Another hound dog!

Ahhh - How nice it is to have another hound dog dedicated to the fine art of finding and consuming every single crumb in the house. Now, Clay is still a puppy at the moment, so he is also sniffing out and finding other less desirable targets of his mouth such as the carpet, Munchkin's Dora nightgown, books, etc...but his sense of smell already reminds me of Sammie's. He's committed. In one day, he determined that the perimeter around Munchkin's chair at the dinner table was good hunting ground for morsels and he has revisited this fertile space regularly ever since.

Puppy training can be draining, but it is necessary to have a happy puppy who is truly part of our "pack." It's really fun too - at least for someone like me who enjoys watching true behavioral psychology in action! It has been 10 years since I really trained a puppy. I've helped others, but not been the "primary" trainer in a decade. Thankfully, I found an "Everything Puppy" book on sale at Borders for $4 and wisely bought that with a Christmas gift card in need of usage. Good resource to have. For example, I'm the only human home right now and really can't type this AND keep a watchful eye on a curious puppy, so he is tethered to my ankle and sleeping at my feet.

This is Day 4 of Clay being part of our family. Thanks to dedicated "go potty" outings at prescribed times (immediately after eating or drinking much), he has not pooped inside our house since the day he came home with us! Since he had diarrhea most of Day 2, we are extremely thankful for this trend!! He is doing well with learning "bed," "crate," "out," "sit," "come," "fetch," and of course "NO!" Lots and lots of specific praise! Even Munchkin is mastering the art of noticing when he happens to sit or lay down or lay on a doggie bed or go in the crate and praise him heartily - "Good sit, Clay!!"

He seems to be quite trainable so far and not nearly as pesky as Pepper was as a puppy or as destructive as Sammie was. Mind you, I realize that most of that is probably because I know so much more about how to treat and train a dog than Jason and I did when we got Sammie as a puppy and left her -sans crate - in our apt kitchen to devour the bottoms of our cabinets and attempt to break out through the wall to the outside. :-(

Pepper is holding her own. She's still not quite sure what to do with this bundle of energy. After all, the last months of Sammie's life were the exact opposite as she slowed down with age and cancer. At times, Pepper grins from ear to ear and yaps excitedly at the new puppy, ready to play. At other times, she growls fiercely at him for daring to invade her space. He's learning so much so quickly from ALL of us. He's a mess! He's a joy! He's a puppy! (Anyone else hearing refrains of "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" :-)