She licks, she begs, she barks, she's Lila

Yesterday was the first day that the pups were in their kennel while we were at work. They seemed to do quite well. Their foster mom said they kennel well. They ran right outside when we let them out. And came back in without issue.

They are a little nervous with us standing at the door so they sometimes hesitate to come in. It’s a 50/50 shot whether or not they will brave running past us. It helps if they are part of a fur frenzy with Max and Sophie.

Hubster had to go to the hardware store so for a while it was just me and the pups. I blocked them off from the rest of the house and just let them play in the living room. They begged for scratches and kisses. It’s a challenge to have two hands and four eager heads to pet. Little Lila LOVES to give tiny puppy kisses. Foster mom “C” warned me that she tends to give nose licks (in your nose that is). I just couldn’t get enough. Caleb is equally eager to be petted but he’s a little less aggressive in his pursuit of head scratches. I think he also gets intimidated by the other dogs.

While I was eating dinner I looked down and a tiny little Lila head was looking up at me with her little paws on my dinner plate anxious to have a nibble. She’s quite the beggar. And both are very motivated to be friendly in the presence of food.

We had R& Boy J stop by last night. As expected they hid under their chair. Hubster gave both R and Boy J ham slices in which to bribe some love out of the kids. Boy J did have a little bit of success with Caleb. But once the ham was gone Caleb hid under his chair and quietly growled at Boy J. It was pretty funny actually. He doesn’t visibly growl, no snarling, or angry look. So you have the sweet innocent puppy face with a deep rumbley growl coming out. It’s too funny.

After R and Boy J left the pups came out again to wrestle around and play with their toys. For the most part they were good about going outside and coming back in.

I let them out at 2:30 this morning. They went in and out without a fuss. Then I let them out again this morning. They were happy, waggy tails and went out without a fuss. They also came back in without issue. They played with toys and explored their house some more.

Yesterday there were no accidents (as far as we could tell). So that is a good thing. Every day we can go without an accident is a good day. We know it’s going to take time. It took Sophie 6 months to stop having accidents. We expect it to actually take longer with these two just because of how long they were out at that puppy mill.

This morning they were happy and outgoing. Again, at their happiest when food was involved. Michael said they were fine this morning after I left for work. Hopefully I will get out of work a little early today so I can spend some quality time with the pups.