Another Puppy Post

It’s been 2 1/2 weeks since we got Cayenne, and we have to say that now she’s definitely adjusting to life in the family.  Thankfully, she’s been a good sleeper at night.  We wear her out during the day, and after her very first night, she never cries or whines at night and sleeps in her crate wonderfully.  She is also really growing!  She was so tiny when we got her, and in the past two weeks, she’s gotten much taller, gotten much more stamina on walks, and she’s filling out too (thanks to that Costco puppy food!). 

Her only vice has been nipping/mouthing everything and everyone.  Those puppy teeth are sharp, and regardless of “just being a puppy” we knew it was one habit that we had to nix quickly.  So, last week was puppy boot camp in the Simpson house.  Mark and I have been working a lot with her to help her learn to get it under control, and she’s responded very well.  She has such a sweet personality, and she’s such a little snuggle bug, so we’re going to keep up the boot camp in the house until all the nips are nipped in the bud!

She is cute to watch outside.  Just the other day, she saw something in the yard that got her attention…

…then she got on point and stalked that little cricket until she could pounce on it!

On these sunny and mild days, she loves going for walks, laying in the sun, and playing with us.  She has her own basket of toys that she drags all around the house.  She is learning to play fetch pretty well, and she’s already learned four tricks.  She can sit, give paw, lay down, and roll over.  She’s so funny.  Mark taught her the tricks in progression, and when he gets the treat, he has her start with sit, then go to give paw, then lay down, etc.  However, as soon as she smells the treat, she just starts rolling over and over.  She just wants to just straight to the end trick and get her treat.  Too cute!

At nights, she is like a little snuggly baby.  She wants to be right on top of us, in our lap, or laying right next to us.  She wants to sleep with her head on our arm or on our chest, and when she isn’t tired, she’ll bring her toys over and play with them in our lap. 

Normally the girls are already in bed when Cayenne gets really snuggly at the end of the day, but over the weekend when they were home from school in the morning, Nina got some lovey time with Cayenne while the pup napped in the sunshine streaming in through the window.  I was glad Nina got the chance to do that because the prior week of puppy boot camp wasn’t the easiest on the girls.  They didn’t like the nipping at all (in fact they were pretty scared by it), but they also didn’t like to see Cayenne getting in trouble.  We had many conversations with the girls about the necessity to train Cayenne in good habits now so they will get to have all these sweet snuggly times in the future.  This time in particular, was what I think Nina had always dreamed of when she thought of having a puppy!

One last note about the pup – she loves the leaves!  This fall is going to be really fun for her. 

Whenever she finds a group of leaves, she just wants to run full speed back and forth through them.  It definitely gets her really wound up, but it’s so funny! 

 

Puppies definitely are a lot of work, and there have been a few panicky time thinking what have we gotten ourselves into, but we know she’s a smart, loving, and affectionate little puppy, and we feel certain that she’s going to be a great addition to our family!