The first thing to notice are the changes to my blog. Basically, I felt like a bit of a change. So I sorted out a nice little banner for the top, using Photoshop and a little help from my brother to cut out the image of Ella and I. I'm pretty pleased with it, but it didn't fit in with the pinkness of the blog before so I thought I ought to change it. After all, I have had it like that since the beginning, so a change is quite nice! It now feels like a completely new blog. I tried to write a little sentence for the description but I couldn't really describe what my blog is, so I just left it!
Now to the main bit of my blog. As you know, we got a puppy 2 weeks ago, so I thought I better update you on how she is getting on.
She has settled in extremely well, and Zoe and I even taught her to sit on the second day of having her! Wow! Clever little pup. Then, within the first week Graham taught her 'paw' and then this trick:
Isn't that amazing? Well I think it is, considering she was only 8 weeks! We sent a link of the video to the breeders on facebook and they were amazed that she had managed to learnt that trick so quickly! Graham has also taught her to lay down, which is always helpful. We are now working on roll over, she seems to be thinking about it but isn't too sure. She did it for me yesterday, but it took a while.
Other than all the tricks she has been learning, she has been having good and bad days. She's been really good house training wise, absolutely brilliant!
However, one thing we are working on is her getting aggressive, it's not nice. She ripped my favourite shorts, which I wasn't happy about. And also ripped Zoe's pj shorts, perhaps she just doesn't like shorts, haha! We have found a couple of good techniques... either putting her in her crate for a couple of minutes or everyone leaving the room.
When she is put in her crate after being aggressive, she either rips the newspaper to shreds, knocks over her water and then we wait until she calms down, or she just goes to sleep. So it seems that she mainly gets aggressive when she is getting tired. Silly little puppy... just go to sleep. When we leave the room, she tends to bark fairly loudly for a bit, as it is as if she has been abandoned by her 'pack', and then she goes and finds something to chew on.
We, well Graham, have had to make some adaptations to the house and garden too. A baby gate on the kitchen door, a little homemade wooden gate on the back door (for when we want the back door open but Ella inside), and a short trellis for the patio to stop her jumping off of it.
Today, she got a little aggressive, but calmed down quickly, which is always nice. Everyone went out this afternoon, so I stayed home to dog sit, as it was nearly dindins time. I took her outside for a run around but put her collar and lead on because the cat was out there too, and the lead takes up a lot of her attention so she wouldn't notice the cat. While I wasn't looking she got herself in a pickle with her lead, so I ran inside to get my camera...
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| 'Help, I'm stuck' |
I made some icing for mum's cake so Ella decided to come and lay down by my feet, how sweet is that? It was probably just in case anything dropped...
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| 'What you got cooking' |
Last weekend, Mum and Graham went out and they bought Ella a little bed for during the day if she doesn't want to use her crate, or for if we want to let her come in the living room with us. She seems to like it, but is also equally happy in her crate.
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| Zzzzzz |
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| Don't fancy the comfy vet bed then? |
It is safe to say that we have all fallen totally in love with her, she is absolutely adorable... apart from when she is biting your bum and ripping shorts! Even James absolutely loves her, which is really nice, as he wasn't sure about having a dog at first. How cute, I'm so pleased that he loves her.
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| Cuddles |
If you come and visit us, I advise you to count fingers and toes first... ;)
