A few first puppy thoughts….
- Doodle MPB is adorable! She’s a little brown fuzzball.
- What was I thinking when I said an infant almost seems manageable? A puppy who hates her crate is definitely a tiny reminder of just how hard infants are. Mr. MPB and I already miss sleep, and we really aren’t very good at giving up sleep. The only one who seems to sleep through her nighttime crying is Little MPB, so we’ll take that as a win.
- Puppy potty training may actually help Little MPB with potty training. So far, this weekend, when we’ve taken Doodle MPB outside for potty breaks, Little MPB has asked to sit on the toilet twice. He didn’t do anything other then sit there, but we’ll take VOLUNTEERING to sit on the toilet as a major success!
- Doddle MPB loves people. To the point where if we are 1 feet away she cries and cries and cries. I have no idea what to do about this because it’s just not realistic for us to be within 1 foot of her at all times. (Any suggests to help a cryings/screaming/howling puppy learn not to cry and scream would be much appreciated).
- Little MPB lost the right to name Doodle MPB. You see, when we brought her home he started calling her Dog MPB. Now, if you remember, he only started saying Dog MPB’s name when we got home from putting her down. While absolutely devastated by his choice of name, I truly find it fascinating that he remembers her name from 7 months ago and associated a new dog in the house as being her. So we chose a name that also happens to be a character that Little MPB adores.
- Little MPB wakes up in the morning asking for Doodle MPB. He loves petting her and giving her hugs. When she leaves his side, he shouts Come back Doodle MPB! and chases her. 80% of the time he’s great with her. But, that other 20% of the time, he steals her toys and taunts her. And he shoves his little fingers in her little puppy mouth and says Eat! which is not a behavior we want to encourage. Clearly we are not just training Doodle MPB, Little MPB needs to learn how to better interact with a puppy. We have our work cut out for us.
- Doodle MPB is so stinking cute with Little MPB. 80% of the time she follows him everywhere. She let’s Little MPB snuggle and give her hugs. She loves his pets. But that other 20% of the time she’s jumping on him and chewing at his clothing.
- The cute moment are the moments that make this new level of crazy worth it.
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The MPB family is growing – we are adding a puppy to our little family! In fact, she comes home later today!
She is a Labradoodle. Henceforth called Doodle MPB.
The day after I wrote the post seeking help on figuring out what dog breed to get, I sort of stumbled upon some puppies while I was away with work. I went and met them all, and fell in love with a calm and snuggly little girl. She (and her siblings) was raised by a family with 2 children, in the families house. They are not breeders per-say, just a family who decided to mix their chocolate lab with a friends standard poodle. There were four puppies still available when I met them, and this little girl stole my heart. She’s not so calm that I’d call her timid, but she’s also definitely not overly active and exuberant.
As you know, Mr. MPB and I spent a lot of talking about what type of dog to get. We determined that we couldn’t get an Old English Sheepdog or a Sheepadoodle. The behavioural risks were just to great. So, we decided to go with some sort of a retriever. We were leaning towards a golden retriever. But then, this little girl just sort of just appeared. And, she just made sense to be the next MPB family member.
We have also fully committed to the puppy training process, as we are very aware of the risks of putting a 2 year old toddler with a puppy that will grow to be large dog. And we also remember what happened when our last dog was nearly 90lbs and not well enough trained – we ended up hiring a private trainer to help us. And so, while we have trained a puppy before, we know we aren’t experts and we also know that we have a toddler in the mix this time. So, we have decided we need to pay for some help to make sure we get this right. Unofunatly our last trainer has moved far away, so I searched out a new dog trainer. After interviewing 4 different ones who came highly recommended, I went with the one recommended by our Vet as I think they will be the best fit for us. So, our training protocol looks like this:
- Step 1: 1.5 hour private training session. This session will be in our home with Mr. MPB and I later this week – we will get a joint lesson in the basics. As we need both adults paying full attention to this lesson, Little MPB will be at daycare during the training session.
- Step 2: Puppy Classes. Only one of us will be able to go to puppy classes (probably mostly me), and the other one will be with Little MPB. Even if we try bringing Little MPB to a class, one adult will be fully focused on Little MPB, not the dog training so one adult will completely miss out of the training. (Hence the decision to do private training). We plan to do puppy classes with the individual that we’ve hired for the private training (but we haven’t paid yet, just in case we find she’s not right for us).
- Step 3: Puppy Socialization. We are still looking for a puppy play time so that Doodle MPB gets lots of exposure to other puppies in a safe/controlled environment. (We don’t want to go to dog parks until she has at least her second set of vaccinations).
- Step 4/5: Obedience Classes & Additional Private Training. This will be dependent on how steps 1, 2 and 3 go. We are committed to doing whatever is necessary to foster a well behaved /polite dog with a positive relationship between Little MPB and Doodle MPB.
As for the puppies real name, we don’t know it yet. We are letting Little MPB determine the dogs name (possibly with some suggestions from us, depending on what he comes up with). So far, when we show him pictures and ask what her name is he simply says Puppy!! Ruff, Ruff, Ruff.
Basically, we have added a new element of crazy into our little family! I’m crazy excited, and also slightly petrified of the coming weeks!
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