Thursday Thoughts

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Crazy Thursday morning, all of the customers must have woken up today and decided to call in. Which makes me very ready for the upcoming weekend already, kind of a shame when the long weekend effect doesn't last more than 4 days. I'll catch up on the puppy here, plus some general thoughts.

Spotty

So the plan was for us to put the puppy in the laundry room with her crate and food and water during the days while we were at work. And that's what we did, however we did not count on the resourcefulness of Houdini dog. In a way this is good because when the weather gets nice we need to be prepared for when we put her outside without anyone watching for long periods of time. At first the plan was to leave the door open and just put up the baby gate (per my crate training guide this is recommended for younger puppies during the training who are used to more open spaces). We determined this wasn't going to work on Monday when Kim found out that she (Spotty) could climb over said baby gate. So on Tuesday I just closed the door to the laundry room (which doesn't latch BTW), with a cover over the cat door (which was never used by the cat). Well Houdini dog figured out how to latch on to the cover of said cat door and pull the door open. So yesterday I thought I would double up with the door and baby gate, no go. So I put a latch on the door, only to have her chew off the cover and go through the cat door. So finally this morning I latched the door and put up the baby gate (after first making sure there wasn't enough wiggle room for her to put her head through). We'll see if that finally keeps her in.

So that was the saga of the crate/potty training during work hours. At nights, after the first 2 nights of sleeping with us James asked if she could sleep with him & Daniel, which Kim agreed to. It still meant that we had to get up and take her out when she started whining. Which has sort of worked, we have both slept a little better. Although I had not counted on this part of having a puppy, kind of like having a baby again. Of course last night Daniel woke up wanting Spotty to sleep with him, which meant he did not sleep well, plus he can't get over the baby gate we put up in their door so she won't roam the house. It's a learning and training process, not helped by the fact that she is a tiny little thing who does not like the cold when we have to take her outside.

Overall though it has been a good experience, and James for sure has been really good this week about doing his part with the dog, and really enjoys just playing chase with her. Daniel basically enjoys the dog, but he's not 100% comfortable with the biting/nipping that puppies do. And Emily loves to watch the puppy and the boys, but wants nothing to do with the puppy chasing her and jumping on her. The only real drawback for me has been my losing out on my lunchtime walks since I am going home and eating and letting her out. I just have to find a new time when I get in that exercise, which will come with time.

Daddy Hours

James knows exactly what he wants to do this week: build a Magic Deck. My focus however will be on Daniel. I really need to buckle down with him and find something we can do together that doesn't involve James. James now has the puppy and lots of other things to do when I am not focused on him, Daniel does not have the other resources, his default is pretty much always "can I play Playstation?" And while I don't mind him playing occasionally I want him to develop some alternatives. So after a couple of weeks of the Daddy Hours that is where I stand: James is good, has discovered a new game, and Daniel is still locked in on the Playstation, progress but not as much as I want.