Puppy Day 2

So the new puppy, Tyler, is finally home! Picked him up from the breeder last night. First evening was pretty uneventful. Peed on the rug a couple times before we figured out his "tell". Was pretty shy and tentative in his new home. And slept every chance he got. So pretty much what we expected. Oh yeah, and he cried himself to sleep and managed to poo all over his crate. I don't know how poo got where it did and I don't want to know.
However, he does seem to be getting better with the crate. I had him in there for a hour and change this morning so I could take a nap, and had him in there for a bit while I cleaned his shit-covered blankets/towels. So maybe he'll only poo or cry tonight. And maybe I'll win the lottery. Side note, we've got guests in from DC tonight, so they'll enjoy the yelping. Hopefully the a/c unit in that room can drone it out.
And to make today even more fun, the Cubs are playing an afternoon game against the Cards! So Tyler gets to watch (aka sleep soundly) a Cubs game on Day #2. Can't beat that. Although the game isn't going so good. The Cubs starter failed to record a single out while giving up something like 5 or 6 straight hits and dropped us in a 5-0 hole. So I guess Tyler is fortunate to be sleeping this one off so far.
Obviously I'm not going to give you a minute-by-minute or cute-action-by-cute action recap. That's just not my style. But he's growing pretty comfortable around the house and does seem to really love being out in the yard. I'd bet he could try to eat random tall grasses for hours. He also doesn't like to be more than a couple feet away from you, and spends 90% of his time within inches. So while it's nice to have him up in your lap now, I'm doing my best to turn him into an ankle dog. Having a 10lb puppy on top of you is cool. Having a 70+lb 1-year-old is not cool. And hopefully he get's more comfortable with some alone time as he gets used to being away from his litter-mates and whelping box.
So all-in-all, not much to report so far. Just working on crate training and getting him house-broken. Right now I can't trust him to be left alone for more than a minute or so, and he doesn't last long in the crate before he starts yelping a bit. Gotta get one of those 2 fixed asap. I need to hit True Value today for some garden stuff, but don't want to leave him here yelping and pooing while I'm gone. So I have to decide if letting f'n furry jerks eat my strawberries is worse than cleaning poo out of his crate for a 2nd time today. It's like Sophie's choice!

PEACE!!

Getting Ready for a Puppy

Well, it's time to start documenting our road to puppy parenthood. We're but 2 weeks away from bringing little Tyler home, and now the "fun" begins. The list of things that need to be procured just keeps getting longer. Crate for home, crate for traveling, food & water bowls, beds, blankets, leash, collar, food, toys, toys, toys, toys, brush, nail clippers, it just never ends.
I'm also amused at how much of this I could remember from when we got our puppy as a kid and yet don't. I have no idea how many nights Buffy yelped herself to sleep at first. How long did it take to housebreak her? How long until we started introducing her to new people and dogs? How did we start training her? What kind of feeding schedule was she on? Part of this I blame on the fact I was probably in 4th grade when this was going on. Part of it is the fact that I've never had a stellar memory for stuff like this. I can still immitate Mark Grace's batting stance and many details of the Cubs-Giants 1-game playoff in 1998, yet I only remember 6f other peoples' birthdays.
On the plus side, we do have good friends with dogs that live nearby and would be happy to help out. And the breeder (Jerry Foti @ Watch City Bulldogges, if I may shamelessly plug him again) is a fantastic guy that would be more than happy to field calls from us every day while we figure it all out. Jerry's also a great resource for vets and pet supplies in the immediate area. And he's an officer of the Olde English Bulldogge Kennel Club (OEBKC). But enough about our puppy daddy.
The real fun begins when decisions need to be made. Biggest one so far; when to have him fixed. Breeder recommends 9-12 months to allow him to grow to a healthy size. Even the vet says 5-7 months for similar reasons, but also to allow their immune systems to get up to speed to aid in handling surgery. But that adds the fun of watching for any aggression or territorial/dominance issues, along with having to watch him like a hawk to keep him from making unauthorized puppies.
But all in all I'm pretty excited. I've wanted a dog pretty much since I left home and Buffy. Yeah, it's a ton of work and I'm sure I'll have days where I wonder what the hell I was thinking, but I know it's worth it. And it helps get me ready to make the jump to kids. Now THAT'S a frightening thought!