Little Dog in a Big World

Just a week ago, Misha turned 8 months old.  You can see she has all the attitude of a teenager.  LOL

It’s hard to believe she has lived with us 6 months already.  We’ve gotten through the anxious nights, the housebreaking (though an accident every now and then still happens), losing her teeth, the incessant chewing, and all the stages in between.

I’ve been working with her regularly on her dog training.  Short sessions multiple times a day.  She loves to do tricks and is eager to please.

Her enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of her.  I will grab some small treats, give the “come” command, and walk into another room.  She is supposed to follow me and sit when we stop.  She does all this, but as we walk to the other room I see this 8 pound object bouncing two feet off the ground to the left of me.  As I turn around to stop, she immediately gets into sitting position as if she knows she must do so before the teacher looks at her.  It’s really funny to see!

She still has some things to work out.  She’s getting much better about noises.  She no longer panics when we take our walks, though she still gets startled.  I’ve started walking her to a busy corner where she sniffs the bushes.  Slowly but surely she has begun to ignore the sounds of the cars and the people.  Now we need to work on walking in the wind or rain, both of which she has decided must be accomplished at a sprint.

I know with previous puppies that patience is the key.  Sometime after the first year you see the signs of your hard work sinking in.

So, happy 8th month puppy!  It won’t be long before you have your first birthday

Misha went non-stop from Christmas Eve morning until 10pm on Christmas night.  Though, she’s a lively pup, she was completely zonked out the day after Christmas.  All she wanted to do was sleep with her new toys.

She crawled under her paw print blanket at 9am.  When I came to see if she wanted to play at 10am, this is the look I got…

She immediately crawled back into her cave, where she stayed for another hour.  That’s one pooped pup!

Misha got to experience her first Christmas with the family.  I’m pretty sure she knew something was up!  She was excited all day Christmas Eve.

We took her my sister’s house for a small get together.  She explored the tree and the gifts.  She attacked all the guests and got payback when the cat came out and swatted her square on the nose.

She got a new stuffed animal.  Though, she is more enamored of the cloth ribbon that was around his neck than any of her new toys.

Christmas morning, she participated in the festivities.  She thought all the noise was a bit unnerving.  But, she loved trying to open people’s presents before they got a chance to take the paper off.

She was pretty tired after everyone left after breakfast, but there was still more partying to be done.  In the afternoon, we went to my brother’s house for dinner.  She met some new dogs.  I don’t think it went well as she was very intimidated.  One was a 3 month old puppy and Misha did not care for all that barking in her face.

She got to see alot of new sights.  She heard alot of new sounds (some, like my nephew’s drums, scared the dookies out of her).  And, I’m fairly sure she enjoyed all the smells coming from the kitchen.

Here is Misha with one of her new toys.  I think it’s twice her size. LOL

Merry Christmas from Misha!

Today was the day that Misha gets out of the hood.  It may have been the worse day yet–for me, not her.

She started the morning by eating breakfast.  Then when I turned my back, she threw it all up.  I hadn’t planned on taking her hood off before I had my breakfast, but there was no choice unless I was going to tie her to my back while I cleaned the play pen.

With the blanket in the washer, she was in the play pen for the first time in almost two weeks hood free.  She licked but did not concentrate on the wound.  I think she was reassociating herself with her body parts.  LOL

After breakfast, I let her go free.  She did her best wild party dance running from room to room as if she hadn’t seen the house in weeks.  Then she did something she has never done.  She squatted to poop in my bedroom!  I rushed her out, but found two presents that landed before we made it to the door.

We played then took a walk.  At lunchtime, I put her in the play pen.  I got her food and was ready to get her when I realized she peed…on the same blanket I had just taken out of the dryer.  I swear, that’s the cleanest blanket in the house!

Finally she got her lunch, the play pen was clean again, and I was off to do some chores.  All of this before noon!

Misha was due for her one week check up today.  The first order of business was to figure out how to get her into the car without causing a mid-road collision.  She wouldn’t fit in the crate and there was no other way to secure her.

I decided the best way was on my lap where I could make sure she didn’t attack the driver.  She was a very good passenger.  She stood up to the window to catch all the scenes going by, then she laid down in my lap and rested.

The Vet visit was short and sweet.  The technician took Misha into the back and then they were done.  Her incision was healing very well.  I am told this is unsusual for small active dogs since the owners have a rough time keeping them calm.

So, she is healing very well.  She’ll be off her meds on the 12th and then out of the hood on the 15th.

Life in the hood isn’t always fun.  First, Misha got her jaw stuck in the hood while trying to get a toy.  That really didn’t help matters.  Then, I there was the day I decided to give her a break…big mistake.

She decided she preferred life outside the hood.  Once it was off, there was no way that hood was getting near her.  After making alot of attempt, I quit in frustration.  I let her be and she immediately when for the her wound.  I only hoped that once she took the sedative, I could slip it on.

So after lunch, I gave her the sedative and waited.  I walked her around the block, around the porch, and around the house.  Soon, I had a drowsy eyed, calm puppy in my arms.  I easily slipped the hood over her head–no problem at all.

She’s keeping the sucker on!  There’s no way I’m doing this multiple times a day.

As Misha approached 7 months old, I had to seriously think about getting her spayed.  As much as I enjoy having a puppy, a litter of them is just way too much to even think about.  I’m such a sucker.  I wouldn’t be able to give any away.

So Thursday was Misha’s day.  We were up at the crack of dawn to get her to the veterinarian office by 7:30 am.  Boy, was she mad that her food bowl was empty!

I got a phone call at noon.  Everything went fine.

At 5pm, we went to pick her up.  My poor little puppy looked like she’d been through the wringer.  She stood in her travel bag with her hood of shame as if paralyzed.

At home, she sunk into her blankets in the playpen and whined…and whined…and whined…Nothing seemed to console her.  She finally nodded off an hour later.

She ate some food and took her first pain pill.  Then went back to sleep.  Around 10pm, she began to whine again.  I sat with her and pet her, keeping her calm.  She didn’t calm down until after midnight when she dozed off.

She got through the night okay with a couple of whimpers.  At least, that day is over.

Last night, Misha came home after being spayed.  I really didn’t expect to have many problems as she is a fairly good natured dog.  Was I ever wrong!

Misha woke up in the play pen instead of her crate which seemed to put her into instantaneous panic mood.  I could picture her thinking “What the frig is this thing around my neck and why were is my favorite blanket???”

She ate just fine, but giving her the medication was a nightmare.  She took the pill with alot of peanut butter.  The syringe filled with Metacam?  No way!  She freaked out, growled, snarled, tried to flee.  It wasn’t a very good start.  I ended up squirting it into my hand and letting her lap it up.

After an hour or so more of whining, I called the Vets.  The prescribed a sedative since she seemed to be going through anxiety of some sort.

The next day was so much easier.  The sedative calmed her down alot.  She wasn’t as afraid of the hood.  And forget squirting the syringe into her mouth.  I did it into my hand and she licked it up like soda.

I was happy to finally see her calm.  It was going to be a rough recovery if she was freaked out the entire time.

Between October and November, Misha mellowed out into a wonderful puppy.  Then something happened.  Her fangs decided to fall out.

One cheery Sunday, she became the puppy from hell.  She beat up on everyone she could.  Every time she went outside she attack the grass as if it were her mortal enemy.  She chewed up so much grass that I was bracing myself for cleaning up puke at 2 am.

She was just plain old mean.  I brought her in at 3:30 from yet another trip to the grass.  She had this wild look in her eyes.  I played with her trying to burn off some of the meanness.

I noticed red spots on some of the toys and realized she was bleeding.  When I looked it her mouth, her lower right fang was gone.

She seems so happy after that.  She relaxed and lost her meanness.

It was short lived.  For the next week and a half, she was onery, feisty, mean.  The lower left fang and upper right fang were loose at the same time.  They bent at odd angles for 2 or 3 days and then fell out.  Then we waited for the last one.   She chewed on everything.  Her plastic crate has no corners, the grass has been beheaded beyond regeneration, five of her toys had to go in the garbage because they were beyond needle and thread.

Finally, after almost two weeks, the last fang fell out.  When she lost her upper teeth, almost all at once, she did a little more chewing but her personality only changed mildly.  The fangs were a nightmare!  I guess her gums were so painful that she decided to take it out on everyone.

She’s feeling alot better a week later.  She’s still doing alot of chewing.  But the mean behavior has subsided.  Soon this phase will be over and she’s be the sweet puppy again…I hope…

Misha was so tiny when I got her.  From her first visit to the Vet in July to her last shot in September she only gained 3 lbs.  It seems she was destined to live up to the name the breeder gave her, “Peanut”.

Something happened around 5 1/2 months old.  She stretched out.  I don’t think she is much taller, but she is definitely longer, which makes up for things.  By 6 months, she became muscular and you didn’t see her puppy feet pajama paws anymore.  Luckily, I bought the longer travel crate.  Otherwise, she’d be all scrunched up with her head in the door.

She has still gained only 2 lbs since September.  She now weighs 7.2 lbs.  I seriously doubt she will ever make 10 lbs unless she has an amazing growth spurt or I over feed her.  I’m counting on my ability to not to the latter and I seriously doubt the former.