"No jump!"

That's the most frequented phrase I utter lately. Somehow Kimmy must have a really thick head, because she just won't get the freaking hint and stop jumping up at people all the time. It's annoying enough at home, but outside, with her muddy paws? Ugh!

(Are you laughing evilly now, Evelyn? ;))

Also, yesterday Gerry told her off for trying to jump on the sofa, and she bit him! Not too hard, but hard enough for him to yelp. He was really pissed, shook her by the scruff a couple of times, then she sheepishly went to lie on her dog bed, looking at him accusingly.

She is adooorable and cute and cuddly, but trying to assert herself, and doesn't like to take no for an answer. Hey, that sounds like Ben!

But on a happier note, she only needed to go out once last night, at 1:30 AM, and then slept until 6:50 AM. Yes, that actually counts as "good night" ;)

I have to separate Kimmy and Ben a lot, because she just won't stop grabbing his clothes with her teeth, hanging on him, and being a nuisance, when he is just trying to eat or play. He has several deep scratches from her teeth/claws on his feet as well.

Kimmy came out of her shell!

Oh yes, she definitely did. The first week was just a warm-up, hee hee ;) Now I think we can see Kimmy's true personality - a feisty puppy trying to test limits a little bit at a time, often. Last week she slept a lot during the day, but this wasn't the case this week anymore. Her wakeful period got progressively longer and her naps shorter, and her appetite increased slightly as well. She has grown already. When I look at her now and compare with the photos we took on the first day, I can clearly see she's less puppyish and more doggyish!

We now go for a walk at least twice a day, and she loves to run with me - trying to outrun a 10 week old Doberman puppy proved to be difficult already! Ha ha, I really need to get in shape quick.

I also discovered it is true what they say - a tired dog is a good dog ;)

Housetraining has been going along without any real progress, I must say. She shows no signals, gives no clues, when she needs to go potty. I watched many times simply stop in her tracks, squat and immediately start peeing, without any sniffing around, let alone a bark. I am at a loss how to make her learn to signal her need to go out.

When I catch her "in the act", I yell "No!", scoop her up and head to the garden, tell her to go potty, and when she does, I praise her and pet her. Surely after two weeks of this, she should be starting to "get the hint"?

Thankfully, my dear friend Tina from Maryland sent me an enzyme cleaner, so I can get the urine odor off the floors (thank you, Tina, I owe you!) ;)

I thought the accidents would have decreased by now, but nope. Hopefully soon she's start letting me know she needs to go. That would help immensely!

I also need to work on discouraging her from jumping on people. It's not very funny after 100th time, ESPECIALLY when we're outside and she wipes her muddy paws on my clothes. I swear I have never had so much dirty laundry to do in two weeks like now!

I have also started teaching her first basic commands - SIT, SIT-STAY, and DOWN. I do it with a treat, a hand signal, and a voice command. She seems to be learning fast :) We have short training sessions twice or thrice a day, and she seems to enjoy them. I actually think she enjoys the TREATS the most ;)

Again, a big thank-you to my friend Tina, who sent me a food roll from Natural Balance, which I cut and dice into small cubes, and use for training treats. Kimmy really loves these :)

She gets 4 meals a day, her kibble is Pro Pac brand, and I moisten it with water and once a day also add natural white yogurt in it.

This Thursday I had one of my wisdom teeth surgically removed, a 45-minute procedure, that left me with two stitches, antibiotics (there is an infection on the bone as well), and p-a-i-n that doesn't seem to want to go away (painkillers are definitely my friend this week!!!). So I wasn't feeling very well these last few days and with a puppy in the midst of housebreaking and a preschooler at home, there isn't much of a chance of "taking it easy".

On Saturday, we went to the town to buy me my Christmas present - contact lenses! Today I wore them for the whole day and wow, it was GREAT being able to see clearly and not having to clean the glasses all the time. :)

Photos from the first week

The first week with Kimmy

The first week we had to find a routine and let our new puppy settle in her new home and get used to living away from her Mama and littermates. It was a busy week, filled with many many potty trips to the back garden! I read that puppies pee a lot, but didn't think it was that bad... well, yeah, they do pee and poop around the clock!

Even with extra vigilance and taking her out to eliminate after waking, after meals, and every hour on the hour inbetween, we still an accident or two at home every day. I couldn't read her clues and so if she needed to go before the hour was up, I had no way of telling, and only realized when it was too late and she was already peeing on the floor.

Thankfully, most of our downstairs is tiled flooring, so cleanup is easy - but let me tell you, puppy poop stinks! She gets 4 meals a day, and poops after each of them, and during the night as well.

Speaking of night - puppies are like babies, they don't sleep through the night. Kimmy needed to go out at least once, but more often twice in the night. Coincidentally, this was the week when autumn definitely turned into winter in Luxembourg. Getting out with her in freezing weather, or in cold rain, and waiting for her to "do her business" so you can praise her for job well done, while you are shivering to the bone is not pleasant.

The smart books say that most puppies "get" the potty stuff by the time they are 4 months old. I selfishly hope it will be sooner rather than later than that ;)

Apart from this issue, we are absolutely delighted with Kimmy. She was a bit timid and shy the first 3 days of this week, she didn't even want to leave the area of living room and kitchen, but slowly she started gaining confidence and ventured out to explore our home further.

She loves playing with and chasing Ben, who is thrilled to have such a willing playmate.

She sleeps a lot, too. Even just a 10 minute leisure stroll outside wears her out and needs a good nap afterwards. Puppies sleep a lot! They also prefer to sleep with their favourite human (that would be me in Kimmy's case). So after walking Ben to school in the mornings, we would come back home, cuddle up on the sofa and have a lovely nap together. Hmmmm, a warm puppy is a great pillow ;)

Bringing Kimmy home

Last Sunday, the day finally came for us to drive to Germany, and pick our puppy up. We got up bright and early (well, for a Sunday, anyway), and at 10 AM we were ready to hit the road. En route we stopped for lunch in Burger King. I could hardly eat, I was just too excited.

Shortly after 1 PM, we arrived in a small village where the breeder, Ela, lives. It was lovely sunny day. Kimmy along with her puppy brother ran to greet us as soon as we came inside the house. In those 2 weeks since we last saw the puppies, they sure had grown!

Ela was again very nice, served us homemade soup and we chatted about the pups and she gave us a lot of advice for the comings weeks. Gerry signed the contract and paid the rest of the money (we gave a deposit last time). We also got a bag of puppy kibble to take home and the vaccination card.

We thanked Ela for everything, loaded up stuff in the car, and holding Kimmy on my lap, we waved Ela goodbye and drove home.

Poor Kimmy was frightened and confused. She shook and cried intermittently for a good half hour before falling asleep. We made two potty breaks. She looked so vulnerable, I had to hug her and cuddle her. Awwww :)

When we arrived home, it was already getting dark. We brought Kimmy in the living room, and let her explore and sniff around and get acquainted with her new home. She was very shy and timid, but also hungry, and with great fervor ate her kibble which I softened in some warm water.

Then we introduced her to the garden, where she was from now on to "do her business". She got the hint pretty quickly and peed and pooed like a pro ;)

For the night, I decided to let her sleep on the floor beside our bed. She was happy not to be alone, and I was happy not to have to let her cry. I am sure it must have been very hard for her to be away from her Mama and littermates.