Puppies, training, and lack of sleep

It has been almost 2 weeks now since we got little Arya, our black labrador retriever.  What are my comments after these almost 2 weeks?

She is so damn cute.  I have said this before, but will say it again.  Have you ever noticed that no matter what puppy you see, they are always cute.  I know that I have never seen an ugly puppy.  But, the same cannot be said of babies.  I’d never tell this to the mother, but I have seen some babies that, if they were not ugly, then they were definitely not cute.  Humans become the best liars when babies and their parents are in the room.

Training a dog is a lot of work.  We let the puppy in the house, and seeing as how we don’t want her doing her business inside the house we have to take her outside every few hours because puppies just can’t hold it for that long.  She is much better now than she was in the past, but she does have an accident inside here and there.  I am surprised, though, because she is definitely learning a lot faster than the lhasa I had at my parents’ house.

And then there is the other training, of not biting things up, like our fingers.  Labs are notorious for this, and she is no exception.  A couple of my baseboards are all chewed up, my shoes, and my fingers and hands.  I’m willing to take ideas on how to help with this.  When I was living at my parents house, the lab we had there was just as bad during her puppy years.  She is a lot more mellow now and no longer bites stuff up.  I really don’t want to wait a year for her to mellow out.  Gotta find something that works.  She has already destroyed her bed, which she only slept in up until today.  Guess she got boed of her toys and figured her bed would be a good next target.

I have been getting a lot less sleep during this time.  This puppy is just like a baby.  She goes to sleep then wakes up every 2 hours or so.  When she does so, I wake up, take her outside so she can pee, let her back in and try to go back to sleep.  But, she has other ideas.  She cries and barks like crazy, so I try to play with her for a little bit, get her to sleep again, then go back to bed.  She is much better now though, but she does still wake up early.  Last night was the first time that I never had to wake up in the middle of the night.  Instead, she woke me up at about 5:30.  Great.  Here’s hoping that time just extends out.

This puppy is already shedding hair and I literally have vacuumed the house every night that she has been here.  I really contemplated just leaving her outside all the time, but seeing as how she still barks a lot and makes a lot of noise, I don’t think the neighbors would appreciate that idea very much.  Maybe later?  Will she go for that after getting used to being inside?  We bought a FURminator, which works great.  If you have a dog, this is a great product.  It works just like a comb, but removes much of the fur that would otherwise of shed.  While I still have been vacuuming everyday, it’s definitely better than if I did not use it.  When she gets older and actually does shed, this product will be a must have.

The girlfriend has bought tons of toys for the little one.  As expected.

I can’t wait until Monday. That is when she is getting her final puppy shot.  Up until then, the vet told us that we are not allowed to take her out of the house, except for the backyard.  It will be great to let her out in the front yard, and more importantly, take her out on walks.  She has a lot of energy to burn and that will definitely be a welcome activity.

Oh, and did I mention that she is the best dog ever?   Just wanted to point that out.