Well, it's true. We now have a puppy in our family. He seriously is, part of the family. I think it's impossible to have a puppy as just a pet. (Little did I know). We went to the pet store last week to look at Turtles (Bryce's preferred pet) and bunny rabbits (Claire's preferred pet) and kittens (my preferred pet). We walked out with the cutest little squirt of a dog and high hopes. He's a little yorkipoo (mom yorkshire terrier, dad a toy poodle). We named him Swiper in honor of Claire and Cady's favorite show, Dora the explorer. We are in the throes of potty training and teaching him that he can sleep alone in his crate at night. I have realized that I am way over my head here, so I'm currently checking out all of the puppy books at the library. Who knew there was so much to know about having a dog! I'm currently learning how to brush his teeth, clip his nails, train him to sit, importance of socializing at an early age, leash training, rationing food, and, of course, litter box training him. The last is definitely the hardest, if anyone has tips I'm all ears! :D In all honesty, I am enjoying him---it's just a much bigger responsibility than I had first anticipated. I tell myself that this was a good thing we got him now, because the girls absolutely adore him, and we'll have a good year or so before a new little Leavitt baby arrives, so hopefully this little guy will be perfectly trained and a great family dog by then. Wish me luck!
Where Swiper spends his days...being carried about in Claire's arms. I'm trying to teach her that he can (and should) walk on his own. :) It's a working progress!
Cady spending her breakfast time under the table holding Swiper instead of eating. Both Claire and Cady's first thought when they awake in the morning is to go play with Swiper.
This picture is hard to see, but Cady and Bryce are playing in background, while Claire has Swiper (poor dog) all bundled up in her special pink blankie on the floor.
This was Swiper's first and last walk outside. It's in the 20-40's temperature-wise outside now, and he was shivering so badly we had to take him back in after about 3 minutes.
Cady playing the piano last night with Swiper by her side. I thought it was a sweet little moment.
7 comments:
Very cute! I have been so anxious to see pictures. It looks like the girls really enjoy him. I'm sure you will too...when all is said and done. :)
You're a much nicer mom than I am haha!! I would LOVE a dog, I'm just NOT ready to take care of one yet. In a few years I might consider it...I just know it would be completely neglected right after I have a baby. He's very cute though. I LOVE IT!! And hey, good thing you got the girls sleeping good just in time to throw a dog in. I'm sure that makes things a lot easier huh?!!
How fun. For you that is. Kyle and i NEVER want pets. He is a cute little dog though. The girls look like they sure like him. I like the picture of Claire holding him on the leash in the backyard. Its really cute. enjoy training him. Look forward to seeing you all at Christmas.
I just wrote a long comment and it erased it. Anyway, I LOVE yorkies! So I'm guessing I would love a Yorkipoo. It REALLY IS a tough job to "raise" a dog though!! When we got ours from the animal shelter, I checked out every book from the library as well. Needless to say, they all had different theories as to how to accomplish all of the tasks at hand. It's kind of like all of the books on how to raise children...there are so many different ones out there! Finally, I just did the Petsmart training and although Scruffy never turned out perfectly child proof, both he and I learned SOO much! It was very helpful, but time consuming. It REALLY IS time consuming to train a dog well! Congratulations!
P.S. REALLY make sure you socialize him to EVERYTHING (even things like riding in the car, being near a running washer and dryer, being around and ok with crying babies or loud noises, etc.)! He will be a MUCH better dog for you if you do. Good luck!
What a cute little doggie. I know what you mean about the responsibility, though. I really want a dog, but I don't think we'll get one until we are done potty training our last kid. ha ha!
You are brave. I will NEVER get another puppy. I would prefer to adopt older dogs that are lazy. I LOVE Bridgette and she's the BEST dog but sometimes she just gets annoying..Since she is getting older (6 yrs in Jan) she is sensitive to noise and Taylor isn't a very quiet kid. She howls and shrieks and I HATE it! Plus I don't like the responsibility to take care of one more person. Isn't funny that she used to be my "baby" until I had kids? Now it's almost like she doesn't exist. Sad. But True. At least Taylor enjoys her once in awhile
You are brave and CRAZY! I told Isaac he can get a dog when he is 10! Cute puppy!
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