and forgave us, but would not go to sleep in his crate last night. we brought the crate into the bedroom, but after the first two hours he whined & slept just outside the edge of the crate alternating between flopping on my clothes and s's on the floor.
s & i need to establish a routine for him. he should catch on. we already got him to figure out 'sit'. grover pretty much alternates between periods of playfulness and snoozing. hey, he's a baby, so what else should you expect?
yesterday we also found out that s's grandpa (the one we drove to sioux city last saturday to see) passed away yesterday. that means s & his family will be out of town on tuesday & wednesday. i have to figure out someone to petsit all day while i'm at work those days. i can't get time off from work because we're implementing a hospital-wide computer system tomorrow & i've already got half thursday & all friday off because i'm scheduled for a colonoscopy. i'll have to call around or see if my friend who works at home would be willing to take him from 7.30am to just after 5pm both days. that's an awfully big favour.
now for some pictures:


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