Category: Lili

Ahhhhhh! Today I went out to the garden and I was checking the peas and beans to see if anything had sprouted! The had! Just slightly, pushing their green baby plant selves through the loose dirt. In fact, the garden is looking pretty good.

Call me happy!

I realized today that we have had Lili for a month.

And we have survived! Actually, she is doing really well. She was not too people or dog friendly when she arrived. Coming from a litter of ten puppies, she was always fighting for food, toys, and attention. She had to understand that the dackels come first, and she is the low pupper on the totem pole.

Now a month later, Lili eats from her own dish, chews her own bones and doesn’t try to steal the dackel’s bones. She also sleeps well at night, is 99% house broken and loves to curl up on our old sofa. I haven’t gotten a new one since 1996 because of the dogs. Guess it will be a while longer.

Lili goes on Tuesday for her next shots. I am interested to see how much she weighs and what the Vet thinks of our baby girl! School starts on Tuesday night.

Yes, we’ve made it through that first tough puppy month!

We have a magical puppy! Her name is Lili. It started out innocently enough, but after the first week we knew it was true. Lili is magical!

You see back then a morning or two would pass and Lili would be out of her crate in the morning. I easily blamed Hubby for this but then I started to find that this was no normal 11 week old puppy.

We can put her in a crate and in less than 5 minutes she has popped the lock! After seeing her do this, we decided that we would close her into the mud room, and just forget about closing the crate door.

She likes that. She sleeps better, the whining has stopped and in the morning she actually will sleep in until almost eight o’clock!

She is still having a touigh time with the dackels, but she’s come so far and starts school soon. I can hardly wait!

I did not have a great day today. In fact I am exhausted. So is the life of a new mother! I woke this morning to a pup who had pooped in her crate and was covered in it!

First I had to pick up this poopy mess and carry her outside to wee-wee. Then I brought her in and tossed her in the sink, and gave her a bath. She did not like her bath, but accepted that in the end, she smelled better.

Then I put her crate outside, got the bedding out and in a plastic bag to carry to the laundry room. Cleaned up the poop, and then sprayed down the crate with shower cleaner, and hosed it all off, leaving it in the sun to dry.

The puppy room was mopped up and then the kitchen was cleaned up as well.

The dachshunds watched everything wide eyed! I don’t think their little minds go back that far, to when they were being potty trained. She is still so young, and these things happen.

Lili was upset (I think my gagging during the entire fiasco probably bothered her) as she wee-wee’d a few time today inside. Just a little setback, right?

I have discovered “The Good Wife”. They show it on the Hallmark Channel in the afternoon. Wow, is it good!

I had chicken to use. Not just a little, but enough so that I could make an entire meal, if only I could figure out what to cook. So many items I did not have in my pantry, but so many things I did. In the end I made a chicken soup, with a couple of small dumplings. It was enough and Hubby was happy.

Finally today, I got Lili in her crate by leaving the door open and allowing her to go back and forth at will. At one point, she just went in, got comfortable and took a nap!

Lili is a real spitfire! She is a handful! At times I have found myself with the exhaustion of a new baby parent.

Thankfully, Lili is very smart. I’ve worked with her every single day and she is really coming around. I remind myself that a great dog just doesn’t happen, it takes a lot of work.

I have her Obedience Classes all lined up. She starts on June 16th. I will keep going with her until I feel comfortable that she knows what I want her to do.

I think with Fritz it was about about six months. He did very well, and it made the rest of our life together so very much happier.

So although I am tired, life is good and Lili is doing well. The dackels are adjusting. Life is finding a pace once again. We miss our boy, but honestly, Lili keeps us all on our toes!

Well, we can call her Lili the Leaper!

I had a 2 foot puppy gate up to keep her from going down the hall, and she leapt the gate! So I put up a full size 3 1/2 foot x-pen as a gate across the opening. She is so disappointed as she cannot jump this one! She has even stopped going over there trying to sneak across the border!

Also in the last 48 hours, she has had just one accident! She also is going to the back door and whining when she needs to potty. Progress!

Here is another thing, I’ve worked on Lili’s recall to me, as well as the “no bite” and she is such a smartie pants. At first she tried to show me who was boss, but by the end of the day she was getting the hang if it all.

Lili, my love, you are growing up!

Saturday night Hubby was up later than me, so he was assigned the last walk and the putting of Lili into her crate. Then he came to bed.

This morning I woke, and there was no noise from the mud room where the crate is stored. I dressed quickly (I do that a lot these days) and went out into the kitchen. There, greeting me with a wagging tail and a big doggy smile, was Lili!

I looked at her crate, and the door was firmly shut. Nothing was amiss. I took her outside and she performed well. But I came in, still wondering about Lili, the magical puppy!

Hubby got up and I asked him about it and he was shocked! He swore he got her in the crate and closed the door with her inside! Well, seems Lili is a magic dog who transported herself out of that crate!

Yes, Lili is settling in, eating better and getting into a routine. The biggest routine is that I literally leap out of bed in the morning and rush to her crate, grab her and off we go for our morning walk! She loves that and frankly, I’m getting to enjoy it too.

She wasn’t eating too well at first, but I have some ground puppy food that I am mixing with her crunchy food, and now she just gobbles it up. Good think. Seeing as she is a big dog, in her puppy years she really needs the calories.

I remind myself that she is just a baby, even though at times she does act much older. Then she will do something like every other puppy, and I have to laugh and figure out how to modify this new behaviour!

She really is a doll and we adore her.

Happy Friday!!!

Lili is starting to settle in. She has now won over Greta and Anneliese (well sort of, but it is close!) but Arnie is still a little reluctant to have much to do with her. Mostly I think, the pack of hounds assimilation is going well!

On Tuesday we had Lili to the Vets for her first check up and shots. She handled it like a pro. In fact, she has made a new friend. We also stopped by our mechanics to swap out cars for inspection, and Pete fell in love with her!

Right now Lili does mostly sleeping and wee-weeing, With an occasional food and walk thrown in. It’s the wee-weeing that I am really working on. Getting her to the door fast enough is the key.

After all at 8 weeks she is really not house trained yet, but I sure am!