Week 3

Hello all,

Today Sally has been here for 3 weeks. She weighs 11.8 kgs (just under 2 stone) and is 40.5 cms (16 inches)high to the shoulder. She has put on 2kgs this week and grown another inch. Her collar has had to be loosened to another hole - now on the 4th one, only 2 to go before she needs a new one. She struggles to get through the table now and has to creep through the gaps. We cannot put anything on top of the table now as she has realised she can see on top and easily put 2 front paws on the table and reach anything there. It won't be long before her tail will swipe anything off the top of the table.

She still has a lazy left ear but we are working on it to get it right (honestly Danielle!).

Today we were able to take her out onto the street but she doesn't seen too interested at the moment so we are taking it slowly with her. She is too tempted by anything on the floor that she can get into her mouth. She loves to chase leaves blowing in the wind and loves to chew on stones, at least she will let us take them out of her mouth, which we are impressed with. And at last she has had a wee outside (but just the one).

Sally is still very bitey and energetic in her playtime but today I have found a way around it with some old cloth slippers that I put on my hands to protect them from bites and scratches but then she just goes for my arms and anywhere else she can get to, but at least we enjoy it more now!!!!!

What Sally has done this week:

On Saturday we had new visitors - my sister, Sarah with her partner, Dave and her children, Holly and Matthew. They got on really well with Sally but I think Sally was just a bit too playful for Matthew who kept trying to run away from her but she thought it was a game and chased him.

She took to Dave straight away - I think she just likes men!!!!!

And Sarah and the kids thought she was great too.

On Monday the play pen that Neil ordered last week arrived and Sally helped me to unpack it by tearing at the cardboard ...

.... and then ragged the bedding that came with it.

She very soon got used to being in the pen and it is now 'her den' but she protests as soon as the door is shut on her. We only shut the door if she is being too boisterous now rather than shutting her in the hallway as she just tears the training pads to bits in there and we never leave her shut in for more than 10 to 15 minutes or so. She is in there now - fast asleep.

Sometimes if Sally is getting too boisterous Neil will confuse her and lock himself inside the pen - she just barks at him - it is very funny.

On Thursday we took the playpen to work and set it up in my office but she didn't like being closed in there, she obviously wanted to explore but there were too many cables and leads for the computers in there to leave her. Eventually she settled in Neils' office where there aren't as many things to chew and she had a sleep in her bed there. At least we got a bit of work done there.

On Friday I took Sally out in the car. We went to get more tripe and more training pads. On Thursday she took ages to settle on the back seat but today I put a vet bed fleece on the back seat on top of the pet cover and she settled much better. I think it might have been too slippy for her before but with the fleece on she could get more comfy. She seemed to like to sit in the middle of the seat and look out the front window or put her head over my shoulder and look out the side window. I hope that she soon gets used to being in the car as she will be in it a lot as she will be going everywhere with us.

Sally has mase herself very much at home here and likes to sit on this chair and curl up on the cushions ...

That's all til next week - time for bed.

Week 2

Hello all.

Today we have had Sally for 2 weeks and she has just had her 2nd injection so only another week to go before she can go outside properly. The injection has made her really sleepy so I am taking advantage of the quiet time to write this. It is impossible to do anything while she is awake as she is into everything.

She was weighed again at the vets and she is 9.6 kgs so she is doing really well - I can't measure her as she is fast asleep and I'm not going to disturb her for anything.

Sally is inquisitive about everthing and really brave, no sooner had she worked out how to get onto the sofa then she was climbing up the back of it to lie on the top so that she could see out of the window...

and drop down onto the window cill...

.... but then she had to be lifted off as she didn't know where to go next and we were afraid of her jumping onto the table and falling.

During the week she was sat on Neils' chair and jumped onto my knee (at least 2 feet away) with no warning whatsoever.

She has a mad 5 minutes every so often - at least twice a day when she just runs around the room and into the hallway like something not right and then collapses onto her bed or the sofa...

... and sleeps for a couple of hours.

This week we have noticed that Sally has found her tail and she wags it most of the time - especially when Neil comes in...

... they adore each other aawwww.

Sally loves to play with the door stop in the lounge - it is on a spring so when she hits it with her paw it springs back and often hits her in the face - at this she starts barking and biting at it.

She is still chewing everything she can get into her mouth - sometimes she is very crafty and will take a permitted chew stick somewhere, such as near the TV and then chew it and when she can see we are not watching her she will start to chew the TV stand - already there are marks on it. She does the same with our hands when we are holding chews - she will be quite happily chewing on the chew and then without warning she will bite our hands leading to us shouting out more in shock than pain.

... chewing my college bag before she was stopped.

On Wednesday Sally had a really 'mad do' - she lunged at me, pulled my hair, bit my ear and then my nose and the more I tried to fight her off the worse she got so I managed to pick her up and put her into the hallway on her own for 15 minutes - which served to calm her down for the rest of the day, thankfully, and she hasn't tried to do that to me again, but if she does I'll certainly try the hallway treatment again. My nose is still sore.

We have been taking Sally along the side of the house and into the garden on the lead to get her used to it before we hit the streets next week, but she is like a hoover picking everything up that she can - we have to watch her constantly for picking up stones. I bet she'll be hard work when we get her out on the street.

This week we have been visited by Neils' brother, John ...

.... who went away with a few scratches and bites, but he loves her anyway!!!

I should have got photos when he came round with Thelma (his wife) a few days after Sally came here but never thought - so come round again. We can't take her visiting until she is better housetrained.

Well she is still asleep yet - I suppose this means she is going to be wide awake in the middle of the night and howling for company - after she has been so good for the last few nights.

Watch this space ..........................

End of Week 1

Hello all.

Sally has been here a week now and it feels like she has been here for ages and she is taking everything in her stride.

She is now approx 8 kg (but scales may not be as accurate as at the vets) and she is 13 inches (33 cms) high (this is not accurate either as she wouldn't stand still at the time). We can tell that she has grown in the last week by how little room there is left when she crawls through the spaces in the tables.

It did not take her very long to find her way onto the couch - it started by us cuddling her on our laps and then after a few days she started trying to jump up herself but her legs are not long enough (and we try to discourage her from jumping) so we help her up and she makes herself very comfortable up there. So despite having 2 beds of her own, one in the lounge and one in the hall, now she will be mostly on the couch. But we are not complaining, we are used to that.

She does not appear fazed by anything but there are some things she does not like, such as the vacuum cleaner so she climbs higher on the cushions and watches everywhere it goes.

She has found her bark and practices it on the dishwasher and the washing machine.

She knows now that when the floor is mopped it is slippy (she was like Bambi on ice the first time she walked on it).

Sally has still not cracked the housetraining lark and we still have accidents but generally she manages to go on the training pads or at least in the hall on the wood floor where it is easy to wipe up!!!!

We had our first full night sleep last night which was great - every other night she had us up at least once in the night. So hopefully it will be the same for future nights.....

We have been visited by Grandma and Grandad every couple of days. Neils dad is completely smitten and has to see her regularly and as you can see Sally loves him too.

We have a bit of an issue with biting - I suppose all puppies are the same - so she gets a chew bone put in her mouth when she tries biting. We are following all the advice from the Dog Training Institute and it is just going to take time.

Although it looks like Sally might be a 'Daddys' Girl' ....

She also likes cuddling up with mummy ........

She certainly knows how to make herself comfortable....

... and I have never known a dog sleep on her back like this ...

... and this ....
We will be going to the caravan in a couple of weeks and we are looking forward to taking Sally there - just hope it warms up a bit by then.

Thats' all for now folks

see you all soon ....

Getting to know you ....

Hello all,

Here is a quick update on Sallys' progress.

She was born on the 25th of November - not the 22nd as we first thought.

Sally has now settled in completely and is partially housetrained in just 2 days. Cleaver Sally. She will go on the training pads at the front and back doors but has still not done anything outside yet.

On her first night here she woke us up 3 times and despite Neil being the one to say we will not go down to her - he still went to her.

The 2nd night she only woke once and yelped a bit but soon settled back to sleep again and did not get up until Neil went downstairs at 7.30. so that was great - I had a very unexpected lie in.

Sally is having at least 2 mad half hours - morning and evening with gentler playtimes but with plenty of sleep inbetween which is the only time we can get anything done safely. When she is awake she has to be watched constantly for chewing everything in sight including fingers and toes - but we are working on that.

Here she is with Daddy inbetween playtimes.

She has been visited today by John and Thelma and again by Neils' mum and dad.

Just gone to sleep now zzzzzzzzz

Wonder how long that will last??????