Category: Heidi

The week sped by, and as I am a new Mom to baby dackel, Heidi there are not enough hours in the day. Here are the top five things on my mind this week.

1. 1.  Tuesday was a big day. I had to drive all over New Hampshire, as Jack had appointments. The roads were fine, but we left here at 8:30 AM and didn’t get home until 4:45 PM. It was also a big day for Heidi as she came with us!

Heidi on the go!

2. On Tuesday night I started to feel crappy. Tired, congested, coughing, and sneezing. I fell asleep in my chair and Jack claims I was snoring loudly. (Who, me?)

3. Wednesday I felt like I had a cold. All stuffy, tired, and with a giant frog in my throat.

4. The symptoms have stayed about the same and so I have not gone and been tested. I really think I have a simple cold. Jack is fine.

5. Heidi is teething, and she is chewing on everything. Bones, toys, me, and poor Lili. We are correcting her and look forward to the time when she is done with teething. For now, we keep providing chew toys and then when we must correction. Which is so frigging hard to do because she has the most innocent face ever!

So that’s my week. I hope you are all well!

Our new baby, Heidi is now 12 weeks old.

She loves:

1.  to run around the family room in circles until she collapses.
2.  chewing, anything she can get her mouth on.
3. meals times. I have never met a dackel that didn’t love to eat.
4. snow. I know, go figure. She has these short little legs and is often dragging her belly through the snow, but she hops and jumps and plays!
5. going for a car ride. Currently, she is in her little carrier bag, but I am looking at car seats with restraints for her.
6. cuddling. After her rigorous play times, she either collapses on me or next to me.
7. thwarting all my attempts at dackel-proofing our kitchen and family room. Last night she had broken through all my well-thought-out blockades and escaped under the sofa, in the back of my chair,  where she scurried about and barked. Let’s just say I was at my wit’s end. I finally took it all apart and rebuilt it. For the moment she is puzzled!
8. her new Daddy. It’s been a slow start, but yesterday after Mommy was undone about the blockade, she was kissing up to him like you would not believe!
9. Lili. Lili is still uncertain about this maniacal little creature, but at this point, Heidi isn’t biting her and pulling out her hair (progress) so they are starting to have a relationship.
10. all the doggy toys and chews! Like all toddlers, every toy and bone belongs to her. Poor Lili. I keep working to make sure Lili gets her own bones.

Well, that’s my shortlist of Heidi’s loves at 12 weeks old. She is doing well with her house training, and her sleeping is better too. Baby-steps!

Heidi has moved into this house and brought with her a lot of happiness and sunshine! She will have these great episodes of activity and then crash and sleep, on my chair her chair, for a couple of hours!

Puppy feet!

Having a new puppy is very much like having a new baby. Especially if you are trying to keep accidents to a minimum and teach them all about enjoying their time outside in the sunshine. Please note, this is hard to do when the temperature is 4 degrees and the wind chill brings it well below zero.

Heidi does have a coat, but she still gets cold. So I have her outdoor gear and her indoor sweater. Most of all, she has several blankets on her chair and in the car, and on Lili’s bed her other bed!

A funny thing happened in the night after she went out. We came inside and went to sit on the chair, and she climbed into my bathrobe and slept on my chest.

I’m slightly worried about this. You see, everything she wants she works tirelessly to get. Is my robe next?

Today I hope to get down on the floor with her and take some pictures. Some good ones. If you ever wonder why the best pictures of Heidi show her sleeping angelically, it’s because if she isn’t sleeping, she is zooming around the house!

*Smile*

I am so happy, with my little dog-friend! She has brought joy into my life!

Last night, I sat in my chair with Heidi and fell asleep. Heidi and I slept all cuddled together in my recliner from 9:30 until 3 o’clock AM.  At that time we both needed to tend to business, so we got up, and once we accomplished great things, came back to the chair and fell asleep again. Before I knew it, it was 6:30 AM! This girl feels like a new woman!

At 6:30, Heidi and I got up and saw that we got about half an inch of new snow. It’s so pretty, but when I saw Heidi’s reaction it dawned on me that she’d really never seen new-fallen snow.

As she walked looking for “her spot” she couldn’t find it. Thus we walked around the yard a little more before she decided on a new spot. She proceeded to thoroughly mark it!

All I could say is, “What a good girl!”

So life with Heidi is falling into a new and nice pattern. She does enjoy her long walks, and she has gotten used to her leash. As she grows I will be working on more commands while on the leash and other things.

She is remarkably bright, sweet and like our Lili, there is not a mean bone in her body. She is gentle and calm, with only a few racing around the family room and kitchen episodes a day. Those are just fun to watch!

I put out the little steps, which she figured out right away, two beds, and a smallish crate that was once Lili’s.

These are all her playground. Her actual bed is either next to me or on top of me!

Which is right where I want her to be!

Good Morning! Yes, at 12:55 AM it is morning, although I sure wish I were asleep. Unfortunately, between Heidi and Lili and creatures that go “Gah” in the night, we are all awake. Well, all except Jack.

After trying to settle the girls down, I gave up. It was then that the tiny wonder began going under and around my furniture. I think the toughest part is, Heidi would get under these things and then start to bark!

Lili and I could not figure out what happened to Heidi. One minute she is the sweetest little baby-doll, and the next it’s like she is a watered Gremlin!

Good & Evil Gremlin.

After an hour of trying to make small adjustments, I went downstairs, got some old scrap wood, and came up and started to build dead ends. The last thing left to do is get a six-foot piece of wood and go along the front of our old sofa.

But for tonight, I had to do one more thing. Jack brought a beautiful Cherrywood Round table from Hong Kong when he came back to the States, and I moved it out of the Piranha tooth’s way. Jack would be heartbroken if anything happened to that.

I keep hoping that Heidi will exhaust herself and that we can get a little sleep.

Wait! It is now 1:30 and she just crashed. I need to close my eyes while I can!!!

First, Heidi is doing great. I would say, 90% of the time she is the perfect little baby dackel. And then…

Let’s talk, house training. She is doing well. No poop accidents at all. The girl seems to like icy snow! Gail, I wonder if this is from her Alaskan Heritage! (ha-ha!) Heidi acts a bit squirrelly over by the back door and this seems to be her cue to me that it is time to visit the great outdoors! Now during the day, Heidi does well. She does the squirrelly dackel dance by the door, which indicates that it is time for a visit to the wilds of nature.

And then…

Bedtime is not going well. But I am working on it.

She dislikes the crate, so that’s been a no-go. The first night I thought she’d done well until I discovered the wet spot on the other side of the bed. All sheets and blankets and mattress pads we stripped and washed. Thank goodness for the waterproof mattress pad, as the mattress was fine. Then last night I had taken her outside, and as soon as her paws hit the comforter, she wee-wee’d!

I’m a new Mommy. I am tired. So I tossed the comforter down the stairs to the laundry room, and grabbed my robe, a blanket, and sat down in my recliner, and Heidi climbed up and we fell asleep.

It wasn’t too bad. We slept from 9:30 until 4 AM. She was acting squirrelly again, so I packaged us up in our winter clothes (It is 5 degrees here at 4 AM, brrrr!), and out we went.

She performed flawlessly, and I have my poop sample for the Vet. I made myself some coffee and she is happily chewing on a bone.

I looked on Amazon and found a full-size pet waterproof throw for my bed. Once it arrives I will try to use that over my comforters and try to change our sleeping area. For now, thank goodness for the recliner!

When Mama is tired, she can sleep anywhere!

I wish you all a good day and I will report in on Heidi’s Veterinarian Appointment tomorrow!