Labradoris

We picked up Trooper, a.k.a. THE NEW PUPPY!, yesterday after a whirlwind visit in the town. 
He slept almost the whole way home (hours and hours and hours...) and was content to just lie in our arms and snuggle. 

We were both exhausted when we got settled in for the night, and the moment I placed Trooper in his crate, I was like, ohhh yeahhhh.  I remember this.  He immediately started whining and whimpering, just like Cosette did her first few days home. 

Last night wasn't too bad as far as puppyhood goes.  No accidents in the crate.  I woke up with him at 2:30 a.m. to let him out for a potty break and he settled back down after a few minutes of whining and howling.  He was up at 5:30 a.m. and I knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so I rose with him. 

He's eaten his breakfast, done his business outside and has a morning full of play under his metaphorical belt.  He's now sleeping under my chair as Cosette snoozes nearby. 

When I was carrying him to the yard last night from the car, Cosette was outside to greet us and she immediately came up to sniff the new arrival.  Trooper immediately barked and growled at her while he was still in my arms!  It was the cutest little growl you've ever heard.    I put Trooper on the ground and he and Cosette quickly became friends - or realized they were family, I'm not sure.  Aunt and nephew.  They've been playing together all morning.  Cosette has found herself another buddy, and I couldn't imagine a more perfect playmate.

Cosette showing off her mad retrieving skills.  3/13/09.

This is who we are picking up tomorrow afternoon.  He's pictured at 4 weeks old here, courtesy of his breeder.
We aren't settled on a name yet.  We're waiting until we've interacted with him a little before we decide.  So right now, he's just called Puppy.
ISN'T HE CUTE?!?!  My Labradoris meter is firing somethin' fierce!!

Let me tell you how my mornings start.

When Cosette was a puppy and house-trained enough to be out of her crate at night, she slept beside my bed on her dog bed.  This arrangement was fine, and every morning she would wake me up by gently resting her chin on my mattress and waiting for me to awaken.  Then, I upgraded to a taller bed, and she would still lift her chin up and place just the tip of it on my bed.  I’d usually wake to the soft sound of pft pft pft pft as her tail hit the nearby wall.  Occasionally, she would do a little throaty whine if she needed to reliever her bladder, but it was only every once in a while.  We’d get up, I’d let her out, I would feed her breakfast and then sit down to eat my breakfast.

Now, Cosette whines every morning, and it’s not a regular little throaty whine.  It is a you can hear this vibrating through the walls, my neighbors can probably hear it, oh my gosh will you shut up kind of whine.  I wish I could record her doing this, because it is a riot; however, it was only cute the first few mornings she did it.  Now for the past month, EVERY single morning I wake up to this very insistent, gurgling, throaty, harrumph of a whine that will continue until I get up. 

Here’s my dilemma:  I know that I am positively reinforcing this behavior.  I’m in the psychology field, I know how this works.  However, she catches me in the morning when a) I need to get up, and b) when I have to get up otherwise MY bladder will explode.  Every time I come up out of the bed, I recognize that I have just strongly reinforced the behavior.  I don’t know how to get around it without actually moving her back into her crate and into another room, in a galaxy far far away.  I try to stop her behavior by saying "No." and giving her the 'down' command, which quiets her for a little while.

I think I’d be a little more concerned with how to deal with it if this was guaranteed to be an ongoing situation, but in less than a week we will be adding another furball of love to our life and the morning routine will be altered again. 

Has anyone else ever encountered this, and if so, how do you deal with it (meaning: how do you stop it?)?

The other day I mentioned Nylabones.  I've gone through many, many dog chew toys over the last two years, and the only product Cosette has not been able to chew through within five minutes have been Nylabone.  Kongs work as long as what I stuff in that day doesn't get in the nooks and crannies, because if she becomes bored, she'll start to put the smallest corner in her mouth and go to town.  Soon, I have half a Kong left. 
Cosette loves the ring but we've also bought the double action chew.  I'm not a product spokesperson, all I can tell you are my experiences with this product.  Cosette is a powerful, determined chewer.  She only chews on her toys, but boy howdy, does she ever chew.  I buy about one of these products about 1-2 months, and in any room you might find several.  In fact, there is one sitting behind my chair currently.  She loves to gather them all up and bring them in to wherever we are at most duing the day.  I'm not thrilled with how easily she chews through them, but it does take her a few weeks and she spends a lot of time doing it.  At least there is no fluffing, no squeakers, and no dead fluffy animals with their poofy innards strewn about at the end.  Whenever I take her to the boarding kennel I try and bring one of her toys.  The vet staff always laughs because I guess she flings it around and carries it around with her all the time, which must be highly amusing.  They always have to go searching for it when I arrive to pick her up. 
She doesn't chew on furniture or carpet or walls or whatever else Labs are "known" for chewing on, so I think that $15 once a month is money well spent on something she uses every single day.  Be careful if  you toss them around in your house, or if your dog tosses them around while playing.  If they catch you at the right angle, they can produce quite a wallop.  Blap!
Also, it sucks to step on them at any time in the day, but especially in the early morning.  Whenever I step on them accidentally, the image flashes through my mind of hurling the toy against the wall - but in doing so, the toy would probably have a high likelihood of ricocheting just so against the wall, flying back towards my face, and knocking me unconscious onto the bed.  BLAP!

Happy St. Patrick's day to ya! 

Puppy pickup occurs in just a few days!  We're so excited.

Things at work are a little crazy right now.  I have a client that needs about 5,000 color copies of some forms, and everything has to paperclipped, pre-packaged, and shipped just so.  It's been crazy trying to organize between my own classes, other work, other deadlines, etc.  One thing about being a graduate student, at least in my own experience, is that no day is alike.  It's a neat experience.

Some go a little wack-o as a result, but for the most part, graduate students are a well-balanced group.  OR ARE WE?!  

Tonight Joel is making Irish stew, lamb, potatoes, and all the fixins to have a great Irish meal.  Off to go entertain people... 

This slacker pulled up next to me at a stop light last weekend on a Saturday morning.  This guy looks like he had a really hard night the night before, you know, gotta take a drive and shake it off.  Can't shake skank, though.  Gotta make better choices next time.  No more Pomeranians, man, I'm done.

Cosette water retrieving at a local lake yesterday.  More pics coming soon!