The Intensive Art

I’m so tired!

Puppies are a lot of work. I’m starting to understand the pain of having a newborn baby. I have to get up several times a night to take him to his potty matt. When he’s awake, I need to watch him 100% or he will pee/poo in the wrong spot, or chew things up. I always have to think about how I act toward him, or react to his behaviors, because it could have an effect on him forever.

Fortunately, unlike a baby, I can leave him alone and go out. Even better is that in several weeks he should be completely potty trained. Then, I will need to buy a carpet cleaner to get rid of some of his accidents…ugh!

The only downside is that I can’t put him in front of the television and have some alone time. He depends on me for almost all his entertainment. Thankfully, he’s learned to play fetch already. Playing is much easier when I can stay still and he does all the running.

I adore our walks together. I slap on my Sirius radio, listen to OutQ or the Broadway channel and walk walk walk. I just wish Charlie was a little bit better at going for walks. He can be so stubborn and defiant! He occassionally will stop or get distracted and refuse to go anywhere.

His first Vet appointment is on Tuesday! He’ll be getting a full exam and a vaccination booster. I can’t wait to take him! It’s so fun seeing him going through all sorts of new experiences. I’m also signing him up for a Bright Puppies class. In this class there’s some basic fundamentals like housetraining and stopping them from nipping/biting etc., but for the most part it’s just a chance for them to run, play, and socialize with other dogs and people. They even do interesting things like play CDs of thunderstorms so your dog isn’t afraid of them when he/she grows up.

He definitely needs the outlet for all his energy! I feel so bad on the days where Richard and I both work day shift and he has to be alone for several hours. When I get home, I can tell just how much energy he’s built up!

Anyway, I just thought I would write a little more about my new “baby.” I can’t wait until he gets a little bit older and more controllable.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 20:33 and is filed under Charlie, livejournal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.