Elimination Round...

So, I cannot really complain, because potty training Bounce was a breeze. I got up twice a night during the first week (more because I am neurotic than she needed to...). Then pretty much once a night for the second week, aka 10 weeks old. Now in the third week she has had two full nights of sleep where, I have not taken her out after I went to sleep.

I admire how strong her bladder is. She has had one daytime accident this week (my fault for not taking her out, since I didn't understand what she was barking about). I try and keep her on a schedule. Going out approximately every two hours or when she lets me know that she is needing to go out, usually because I have gotten caught up with my own work. I am very fortunate she has great bladder control, but I am wondering if house breaking is really that hard?

Puppy in the Mirror

Time to reflect on Bounce. She has enabled me to do so much, but gotten in the way of everything planned. I was really hoping to have a dog that would only push me in a positive direction. Well we have moved in positive directions, but many sacrifices have been made, namely this blog. Here is a short synopsis of everything missed in the first three weeks I have had her (Weeks 8-10):

Week 8
Picked up Bounce. After not needing to go to the bathroom before leaving her liter, she peed her crate and proceeded to ride the rest of the way home shotgun in laps without an issue, peeing outside for the rest of the trip. Upon getting home, she peed and pooped on the floor. Bounce objects to peeing outside, mostly because it is cold. Then things took a turn for the better, she ate, played fetch with her new toy Kong (retrieving to lap), and slept getting me up to take her out when necessary with minimal whining.

We took our first trip to the vet, where she exhibited her innate ability to do the Vizsla reverse, perpetually trying to back off the examination table. She was very sweet at the vet, licking the vet as her heart beat was checked. Unfortunately after I left the vet called to inform me that her stool sample came back positive for coccidia and round worms. The next day we put her on meds for both.

Week 9
Bounce has adjusted to peeing in the snow after I shoveled her some grass patches. She has learned her name and to sit. She loves to run around the house treating the furniture as agility equipment. She doesn't understand why she cannot always sit in a lap... Trying to get her used to falling asleep in a bed. She recovered from an intimidating dog encounter, a random German Shepard, with a nice one, Hurley. Hurley is a big English Golden, who was kind enough to let bounce walk all over him; but bounce definitely needs work on dog manners. Actually, she needs work on manners in general...

Bounce was lent a SnuggleSafe. It is a heating pack that after 6 minutes in the microwave at high, will stay warm for 6 hours. It has helped her stay quiet in the kennel, and gives her something warm to bunch against under her bedding.

Week 10
Bounce finished up her meds. She has done worse with sleeping in crates, and I crumbled and started letting her into bed. She has not had an accident all week! She Played with Miles and Porter, Lab and Mutt, and had a lot of fun chasing and being chased. They helped her with her dog manners. Now on to the people manners...

That is the quick version. Now I can start to write a couple entries on more interesting topics: Training Blunders and Puppy Games!