Puppy Love = Dahlia's Debut

Be careful what you put your mind to... yes, I had been thinking about, joking about, wishing for, feeling that I wasn't quite ready for a puppy. For months. Then, naturally, as I'm watching "Marley & Me" with my family, my friend Jesse texted me a picture of this adorable puppy who needed a new home. Damn, I thought, of course it's meant to be. The same thing happened with my cat Jack; I'd been thinking about a cat and had just moved into the first apt building that I'd ever lived in that allowed cats, but I thought well I'm sure I'll never get around to going to the humane society to get a cat because that's just so final, it's so much commitment. And Jack just came along and needed a good home. Now, the puppy. I kept thinking, no, I'll wait for a dog, I'm still trying to grow my grass well, I need to fix the fence, I'm not sure if I want the responsibility right now... But, luckily, my parents love labs and have the space to puppy-sit if need be.

We did a meet & greet the next day. Big mistake. Because of course she was adorable and sweet and seemingly well-behaved. She's probably about 4 months, still teething, still working on being house-broken, black lab (mix?). She is actually rather calm, listens pretty well, sits, doesn't charge ahead too much on the lease, is friendly with people, is friendly though a little shy with other dogs... So, I am adopting her and renamed her Dahlia (like the lovely flowers), though my family is insistent that dog names end with an "e" sound -- Bonnie, Penny, Daisy, Millie, Sophie -- I think because the name sounds more sing-song-y when you yell it, so they're claiming they will call her Dally (or Dilly Dally), or maybe Dali like Salvador Dali, the painter, or Dahli like the Dahli Lama. In any case, she's a "cutie patootie" as we heard on the river trail last night walking her... and seems to be bright and a decent listener so I'm hoping she won't be too hard to train (fingers crossed).

Here's how our first day went last week:
+ slept through the night without whining
- peed in the kennel crate
- 3 times scolded for harassing Jack
- 2 "accidents" today
+ 4 successes!
- 4 times scolded for chewing on furniture
- 2 times told to get off the couch
+ 3 fetches of the stick
+ words she knows: "no," "come," "go potty," "sit," "good"
+ learning: "out," "down," "get your ball," "go get it"
- 3 times Jack came up to me to tell me he was pissed that I moved his food bowl outside on his cat condo

Almost a week together:
+ no accidents in the house for several days
+ no whining in the kennel crate at night
+ holds pee all night
+ hasn't jumped up on the couch in days
+ getting better at not jumping on people
+ in the morning, she's super cuddly, wants to climb in my lap and nuzzle and she's still all sleepy
- chewing EVERYTHING including chew toys -- chair rungs, bath rugs, garden gloves, edge of the deck, hands, arms
+ just gave her a Kong toy (where you squeeze in flavored goo or dog treats)... oh my god, this might be my fav invention... it's been 45 minutes without hearing her bark at Jack or chew on the wrong thing