Scout!

Scout has been home with us for almost a week now.  She was 8 weeks when we got her, so is 9 weeks old now.  She's probably about 15-16 lbs now, and it's obvious she will get very large.  Her parents are quite large but not super tall, more stocky.  We had a choice of 2 puppies when we went to pick her up at the breeders (which was more than a 4 hour journey away--with stops).  I couldn't even begin to decide which one to pick, and as John the breeder said, they are twins.  Mike was more observant and kept an eye on them individually and noticed the one that was more reserved and held back a bit more.  She seemed less playful and jumpy, with more of a calm demeanor. So we chose her! In the car on the way home she whimpered for the first 10 minutes or so and was a bit squirmy, but after proceeded to fall asleep on my lap for the rest of the ride. 

When we got home we were bombarded by the neighbourhood children and then took her to the backyard to get aquainted. 

First few minutes in the backyard:

Paige laughing hysterically at puppy antics:

It was a bit surreal at first having an animal in the house with all of the associated paraphernalia and smells...toys, food, accidents, general dog smell, but since we must have become accustomed to it.  Also, it felt crazy at first as we needed to watch her every second--basically involving moving her around the house where we could watch her, even if she was sleeping.  A couple days in we realized that she sleep A LOT!!! And if she is sleeping she is generally out for a few hours.  I was worried I wouldn't get one on one time with the girls without chasing after a puppy constantly, but we still get a lot of time while she's sleeping.  Also, if she is asleep in the backyard it is ok to just leave her while we go inside as long as we occasionally ensure she isn't eating the deck or something.  Or, she can often be transfered into her kennel to remain safe with the door shut while we go around the house.

Sleeping upstairs:

So sweet:

 A quiet moment.

But boy, when it's crazy around here it's crazy.  Labrador retrievers are big chewers.  She tries to chew on everything which is why she must be constantly watched.  There have been a couple of hectic moments where everything bad seems to happen at once...Rose temper tantrum, puupy accident, chair getting gnawed on, and Paige is going to be late for school.  Basically I feel like I'm running around like crazy.  Luckily these moments only make up 5% of the day. 

A couple of things we need to work on are going for walks, house training, and leaving her in the kennel for short spurts.  She won't walk for more than a few feet without lying down for a rest.  The farthest we went was around the crescent one time, but she has since regressed.  We have carried her to the park a few times so we can go as a family. 

House training is not going super well.  She still has accidents inside.  Far more of it is done outdoors, but I attribute that to our freakishly good weather this week and the fact that we are outside constantly.  The nighttimes are equally not going well, but luckily she settles right down to sleep with no whining.  She does, however, wake up a few times a night, often with a pooey disgusting kennel, and poo paws. I really don't mind taking her out to pee in the night, but the poo is just gross.  Tonight we're going to put in different bedding and make her crate a tad bit smaller than it already is (we have her full size kennel which comes with a divider). I also cleaned out the crate and bars with vinegar and water to rid it of any lingering poo smells--hopefully she won't think about it if she doesn't smell it.

We are still working on being able to leave her in her kennel which we go out.  She basically just whimpers, howls and barks if she is in there during the day.  We of course have had to go to the store, walk Paige to school, etc. and have heard her barking when we came home every time with the exception of once.  Since she sleeps in her kennel at night no problem (i mean minus the poo of course), it isn't that she doesn't like the kennel, probably just lonely.  We have no reason to leave her for long, but will eventually need to have mornings out, etc. for probably 2 hours. It's hard to go out knowing she is upset and not resting.  I'm not sure if it's something we will have to train her on, or something she will just get used to...like ok, I know they go out and lock the door, drive away, and then come home.  No point in whining while they are gone.

Besides the few areas that we need to work on, she is such a calm dog.  She knows how to sit on command and always sits by her bowl when she wants her food.  She is fairly good with the girls, although if they get all worked up around her she will be a bit too playful around them and will sometimes try to nip their hands or clothes.  We are teaching them to be calm.  Oddly enough, Rose is more comfortable around Scout then Paige is.  I think Paige is used to her cousin-dog Abby who is an adult and is a lot calmer.  The first few days we had Scout at home I felt a bit bad for Paige.  She was really nervous and you could see it in her face.  She was too fearful to play with Scout and would jump on the couch where the puppy couldn't reach her.  Since then she has warmed up and throws her toys around and knows how to be a lot calmer.  I demonstrated for Paige how she was walk/running on her tiptoes with her head always turned toward Scout.  She saw how Scout thinks of it as an invitation to play and started to chase after me. Then I showed her the difference if you just walk normally ignoring her, how she basically ignores you or follows nice and calmly.  I think that helped Paige to see what she needed to do differently.

Anyway, this is a super long post, so more about Scout later.  She seems to have grown in the past week, and she has gained more of a yellow colour on her back.