36 hours with Mel, part I

[c9]

Backstory: my grandmother is moving from a nursing home in Summerside to a nursing home near my parents' place. My father drove a truck down during the week to pick up the furniture, and my Mom flew down this morning to pick her up. The brand new puppy is alone though, and he's too young for that yet. So I drove up this morning to puppysit.

I arrived at 8am, having made pretty good time on the highways of the "between Toronto and Lake Huron" area. My mom was gone, so I let myself in, and the puppy, Mel, was thrilled to see me. I took him outside, he peed. He's 13 weeks old, so it's still necessary to pay close attention to this stuff.

I played with him a bit, but then headed downstairs to the computer, with him behind me, so I could read my email. He wrestled with a towel for a bit, and then went back upstairs and grabbed his leash. This of course *seems* like it means he wants a walk, but he's too young for that level of signaling. I tried to take him for a walk and he had to be forced to move 20 metres from the house. As soon as I turned around to go home, he trotted happily. :)

Back downstairs to surf the web. I thought I was watching him enough, but I missed the signs and suddenly there was a pile of poop on the rug. Nice. Took him outside, cleaned that up, played with him outside for a bit, then we came back in. Back to the basement to continue trying to surf the web (it has been a total of 45 minutes since I arrived at this point). I decide to get some grape juice to drink, and carry that downstais with me. To entice Mel, I bring his torus-shaped tennis ball, and wave it at him from the bottom of the stairs. I step back to throw it for him and my socks are wet. Oh crap - dog pee. My parents are good though: they left paper towels right beside where I was standing. Sequence of events:

• Mel finally comes downstairs
• put down juice on floor
• pick up paper towels from shelf
• rip off section of paper towel to wipe up pee
• Mel decides to try the grape juice
• put down paper towel
• move grape juice to shelf
• pick up paper towel
• wipe up pee
• take off socks finally
• drop socks on floor
• Mel decides to wrestle my sock
• take socks away
• throw socks behind baby gate into unfinished bathroom my Dad's working on
• spray stain remover on laminate flooring just in case it matters
• Mel decides to play between my legs while I try to crouch down and wipe up the stain remover
• put paper towel roll on low shelf
• Mel decides to eat paper towel
• move paper towel roll to high shelf
• throw out paper towels
• Mel wrestles a stuffed sheep
• Mel passes out for a nap
• Cam writes this report.

Total time since I walked through the door: 70 minutes.

I'm tired already!

Comments

[thespos]

I LOVE puppies, but I do not miss that. :-P

And a puppy of 13 weeks will need to go out about every 3-4 hours - and the best thing to do is keep him outside until he goes, praise him like crazy when he does, and then bring him back in.

He'll sucker you every time, otherwise. :-)

The best thing I ever did with Quinn was teach him to go potty on command. This was a good thing during harsh winters, rainstorms, and road trips, and it's something he does well to this day. Lucy was never taught, and she wanders and wanders like she hasn't a care in the world. She'll hold it indefinitely, which is good, but when you know she has to go, it's frustrating.

But I still love puppies. :-) After Quinn passes away, I know I will get 2-3 dogs at once, just because I love them. :-P

Enjoy your stay, tho. :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I know how he works -- I was here last weekend to meet him too. He's just dealing with a messed up schedule today.

I love dogs, and puppies especially, but I don't have the patience (yet) to own a dog. I tell friends that I'm a much better dog uncle.

48 hours with Toby

[petele.livejournal.com]

it sounds very similar to my 48 hours with Toby, except he was a few weeks older than Mel is. Thankfully being small, the messes to clean up are small, but it's still a pain. I love puppies though, he's so cute, and so energetic!

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

This is why I have a kitten. :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was my theory too. Our two cats turned out to be medium-maintenance rather than low, but oh well.

[jpman.livejournal.com]

I want a puppy too! Since Mitzy died, I've felt a distinct lack of bark and fur in my life.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

This is why babies are better that puppies. You can't put a diaper on a puppy. Well, you can, but it doesn't work very well. They also don't wrestle things and aren't that mobile at 13 weeks.

I can't wait until we can have a dog -- i.e., we have a place of our own with a yard -- which might be never if we succeed in our dream to live downtown. We've already decided: no new pets until a) the kid(s)* are over 2 years of age and b) the cat population declines.

*one has to plan for these things.

[bcuzimpretty.livejournal.com]

What kind of puppy is it?

I'm so puppy deprived now that Roo has left with the doggies....

[c9.livejournal.com]

Golden lab. Are there other kinds? :)

[bcuzimpretty.livejournal.com]

Only chocolate labs and black labs.

[c9.livejournal.com]

I meant, are there any other kinds of dogs? :)

[whobunkyboo.livejournal.com]

Ah puppies. As I type, my puppy has crawled under my desk (for the first time ever) and is sleeping with his head on my foot.

Note: my puppy is 4.5 years old, 67 poundds of Rotti cross. Who likes to be under things.