Ducks

My little girl is getting so big! She finally figured out the stairs tonight, after 2 days of trying. Once she finally got up there, she had to do a lot of exploring and sniffing around. And I really saw the German Shepherd coming out in her. She did that low slinky walk because she was highly suspicious of everything. After a few minutes she was back to her old prancy self but it was fascinating to see her walk like that.

Also, her left ear is standing up a lot of the time now. This is a terrible picture but you get the general idea....

Stella's Aunt D bought her a rubber ducky on my first trip to Petsmart for puppy stuff. It was waaaayyyy too big for her 2 weeks ago, but now it's her favorite toy. Seriously. She's hardly put it down all night. (Squeak squeak squeeeeaaaaaaaaaak squeeeeeesqueak.)

First the dining room....

Then the living room....

The back to the dining room. She loves to carry stuff.

After attempting to dig all of her water out of her bowl and getting it all over the kitchen floor (and as I was looking at the mess in bewilderment she raced around the dining room floor, sliding all the way because her feet were wet, and then came back and did it AGAIN), Stella is in a much-needed timeout in her crate. She fell fast asleep in about 3 minutes. Puppies are so funny.

Stairs

As I type this, Stella is chasing a piece of dead leaf around the floor next to my computer. She doesn't realize that it is stuck to her nose. She'll never catch it.

I got a bright one. She also likes to try to bring rocks inside and chew on them.

So from the time Stella came home I have religiously used a baby gate in front of my stairs. I just didn't want her up there until she was a little better house trained (we're on day 4 of no accidents!). I never actually installed it, I've just been leaning it over the doorway.

Today I thought okay let's see what she thinks of the upstairs.

Well she is terrified of stairs in general. The most she's gone is three steps up and then she freaks out and stumbles back down and whines and barks at me. So we'll see how long it takes her to learn how to manage them. She can go down stairs fine- she did that at the park today. But going up is a whole different experience I guess.

Here's the picture of the day! I got a sterilized hollow bone filled with peanut butter at the pet store. Crazy expensive but if she ever gets all of the filling out of it I can just fill it up again. It keeps her VERY occupied.

Silly Puppy

The other day I was picking up Stella's toys so I could vacuum. I keep her toys in a plastic crate and usually it is turned sideways so she can get to them. But for the sake of efficiency I turned it up so I could drop things in.

Of course Stella wanted to get in there, so she jumped her little front paws in. But her back legs were too short to reach the floor. So she started see-sawing back and forth, front legs down in the crate, back legs down on the floor. I laughed until I cried. (I also got her out, I'm not cruel!)

Right now Stella's favorite toys are some long plush animals with squeakers in them from Costco, a rope toy with tennis balls at both ends, and Kong AirDog SqueakAir tennis balls. The last ones are AWESOME. They roll around really well by themselves and entertain her for a very long time. And they have this really high-pitched squeak that drives her absolutely batty.

Another favorite: icecubes. She LOVES them. Cheapest, easiest toy ever. She's chasing one around the living room right now.


Today I'm going to find a park or something with an enclosed area where the girl can RUN. She needs it!

Snow

Stella loves snow. She really loves to snuffle her nose around in it and pounce on it so that it sprays everywhere and then chase it. BEST. TIME. EVER!


Look at this adorable innocent face. This face that says, "Hello, I'm the sweetest dog in the whoooole world! Love me! Care for me! Feed me!"

It is not a face that would say, "I have gas so bad today it could knock out a small child."

I'm guessing she ate something outside that didn't agree with her.... Whew. I might not recover!

Lunchtime Play!

Growing Girl!

Today Stella went to the vet to get her sutures out from being spayed. They also clipped her toenails (I haven't gotten around to getting a toenail clipper yet.)

In 8 days Stella has gone from 10 lbs 2 oz (when she was so sick) to 12 lbs 12 oz. Last week she was really REALLY hungry, but this week she's slowed down with the eating some. The vet said to cut her food from 2 cups a day to 1 1/2. She's much healthier than she was a week ago- she was downright bony then. So she's growing, but not at an outrageous pace. Yet. A DNA test will be purchased soon so I can see what else is floating around in there that could turn her into an 80 lb beast instead of a 45 lb dog.

That's going on the list of things to get at the pet store, including a halter. She pulls on her collar so much when she gets excited that I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself.

Sometimes when Stella can't really see me (like when I'm silhouetted by the front door) she gets this super intent look on her face and starts stalking me like she's going to attack. I think that's the German Shepherd in her and that's going to have to stop- hopefully socialization will take care of it some. Good thing she's still tiny because that would be really scary coming from a full size dog.

So that's the news from the world of Stella today! It's going to snow tonight so she will have a blast tomorrow digging in the snow and trying to chase the flakes. I've been trying to keep muddy dog footprints (the girl loves to dig) from ruining the carpet but it's old gross carpet anyway. The standards around here have relaxed. She's good for me.

Sunday

This evening Stella and I took a car ride to a local park for a walk. Well, I walked around and she stayed in my arms. She still doesn't have all of her shots yet, so I can't expose her to any areas where there have been dogs for a couple more weeks. She was really fascinated by everything and perfectly content to be carried. There was a kid on a mini-scooter that made some really weird noises when it went over the boards on the bridge. It was sort of intimidating but she watched him for a long time and got over it.

Then we came home and she played and played and played. She's finally getting to the point where she can entertain herself.
Maybe that's because she seems to be possessed by the devil.


This is the look Stella gives me when she's trying to figure out if I mean what I'm saying. Yeah, she's a smart one. It's also the look that says "DAMN woman, you're knees are HUUUUUGE!"

Stella vs. Doormat

Tonight there was an epic battle. One little innocent looking little puppy:

Against one doormat so plain and boring I can't even be bothered to take a picture of it.


She saw it. She deemed it unfit for her space.


It was clearly a threat.


Look at her! Killer!


It had to be dragged all over the house. Our safety depended on it.


Once she was finished, Stella: about 100, Doormat: 1.
Yes, those are all tiny needle-like tooth marks. She really wanted to get that label off. But the doormat won that battle. We'll see if it can win the war!

Saturday

Today Stella was very sweet and then very bratty and then very sweet again, like any typical toddler. (I find it much easier to handle her if I think of her as a temperamental two year old.) She played, she went outside and met some neighbor kids and explored the idea of bikes (pretty scary at first). Then she got nippy and growled and barked and went wild so it was CRATE TIME! (Nap time.) She doesn't know when to rest yet and if I didn't put her in her crate she'd be up all day and get crankier and crankier. Puppies need lots of sleep, but she reminds me of this commercial:



Tonight I ran the vacuum cleaner again and afterward we had some cuddle time on the floor. Usually I don't get on the floor with her too much because she gets really obnoxious and thinks I'm a chew toy. But she was really cuddly for about 20 minutes, and then she scratched the door to go outside to potty. Holy shit. Was that for real or just a coincidence?

Anyway, here she is showing off for the camera....
Happy weekend everybody!

Petsmart!

Stella had a REALLY big day today! We took a trip to Petsmart for some socialization. Since she's still contagious and hasn't had all of her shots yet I took a doormat with me and put it in the bottom of a cart. Then I plopped her in there and we walked around the store. She met a couple of employees and she was pretty shy but very very good. I am all about some positive interactions right now. (Not so much about Petsmart though, they really push the puppy classes, and I'm taking her somewhere else.)

Stella loves to chew. She will chew and chew and chew on anything that she can find. So I've been coming up with ways to keep that little teething mouth occupied. I got a Kong ball at the store that I can fill with some of her food and she can roll it around and try to get them out. I also got her some peanut butter dental chews which she LOVES.

She does this funny thing with her chewtoys where she'll hang out in the living room chewing on them, and then come into the dining room and lie down on the doormat (yes, the same one I took to Petsmart, she seems to find it comforting) and chew for a few seconds, and the go back in the living room for a while. She does this over and over again. So I took video of her running around with her peanut butter snack! Such a happy puppy!



PS Sorry the sound on here is so terrible. I have other videos that I took with my phone but I can't get them onto my computer! So I took this with my camera.

Meeting People

Action shot! Scratching feels so gooooood....

Stella is pretty shy with other people. She met my neighbor today and at first Stella wouldn't get near her except to finally take a treat from her hand. Then she hid behind me. She finally started to warm up after a few minutes and got a little closer. The difference between how she acts with me and how she acts with strangers is HUGE. So my job right now is to socialize this puppy. She needs to see all kinds of people and places and soon enough other dogs.

Meet Stella!

Well I finally- FINALLY- got a puppy! I found her at the Greater Huntsville Humane Society in Alabama. She was the runt of a litter of 10, and no one got her so her owners turned her in to the humane society where she'd been hanging out for a couple of weeks.

My mom met her before I did, and here are her exact words regarding this puppy: "I was a the Humane Society yesterday looking at a puppy that is not for us.... It will be a huge, hairy, timid dog, so no." HA! Timid my ass! She was so freaked out by being in a shelter, surrounded by all the noise and strangers, that yes, she was shy at first. But once we got her into a quiet room she got a little braver. And once she was outside she was curious and funny. We clicked. I had to adopt her.

It wasn't easy for me.... As soon as I signed the adoption papers I started feeling anxious. What if I couldn't handle having a dog? What if she turned out to be wild? What if she eats my condo? I true Heather fashion I made myself pretty sick with all of the worry. But I also knew that I'd get over it. I've wanted a dog for such a long time. And here was this perfect little dog standing in front of me- how is that not fate?

Stella is about 10 weeks old. The papers from the shelter say she's a Border Collie/ German Shepherd mix, but honestly all I see in her is Border Collie. I'll have to get a DNA test and see what other stuff is in there. She's mostly black mixed with brown at the sides, with white paws, a white blaze on her chest, and the very tip of her tale is white too.

She's learning how to be a pet and I'm learning how to be a pet momma. I've only had her for a few days, but I have learned that when she gets obnoxious and snaps her teeth and tries to bite me, she needs to go in her crate for a nap. She was sick when I brought her home and had to spend a night at the vet's office, but she's been full of energy now and ravenous when it's time to eat. She can be really sweet and hang out with her Kong or rawhide bone and just chew away while I'm at the computer or watching TV.