New Family Member

Meet Suzie Mango (Suzie)!  She is a 14week old yellow lab.  I have to say, I can’t tell you which is more difficult, puppies or children.  To be honest, children and puppies and both exciting and terrifying!  Both are totally unpredictable, and both need constant watch.  Honestly, puppies and raising kids are about the same.  Both need boundaries but also freedom.  But right now, everything is so busy, but incredibly joyful.
​
I never imagined that I’d be raising a puppy.  I love dogs, but I also had no idea what to expect with a puppy.  What I learned is puppies are every easy to teach.  Our puppy on the first day was a bit nippy, and we fixed that issue quickly with her.  She has a habit of chewing things, but she has gotten much better (still can’t find one of my slippers).  She has quickly learned how to play with the children, which is a huge relief.  Also, she is well on her way at understanding to go to the bathroom outside.  We have had a couple of accidents, but that is always expected.  I remember Ben and Norah’s potty training took time and had some accidents. 

Our pup is really good when we leave the home.  She feels the initial stress, but seems to handle it ok.  She doesn’t have any accidents when we leave her alone or she isn’t destructive, only the occasional missing shoe (which is fine).  I think she handles people leaving better than the kids do! 

We are doing things differently, just because she is a bit of an older puppy.  We are not going to be doing crate training or anything.  She doesn’t exhibit destructive behavior when we aren’t looking.  So all that is looking good.  She is an older pup at 14 weeks, so I think she just grew out of the puppish behavior stuff. 

She’s easy going, but still a lot of work.  A lot of clean up, a lot of boundary training, a lot of treats for good behavior.  A lot of practice here and there.  A lot of experimenting.  We tried to take her off the leash outside, umm…. She’s not quite ready for that…  Maybe in a few more weeks.

My only concern is that she’s always hungry?!  I feel bad because I am only supposed to give her 1 cup of dry food 3 times a day.  But she keeps looking at me, like the amount is some kind of joke.  Totally opposite with my children, who I have to force to sit down to eat.  That might be the biggest difference with kids and puppies. 

Anyways, nothing theological in this one, just a report on my life.  

---