I am going to start documenting Mango's life (as much as I can remember!) from before I started posting in this blog. Below is the day I picked him up, his second day with us, and his first time up the stairs.
PICK-UP DAY
Today my mom and I took a trip to Rochester to pick up the puppy. We came up with some names beforehand.
Mango
Bean
Pancake
Apple
The two of us had to sit through paperwork and a quick explanation with one of the workers before we could even see him. He's seriously the smallest puppy I've ever seen...10 pounds, seven weeks old. He's a pudge-ball and has an EXTREMELY wrinkly face. For the most part, he's slept all day. He spent the entire car ride home whining and crying, but once he got in the house he was pretty good. It's his first day away from his mom and his brothers and sisters, so of course he's going to cry, poor baby. I had to puppy-proof my room, picking up boxes and anything at all on the floor besides furniture. He's getting into more things than I had anticipated.
I'm exhausted. That dog is tiring! (I never would have guessed how much more exhausting he would become!)
-His name is Mango! It's been decided.
SECOND DAY
I primarily took care of Mango yesterday, but my mom took care of him while I was at school. I came home and she was sleeping, exhausted. The puppy was in his crate, haha.
-Mango went for his first walk today! It was only to the end of our street and back, a distance of about 100 feet. He was scared, crying once we got away from the house. I didn't want to make him scared of walking, because that's one of the things Leader Dogs warns. Don't ever make him do something he's not ready for, or he will be afraid of it forever. I'm just anxious to get started, I don't want to wait!
-I've also found that homework is really, really hard to do when you have to worry about watching a puppy.
-He's already starting to recognize his name, and we're beginning with the concept of "come". He's starting to get it.
-Mango also had his first outing! We went to McDonalds for dinner. Luckily we were the only people there, so I didn't have to worry about other people scaring him. (back then, I let people pet him because they had said it was okay. When he started to get unruly and jump at people because he wanted to be pet, I had to stop. Don't make the same mistake I did; I think it contributed to his habit of becoming excited when people are around, even when he's not on the leash.) He was VERY well behaved...slept on my feet the entire time we were eating. It helped that he was exhausted when we left, though!
STAIRS
We've had Mango for four or five days now, I don't recall. But over this small span of time, he's experienced a lot of new things.
-gives us signs when he has to park
-MUCH better at walking on a leash
-sits while I prepare his food, although he doesn't quite stay sitting when I put his bowl down. He's too excited.
-doesn't cry n his crate at night.
Overall, he's getting used to being here. He's much better than I had expected! (I stated this too soon! He was too young to get into a lot of trouble. If you've never had a puppy, they don't start to become a puppy until three or four months.)
Mango walked up his first set of stairs today. They were carpeted, and there were only seven, but they were taller than he is! He cried a little when he had to come down, I think he was scared. But with encouragement and praise, he did it all by himself! His little tail was wagging the whole time.
No comments:
Post a Comment