Pee everywhere

We had a bit of a scare with Patina last week... she was sick, wouldn't eat... and pee'd a little blood. We took her to the vet, and turns out she had a little bladder infection... which is getting cleared up.

Life is adjusting to her... which is quite an adjustment. I have taught her how to sit, how to fetch, and how to make Maria mad by peeing in the house. She does all 3 pretty well... and we have moved on to lay down, and bark-all-night. She is catching on to bark-all-night faster than lay down... but I think she'll get it eventually.

Seriously... potty training a puppy with a bladder infection, or Urinary Tract infection is not the easiest thing to do. She seems to pee right after you bring her back in from peeing outside. Once we get her last set of shots, we are taking her to obedience school so she can learn to do handstands, and cartwheels... or atleast how to walk next to me.

She does a good job of not chewing on cords, and helped me paint a room the other day without getting into anything. She has an issue understanding not to jump up on people, jump up onto furniture, and with biting. The vet told us to just act like she hurt you when she bites... so I tried that... she seemed to enjoy inflicting the pain, and bit more, and harder. Now I grab her nose, and hold it closed till she settles... and that seems to be starting to work.

Also... I read some awesome advice which nobody ever mentioned to me. I wasn't sure she understood the pack mentality of being with us... and that she thought she was the leader. Then I read that if you lay a dog on his/her side, and keep her there till she submits, she will realize your the pack leader. We have done that a few times... and I definitely can tell a difference. I am surprised I never heard that before... I guess momma dogs do that all the time when a pup gets out of hand.

I can't wait till she's potty trained... thats going to be an awesome day. I just told Maria last night how good she was all weekend, and how she didn't have an accident, when I caught a whiff of some horrible smell coming from the other room. She came wandering out with that "ahhh... I feel better" look on her, and there sitting in the middle of the room was a nice, steaming pile for us to pick up. So close. Once we can get her potty trained, teach her to not bite, and to stay off the furniture... I think that things will get alot easier at home.

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Family addition

Maria and I had an awesome break. We went to Vegas for Christmas and New years... and ended up coming home with a new puppy!



She's a 14 week old Vizsla girl named Patina... and she's awesome, and cute, and awesome, and needy, and awesome, and hyper, and awesome, and lazy, and awesome, and whiny... but she's pretty awesome.

Here's the story. Maria and I had looked at her and her litter mates before New Years... there were 8 total puppies rescued. Patina (then called Pumpkin) came right over, and climbed into my coat when we met... then she started bouncing around everywhere. She was adorable, and hyper. We discussed it and decided that we didn't need a puppy complicating our lives.

So, the day we were leaving, we talked again... and changed our minds. Ofcourse, its an hour before we need to be to the airport. We ended up changing out flight to the next day, and started the adoption process. The rescuer had some doubts, but after talking a while figured that Patina would have a pretty good home with us.

The next morning we picked the pup up. We had 2 hours before our plane, so we went to the pet store, and bought her some stuff for the plane. We had to get a carrier because they don't let you just have the dog running around... yeah, I dunno why either. Turns out... she's a bit of an escape artist. We found this out when the guy infront of us asked why there was a puppy grabbing his feet. She had broken the zipper on the bag and was making her way to the cockpit to see what was going on. Luckily she didn't get away... and we got her back into the bag.

She was pretty chill the whole flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta... didn't really complain too much. But the plane was hot, and the only time she whined was when she was over heating. We had a few hours to kill in Atlanta... and I was sure she needed to relieve herself... so we found one of those family bathrooms, and bought a newspaper. She had alot to relieve... glad she waited till them... that would have SUCKED if she had done that on the plane.

We chilled in the airport for a while where we ran into several people who knew that she was a Vizsla, and told us that they are the best dogs in the world... smart, and very trainable... and very well behaved. Thats pretty cool.

She did very well on the flight to Dayton too... although she made it obvious she doesn't like to be in that little bag under a seat.

The little girl is home now, and we have begun settling into a routine of waking up, going outside to potty... come inside, play, clean up her accident, go back outside... don't potty, come back in play, outside to potty, nap, outside to potty, nap, play, clean accident, outside to potty... etc, etc. We have a crate for her to sleep in... which she's doing ok with, when we are around. She complains alot when we aren't around though. She's pretty needy... but she's cute, so she gets away with it.



There will be more stories as she grows up.