Eblo

Martini Comes Home!

She is the sweetest, sleepiest, quietest, bestest puppy EVER! She was dropped off at my workplace at the end of the day yesterday. She was a little nervous and shy at first, but her tail didn't stop wagging for long, and I'm pretty sure she recognized me from all of our visits. As I packed up my computer and other things for the weekend, she hid out under my desk and tried really hard not to chew on any network cables. Eventually I got packed up, and we headed off to meet/surprise Mommy at the train station.

To say she was not happy with the car ride would be an understatement. She howled and cried and moaned, but eventually quieted down and took a nap, I think. When we met Mommy, I took her out of the crate and we carried her over to a park by the train station. She was a very good girl and pottied on request ;-)

When we got home, she boldly explored the house, discovered how slippery hardwood and tile floors are, had a little dinner, and settled down to a little TV time. Amy and I took turns having her sleep on us and eventually, around 9:30, we called it an early night after one more successful potty outing.

The Matula method of housebreaking, passed down from my dad (on his 12th dog, so he might know a thing or two) is to let the pup sleep with you, and when she stirs, get up and take her outside. Stay outside until she does something. Pretty simple. Around 11:00, she stirred. Despite much urging, all Martini did outside was settle down to go back to sleep, so I deviated from the plan and brought her back in. She quickly went back to sleep and stayed that way until 3:00 a.m. I threw on a sweatshirt and took her out again and she was on the potty express. When we got back in, she thought it was play time but after about five minutes, she was crapped back out. She then slept in until 6:00. The point is that she had no problem sleeping the night. There was no whining, whimpering, or otherwise pining for her littermates. Amazing.

The only times she fusses at all are when she's in her crate and she can't see us, when she needs to potty or is hungry, and for some reason, when she's chewing on her marrow bone. The crate thing - she howls like a silly little banshee. At first, it was heartbreaking, then a little annoying, but now it's just silly. The bone thing - I've never seen a puppy do this - it's like she's annoyed with the bone not being entirely edible or something. It's strange, but cute.

She had a big day today. We took her with us in the car to run a bunch of errands and she was a good girl who didn't pee in her crate at all. She plays a bit, but she sleeps a TON. We've each taken turns sleeping with her on the floor, and now she's sleeping and dreaming while sitting between us on the couch. It's almost bedtime. We'll see how tonight goes.