I think it’s time for a puppy update.

Seriously, Doodle MPB is pretty darn adorable.  She loves Little MPB and he loves her, which results in many adorable moments.  She does all normal puppy things – jumping, nipping, snuggling (for a few minutes at a time), house training accidents, etc.  These things are all good – we expected them, because after all, she is just a little puppy.  And, honestly, we know that we need to work with her to learn how to greet people appropriately and how to be a well-behaved dog.  I’m confident that stuff will come, as she she is a pretty smart dog, as she should be considering she’s part lab and part poodle.  She already knows that she has to sit if she wants a treat.  She already knows that her bathroom is in the backyard and only really has accidents when we don’t get her outside quickly enough.

BUT, she’s still screaming a lot (I say screaming but really it’s some sort of howl/whimper/bark/cry).  And, it’s nothing short of annoying.  Okay, honestly, that was putting it nicely. She’s driving us all absolutely insanely crazy.  Seriously, it’s bad enough that Little MPB complains about how loud she is!!  It is marginally better, but we still have a long way to go with teaching her that screaming doesn’t get her what she wants.  So, there is a lot of ignoring her while she’s screaming and a lot of treats and pets when she’s quiet.  Progress has been slow, but we just keep telling ourselves that at least there has been some progress.

We did meet with a private trainer.  Honestly, she just wasn’t the right fit for us.  She looked like she was about 20 years old and acted like she just wanted to come over and play with our puppy.  And then she didn’t follow through on booking our next appointment or providing me with their next puppy group training dates.  So I’ve just given up on her and we are now looking for a new trainer.  Thankfully our vet gave me a few names to call.

Speaking of our vet, Doodle MPB also just went for her second round of puppy shots and check-up with our vet yesterday.  She’s now 10.5 weeks old, and 7.6 kg (16.7 lbs).  She’s growing well and she’s mostly in good health.  I say mostly in good health, because her bottom canines are growing slightly inside her upper jaw, not outside where they are supposed to be.  According to our vet, this normally correct itself, with lots of frozen Kong treats which apparently help push the canines back into the right place.  But, if it doesn’t correct itself, she may have to have the baby canines pulled before the adult ones come in to make some space.  And if that doesn’t work, we will be looking at multiple thousands of dollars worth of canine dental bills.  So, let’s just say, we are really hoping that in a months time, those teeth are back to where they should be!!

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