23 million google matches

A week and 3 days with the puppy.  This is hard work. 

He tries to pull down my curtains.  He knocked over a lamp.  He runs into walls just because he is going super fast.  Drags out dirty clothes.  Loves shoes.  Chews furniture.  He licks the dishes as I put them in the dishwasher.  He puts his paws up on the table when he thinks no one is looking.

I'm exhausted trying to keep up with him! 

He's a digger.  I've never had a dog who digs.  I was digging up flower bulbs and he helped.  I tried to get him to stop - and then I realized I could use this to my advantage.  I let him sniff a bulb and then I said, "Find it!" and he'd dig until he'd find more.  I sat back and had lemonade while he worked.  ha ha.

He is doing REALLY well with going outside.  He is even learning how to sit and "take it nice". 

Emma has mixed emotions.  She wanted a puppy so bad.  SO. Bad.  He doesn't listen to her.  She squeals; he thinks she's playing so he jumps on her more.  He gets tangled up in her hair.  He takes every stuffed animal off of her bed.  All the Barbies have been pulled out of the Barbie house.  He is a vacuum cleaner gone wild in her room.  He puts everything in his mouth.  And I mean everything. 

And then there is Baxter.  My poor lazy 9 year old dog.  Her world has been rocked.  Sometimes she wants to play; sometimes she doesn't want to be bothered.  The puppy always wants to play.  Always.

The first night home, the puppy was flopping around.  Baxter was getting stressed.  In  his rompings, he landed right next to her food bowls - her empty food bowls - and sat there.  Wrong move.  Baxter attacked.  She has never been food possessive but I think it just put her over the edge.  She did draw blood so we went to the vet.

Baxter has been back and forth since then....  Some moments her tail is wagging and she is playing and other times she is growling like mad and snapping.  I don't leave them unsupervised.

We had a couple days in a row where Baxter was really stressed.  So I called some dog trainers.  "It is normal for the older dog to not like the puppy at first" they told me.  "She has to establish her dominance, it is actually a good thing.  It sounds like they are going to kill each other, but they'll be okay."

But it was stressing me out!  So I did what any sane person would do - I googled.  23 million matches with "my older dog doesn't get along with my puppy".  Wow, really?!?

I tried some advice.  I pet Baxter in front of Crosby while staying calm and saying, "Good dog.  Baxter is a good girl."  and I pretty much ignored the puppy.  He tried to jump on me and on her, but I just slowly stepped in between them and ignored him some more.  After a few minutes of this, he just sat there.  Just sat there!  And then Baxter initiated play with him - and they played really nicely for 30 minutes.  I about fell over.

Everything I've read says the puppy needs to be taught manners.  Baxter will teach him with her growling and we will teach him by ignoring him. 

After the dogs were done playing, Crosby even let Emma sit next to him and pet him - without trying to get tangled up in her hair.  She exclaimed, "Mommy, I think we just taught him how to stay calm!"

Good dog.  Very good dog. 

Poor Crosby.  He's just trying to figure all this out.  When Baxter ignores him, he just copies her.  I guess he'll figure all this out eventually :)

He really is a cute puppy, though!!