An Update on Gracie (Erin)
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a busy 11 days. I would’ve written sooner, but you know what it’s like with a puppy in the house. Gracie (formerly Erin) is doing pretty well. She’s attentive and sweet, except for the typical rambunctious periods that puppies do. She loves to be near us, yet we’re training her in a crate when we leave the house. She’s so-so on that – some days she’s is glad to be in her cave, others she misses us. She’ll adjust though. I ended up putting her one crate in my bedroom for nighttime sleep. Othewise she freaked out massively being separated at night.
She’s slowly getting the hang of going the bathroom outside – mainly peeing outside with ease & every day first thing in the morning she does both outside (how great joy!). She seems to have separation anxiety issues when behind the baby gate in the kitchen so that when I leave the room, she’ll pee or poop there near the gate looking for me. It will take time. I’ve read that if the puppy is in a crate more than running free the first many weeks of life, they are ahead of the game with housetraining. With her and the pups running around going to the bathroom anywhere they didn’t develop the connection between bathroom and everyday life. But, she’s a very smart pup and I know will catch on real soon. She’s already done fabulously in the week at the house.
Gracie LOVES the snow and can play with & in it all day – she hops like a bunny and has a blast. She also loves leaves. …oh, and mulch. :-\ So we keep a close eye on her outside…and inside for chewing furniture/cabinets. We give her plenty of bully sticks and other teething toys. She’s really big into teething now so we’re keeping her in the kitchen and in the cage at times. Not full run of the house yet. And always monitoring her/teaching her not to chew other items.
I took her to the vet this past Saturday. They gave her a shot and Bordetella and a worming pill just in case. Rabies shot will come this Sat. And another round of shots in 3 wks. She’s 7.2 lbs and about 12wks old (on your papers you have Oct 15 as sort of a birth date). Spaying will come at 6 months, they said. I’m taking her to puppy class orientation this Saturday. It’s a shame it’s cold and snowy outside because I’d like to get her on more walks and meeting neighbors & other dogs for socialization, so I’ll have to go to Petsmart places and daycare places.
Gracie is a little sweetheart and cute as a button. I’m glad our eyes met that day and I realized she was the one for me more so.
That’s the update for now…have a good week and be careful with the upcoming snow storm.
Mary Jo D.
