Wookie Monday

So we decided to name this little devil dog Wookie because not only does she look like one, when she gets pissy she sounds like one too.

wookie

With today being Joe’s first day of work I was on my own with her. The beginning of the day went pretty smoothly. Not only did she not have any potty accidents, but she behaved while I took care of things around the house. I was able to clean two bathrooms, dust the living room, clean the kitchen, reorganize our hall table, reorganize the pantry (which had been bugging me for months but I left it alone since Joe was doing all the cooking), and do five loads of laundry.

Mid afternoon we hit a snag because Wookie decided she wanted to be difficult. This is when she also decided that she’d rather pee on my newly mopped kitchen floor right after I took her outside (where she had also peed). Oh well, I read puppies do this so I tried not to get too frustrated. But then she’d cry in her pen like she needed to go but I’d take her to the door and she’d run away or bite at my ankles. I thought we were making headway on that front but she went full on bonkers. I notice she gets that way a lot later in the day despite frequent naps which means the next few days I will get nothing accomplished after work. Oh, and it’s supposed to be as cold as balls outside too so that sucks.

Oh, did I mention that we recently bought a coat rack for the front door? Might as well since we’ve been using it non-stop since we came home from Arizona. We never had a need for it before because we would rarely use that door.

coat-rack

It’s kinda top heavy and my coat is pretty heavy (boy am I glad I kept it as it’s finally getting some use) so I’ve almost knocked it over. I need to figure out a way to anchor it because I’d like to tether Wookie to it while I’m putting on my boots and coat so she doesn’t run off.

It’s been tough dealing with a puppy because I feel like everything I do gets interrupted multiple times. Eat a meal in one sitting? I think not. I really feel for parents now. At least in a few months we should be past this crazy stage, but I’ll say this now – never again. We may have other dogs in the future but I am not interested in raising a puppy. They’re cute, there’s no doubt, but OMG they are so much work. I don’t know how people have one and young children at the same time, but now I understand why people who have kids seem to walk around in a stupor at the grocery store. I haven’t been able to focus properly since Wookie came into our lives. I’ve also not been getting as much sleep either which really sucks.

RIP Doug

doug

Saturday we had to have Doug put to sleep. He’s had a tumor on his right arm for months and when we got back from Arizona it looked worse than ever. Joe ended up taking him to the vet since I had to work and they confirmed it was cancerous. We gave him meds but it kept getting bigger and to the point where it was close to the bone becoming exposed. I can’t imagine he was comfortable. When I checked on him Friday it looked horrendous and I knew it was better to call the vet first thing in the morning than risk having to wait another week because we’d both be busy with work.

Now we only have Milo left. I feel terrible that I haven’t been giving him the attention he deserves because the puppy monopolizes so much of my time.

Visiting My Uncle

Friday we decided to celebrate Joe getting a job by going out to lunch at Lonestar Steakhouse. On the expressway I pulled up their website to check the menu and that’s when we learned they are no longer open for lunch. Doh! We then decided to check out Texas Roadhouse instead but when I pulled up their website it was the same story – they don’t open until 4 pm. Clearly the lunch crowd must not be what it used to be with all these places opening for dinner only. I wonder whether our local Lonestar would have stayed in business had they changed their hours years ago. Anyway, we ended up at The Pit Ribhouse in our old neighborhood which was good as always. We can always get steak another time.

After lunch we headed over to my uncle’s house as previously arranged and were there for about two hours. It’s been many years since we’ve been to his place so he has a whole new group of animals verses last time. His late wife worked at a shelter so they’ve always had their own small zoo. His house is on a huge lot complete with a barn (with a horse). He used to have two but one passed away earlier this year. He also has a parrot who has the whole loft to herself, four dogs (a pit bull, pit/Shephard mix, mastiff, and a Pomeranian chihuahua mix) in the main level of the house and three cats, a cockatiel, two finches, and an African Grey parrot in the basement. He also had a squirrel but he passed away recently.

The amount of animals he has would overwhelm the hell out of me, not to mention he is a self-confessed hoarder so even though his house is pretty big it felt crowded which made me feel anxious. I’m glad I’ve reached the point where I’d rather spend money on experiences than just stuff. That’s not to say I don’t buy anything, but the number of knicknacks in that house was off the charts. If you need multiple curio cabinets to hold it then for me it’s too much. Some people love collecting things, however, and as long as they’re happy that’s all that matters but for me personally I couldn’t do it. I’m trying to get rid of some of our possessions as it is.

Anywho, before we took off my uncle gave us some outfits for the puppy. At some point I will torture her by making her wear them.

Puppy Outfits

Once we got home and checked on the puppy we ran back out to run some errands. We ended up at Dairy Queen so I could use my BOGO Blizzard coupon. I got the peppermint Oreo which is awesome! I’ve been nursing it ever since so essentially I’ve gotten four desserts out of one large Blizzard. We also tried the new Mexican place next door to DQ. Their cheese enchiladas with green sauce are very good but it irked me that they only way to get them was by ordering the $11.99 dinner. Since I don’t care for refried beans and could do without the rice it’s like I paid $4 per enchilada. So even though the food was good and the guy who took care of us was very nice I can’t say we’d go there again.

Monday Madness

Yesterday was the puppy’s first vet visit. We brought along all the paperwork L had given us on her and because puppy had reacted to her 8 week distemper vaccination, the vet didn’t want to do one at 10 weeks. Instead we’ll do that one at 12 weeks and she will give her meds beforehand to reduce the chance of a reaction. In addition, we went over her general health, got a bunch of info, and had all of our questions answered. Total cost was only $60 and half of that was a fecal test to check for worms (which came up negative). It’s nice because the regular vet visit is only $32 which is half of what it costs to take the rats in, plus this place is literally 5 minutes away.

After dropping the puppy off at home we went to Savers where I actually found a few things.

Clothes from Savers

Pictured above: a black sweater hoodie ($3), a Calvin Klein merino wool sweatshirt ($5), and two comfy pairs of fleece pajama pants which were only $2.50 each.

We hit Costco for lunch, samples, and a few things on our list, plus some comfy socks not on my list (but definitely wanted).

Costco Items

Finally we stopped at Petsmart where they had holiday toys on sale so we got a few for the puppy’s stocking plus a few other items including a coat which she did not like. She refused to walk outside with it on. She just sat there until I took it off. LOL

Petsmart Loot

Puppy Update

Life with a puppy has been interesting. And by that I mean fun and frustrating. She’s currently 10 weeks old and potty training has had its ups and downs. She has peed on the carpet several times and even though she has gone to the door to let us know she has to potty, she’s not consistent about it yet. This morning she peed and pooped in her crate even though I had taken her outside where she had peed just an hour before.

The first week was the worst simply because it felt like we had no free time to do ANYTHING and the house was cluttered and dirty. Once we cleaned up a bit we both felt better.

Now things are in a better routine. She usually wakes us up once in the night to go potty. She sleeps in a crate downstairs and I bought a $17 V-Tech baby monitor so we can hear when she needs to go out. We didn’t want to keep her in the bedroom for now since at first Joe seemed to be having an allergic reaction to her. He has gotten better since then but I’ve noticed after handling her I develop a bit of a cough. It might be to the overly scented shampoo I purchased, however. I didn’t realize it was baby powder scented! It is really strong too!

The good news is other than the $150 we gave the woman we adopted her from, and some canned food, pretty much everything else we’ve purchased for her has been on Amazon where we have/had credit, so there were minimal out of pocket costs. In addition to the carrier and crate we got these cute food bowls.

Dog Bowls

We also bought a large exercise pen which connects to the crate. We put that up in the kitchen when we have to go out for longer than an hour. She barks a little at first but then calms down and goes into her crate to nap. We are using the webcam that was in the rat room to monitor her and I leave The Cure playing softly to soothe her.

Overall I’d say this experience has been both rewarding yet something I wouldn’t want to repeat. It’s cool that we have a hand in shaping her behavior since we got her so young but it’s a lot of work! I turned to Joe last night when we were trying to watch tv and she wouldn’t stop barking in her crate and said, “Yep, my decision not to have kids was the right one. At least with her this should be over in six months”.

But I still love her so much. Look how adorable she is! At some point we’ll figure out her name. I told Joe people on Facebook are getting frustrated that we haven’t chosen one but hell, parents get nine months to choose a name, we should get at least a couple of weeks.

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