almost sleeping

I almost had Lily sleeping in my lap tonight. She cuddled with me for a long while. She curled up in my lap and snuggled. It was awesome.

Caleb is sleeping next to Sophie. He really likes her.

They are doing well.

The Prince and the Pea

Progress has come in many forms.

Caleb, though still not social does allow for things that previously would completely freak him out. He doesn't want to be near which causes quiet a problem when the ground is wet because when he comes in he has to get wiped off. He hates that and in anticipation of it tries to hide in the yard. But last night he let me pick him up and bring him in the house. And we have figured out that it is easier to block them all in the kitchen and wipe all the pups off than it is to bring them in one by one. If we bring them in one by one then Caleb KNOWS what is coming so he hides. So we have done the kitchen block off routine twice now and it seems to work a little better.

Caleb also is more willing to at least come out when strangers are over. And his tail wags more.

Lily follows me around a lot more. She's really becoming my little shadow. It especially makes me happy when we are outside and she follows me everywhere. It makes me a little more confident that if she got loose she wouldn't bolt.

I also took her to the vet for a health certificate so we could fly to Ca. She didn't want the vet to touch her so she came to me and hid her head in my arms. The vet said what she did was good because it shows she feels at least safer with me. And that I should take that as positive progress. He also suggested that we keep a diary of everything that goes on in the day so we can keep track of her accidents and if their is causality to them. Such as change in routine, a fight between Hubster and me, loud noises, excessive pestering from one of the other animals, etc......he pointed out that what doesn't seem like much to a human can be a lot more upsetting to an animal because they don't understand what it means. Such as watching a football game and screaming at the t.v. We take that for what it is but to a dog it's far more traumatic and they don't understand why everyone is yelling. And it scares them.

We continue to struggle with Lily and house breaking but we know we will make progress. And we remind ourselves that though it wasn't nearly as bad, Sophie took 6 months to stop having accidents. Bad weather and wet ground are our enemies in progress. And oh, goodie for us, winter is fast approaching. And then spring showers. It's going to be quite the uphill battle. Oh well. She's totally worth it. And there are always puppy diapers :-)

Overall we are having fun with the pups. It's a great joy in my day to play ball with them in the morning. And then again when we come home. It's good exercise for them and they love it.

Silly puppies

Lily is such a crazy little puppy. She's full of energy. She is obsessed with collecting. And she loves to be naughty. She is ten pounds of terror. And we wouldn't change a thing. She's a joy. She's affectionate. She loves to give kisses. She steals bones and toys. I repeat, she is a terror.

Caleb is the quiet one. He watches. He gives you the puppy eyes and you melt. He loves to play ball. He loves to be a seal and get the ball on the tip of his nose and then push it up the couch. He loves to get pets - on his terms. He loves to get treats. We can see it in his face that he wants to be brave. He wants to trust. He observes the other dogs. He sees they have no fear. But he just can't quite take that leap of faith. We know some day he will. Until then we take what he is willing to give. He is the good child, the angel.

All is going well.

Puppy Love

Caleb is doing quite well. He is coming around more to be petted. He also is shying away less and less from me when we play ball. And the big moment came this morning when I was not only able to get the balls from him so I could throw them but I was also able to give him a pet on the head. And he stayed right in the same spot, no flinching, no ducking, no jumping off the couch. I was ecstatic!



My little Lily is doing equally as well. She really comes at me for love and to play. She is fearless when it comes to getting attention. And we have such a wonderful time together. She is also progressing really well with Daddy. She is always front and center when he gets down on the floor to give out love. And last night she curled up next to him on the couch and she went to sleep.

Better and better

The pups are doing marvelous right now. Caleb is getting more comfortable with us. We had our morning session of playing ball and today when I went to gather up all his little stuffed toys for another round of toss he didn’t shy away from me. Normally when I gather balls he scoots far away from me if one of the balls is close by. But this morning he allowed me to pick them up and he didn’t move away. That’s HUGE.

Lily loves to be on the couch with me. She is huge into what we have coined “Schnuffeling” in which she wriggles around burying her little nose in the couch cushions, under our arm, under our leg. And while she is doing that her whole body contorts and wiggles. It’s too cute. If Sophie is up with me (which she usually is) then she schnuffels all over and around and under her too.

And as for getting pets I think Caleb comes to me a little bit more every day to get love. And Lily has reached the point where she begs me to pick her up and give her loves.

Baby got back!

Caleb and I have a routine every morning. We play ball. He has three stuffed soccer balls that I toss around the room to him and he chases them. It's tons of fun.

But Monday morning he really didn't want to play. And then he really didn't want to go outside. And then he really didn't want to come in. And then just before we leave we send the pups out one last time. He hid. I had to take his kennel to the door. Something we haven't had to do in weeks. It broke my heart.

But when we got home he was back to my Caleb. And we played ball. And he wanted pets. And he went out and came back in without a problem.

I dont know what set him back a little in the morning but he was my happy little man by the time we got home.

Lily continues to be a crazy little happy peanut. She's doing really well. And as long as we are diligent in watching her she doesn't have too many accidents and she doesn't get into the cat box.

All in all, things are going well.

Catching up on progress

With daily progress being slow and tiny victories I think I often forget to post those little breakthroughs no matter how small they may be.

So: what's been happening:
First walk - October 29th:
Sunday was a nice day. We took the pups for a walk. Well, we took three pups for a walk and one pup for a carry. Caleb was terrified to be outside. He walked a little but kept wanting to walk toward the main busy road by us. I carried him all the way down the alley and then we put him down when we got to the sidewalk and lawns. He seemed to like that more. And he walked pretty well back to our house. But heÂ’s frightened by being outside as well as by us still so he spent a lot of time cowering. Lily did better. We put Caleb in the house and then continued our walk with the other dogs. Lily walked several blocks with us and around the park. She seemed pretty happy and she was very curious about everything she saw. She did very very well. Fortunately despite how traumatized Caleb appeared to be he bounced back pretty quick and was happy and playful when we got back home.

From Nov. 6th:
Lastly, Lily got her first bath and she looks super cute all white and puffy.She is also booked on a flight with me to San Diego to see my family next month.We'll see how that goes. I am assuming she will make enough progress over the next month to go with me to see family. And I think Caleb is becoming so attached to Sophie that he will do okay with Lily gone for a few days. My Aunt would really like to see Sophie too but she is too big to go as carry on and I would hate to put her in thebaggagee compartment. So, it will be Lily this trip. My Aunt and Uncle are SO excited that I am bringing her. My aunt had a sheltie when she was growing up so she just loves that I have sheltie mixes.

Oh, and the other big puppy progress, Caleb jumped up and sat down right next to me on the couch and let me pet him for most of a show we were watching. This was the longest session with him yet............

November 7th: Puppy Pounce:
This morning while sitting in my favorite chair drinking coffee and reading my book Lily charged across the living room and dove into my chest. I saw her coming so I was able to keep the coffee in the mug. But while moving the mug out of the way I got drenched by a big wet slobbery dog lick across my face. Good thing she's only 9 pounds.

And as of tonight, November 9th:

Yesterday morning I gave Sophie, Caleb, and Lily each a greenie. They happily munched them. (Max was upstairs still in bed with dad)

Every morning it has become part of our routine for Caleb and I to play ball. I gather all of his fluffy soccer balls and then toss them across the living room. He happily crashes into and through the dining room set to retrieve them. We have so much fun in the morning. It's our special time. Lily gather's "babies" and piles them on her chair. Sophie eats breakfast and Caleb and I play. (Max sleeps late with dad)

I got a couple of dollar toys from Target last night. Caleb loves them. They are little squeeky reindeer heads with rope knots on each side. I wasn't sure how much he would like them since they aren't ball shaped but they are always somewhere on the floor rather than in the toy box so that has to be a good sign. And hey, you get two for a dollar so how can you go wrong????

We still don't get to touch Caleb a whole lot. Petting is always on his terms but I think he's getting far more comfortable in our home. And his tail is always wagging.

Both Lily and Caleb have become very attached to Sophie. They really look up to her and like to be with her.

Max is doing fine also. Because of his herding urges he can't go outside with the pups if they are in a playing mood. He wants them to gather and behave. So while they are outside tearing up the yard he gets to be inside with us playing tug of war. His absolute favorite. We have found a good balance to keep all the animals happy and feeling loved.

Though we have a few lingering issues, such as Lily having "accidents", and Caleb howling at every thing that startles him. And then that causing Lily and Sophie to bark insanely, overall we have peace and harmony. That has been the best part of this whole adventure. The fact that everyone gets along. That the cats don't mind the new puppies. And the dogs we had have accepted their new brother and sister with wagging tails.

More to come..........