puppy puzzles

 Friday was another day of chaos with Adia instigating mayhem and Lupa happily joining in. I’m happy that they are getting along but gosh! By the end of the day I’m too exhausted to make supper and my appetite has gone. Carm has been stepping up to take away some of the burden. I’ve also been using the crates more.

Lupa has had diarrhoea or loose stool on and off since Wednesday night - luckily she wakes me up to take her outside (every 2 hours!) and then goes back to sleep right away. Small mercies. Maybe because of this she had 2 accidents in the house yesterday (pee & poop) but she made up for it by going to the front door 3 times. Small progress although at times it feels that it will never end.

She’s quickly getting bigger. 10.2 pounds this morning, up almost a pound from a week ago! She’s growing up to be an Irish Wolfhound 😱 

I do think she was dropped on her head at some point as she’s not the brightest light in the room - it’s unfair of me but I compare her to Spike who was the smartest dog we’ve had and he loved to learn new things. She is easily distracted and has the attention span of a gnat! She’s not at all food oriented unless it’s the raw meat for supper so I’m having trouble finding treats she’ll work for and worst of all we think the chicken hearts are the cause of her gastric upset.

Cathey was by for supper last night and brought some dog puzzles for the pooches to try out. Adia loved it and quickly solved them, even to level 3. Lupa got to try one and did manage to solve a level 2 in a reasonable length of time. We’ll think of getting one of the harder ones to challenge them.

It was 8 weeks yesterday that we lost Spike. I still cry a bit every day and am fighting the gloom that comes with sadness. Thankfully little Lupa brings some light into our lives. I don’t recall when I’ve seen Carm laugh so much.

Both dogs are asleep right now! I’m not moving in fear of waking them up!

… later in the evening

We just said goodbye to Trudie, Leo, and Pat after an evening of enthusiastic conversation and a bit of food. Lupa was quiet - I think she was overwhelmed by so many people. She was back to being a devil as Carm closed the gate. We’ll have to make sure to have more people over with positive experiences to increase her confidence.

Awesome!

“asking several times at the door”

“chickadees coming down to the feeder when I was standing 4’ away”

“Lupa walking into her bedtime crate on her own”

“a moment of peace”