Our puppy Maple turned 11 weeks old this past Friday. We finally got her in for her follow up vet tech appointment to get a vaccine. We had to postpone it because of her #2 problems I mentioned last post. That seems to be better now. She gained 2 pounds in a week! She’s now 18.5 pounds. In case you missed any of my previous posts, I’ve got them listed below.
Catch up here:
Puppy Go Bag: Preparing for a puppy after losing our family dog
Puppy First Days Home: Meet Maple!
Puppy Adventures: weeks 8-9
Puppy Adventures: weeks 9-10
Maple, 11 weeks old, fox red, female Labrador Retriever.
Maple is growing fast. It’s not going to be long until we won’t be able to lift her like we’ve been doing. We trimmed her nails ourselves this past week while she was sleeping. It worked great, and we are hoping to do it again soon. However, I’m not so sure this method will last. I’m hoping we can continue to do it ourselves though. It sure would be a lot easier. We’ll see.
I bought Maple her first sweater!
We’ve been trying to expose her to lots of different sounds. Some have been planned and other times not. The smoke alarm going off because my dinner got too close to the top of the oven is an example of the later. She did great though. We gave her a couple of Cheerios (our vet said are easy on her tummy) to connect the sound to something positive. Another time, I was vacuuming in the kitchen by her pen and she was watching me. Every now and then I reached over and gave her a Cheerio. She did great again! No barking. I want to try a hairdryer next, and I suppose the door bell would be good too. Yesterday we made a fire in the fire pit on our patio. She was a little nervous, but we kept her close and gave her, you guessed it… a few Cheerios!
Thoughts on giving a pup Cheerios for a training treat? Leave a comment below.
We introduced her to peanut butter this past week. We spread it over this yellow honeycomb looking mat that she can lick. This entertains her and helps when a mealtime is close but not quite time yet. My husband did share that we need to make sure the peanut butter doesn’t have Xylitol in it that isn’t good for dogs. I didn’t know that.
She’s got the routine of sitting and waiting before she gets her food down. This is one of the first things we taught her simply by holding her back from the food bowl a few seconds. We taught her to sit at that time too. The food in front of her is a great motivator. But now she runs to the spot to a sit without our help, then my husband places the bowl down. She added a little jump before the sit all on her own which is super cute. When he says “okay,” she then moves forward to her bowl to eat. It’s absolutely amazing how she’s got this one down in just a few weeks! I told my husband she really wants to please us and is definitely ready for more direction and training. I suggested getting her to wipe her chin on a towel after drinking water, using the word “chin.” It’s not high on his list of tricks he wants to work on. (wink wink) But puppy classes start this next week. We’ll see what ideas they come home with.
We’ve also been letting her roam a little more so she’s not always in her pen. For instance, my husband will let her out when he’s making his lunch during the work day. She typically will be right by his side anyway. But it’s also an opportunity for her to learn boundaries and to learn jumping up on the counter or table isn’t okay. She’s found the corner by the sink where the lazy susan is as a good place to wait patiently sitting. We’ve started to say “corner,” when we’re by the sink and she wants to jump up. Since she’s out more, she can also start to learn to go to the patio door to let us know she needs to go “outside.” If we kept her in her pen the entire time she may not learn it as quickly.
Barriers or Baby gates?
We continue to keep the main level laundry and bathroom doors closed, and the office door between those if she’s in the kitchen area. This helps contain her. We didn’t purchase any baby gates to section off the dining room or room we call the fireplace room. For one, the fireplace room has a step down and a railing on two sides which would be really hard to get a gate for. The dining room is my favorite spot, and I’m in there a lot. (I’m writing this from the dining table right now) If she wanders in there I’m typically able to steer her away from things she shouldn’t get, like the corner of the area rug that tends to curl up. This morning she wouldn’t let it go and wanted to bite it continuously!
The room we call the playroom, that’s off the dining room, is blocked by our dining room chairs currently. This won’t be our longterm solution, but it’s protecting the massive amounts of Legos my boys regularly have out all over the carpet. All this to say, our house is in a bit of a weird phase right now. The temporariness kinda makes it tolerable, but also annoying. To get to the curtains in the playroom I need to climb over either the chairs next to the dining room, or the large plastic blue tote that holds the colorful cardboard bricks on the other side of the room. The boys made a barrier on that side too because the room is also connected to the front door foyer area. If I’m coming down the stairs in the morning to open the blinds I have to climb over on that side. I’m met with an empty claw machine box next to the big blue tote, and an old brown ottoman with a few things on top. It’s common to also step and slip on a few other stray toys like magnetic blocks that have been played with too close to the barrier. It is what it is. For how long? No clue.
I tried playing doggy TV (YouTube) and Maple loves it. I had it on for a bit because my husband was currently at my oldest son’s soccer game. When he leaves she’ll whine a bit, but this settled her down. It’s basically like ducks in a pond, or a dog running through a field, or deer walking in a forest. I had thought of going along to the game, but she needed to eat soon. My youngest son said he didn’t want to go because he gets bored. Two reasons? It was my lunch time too. Three reasons. I decided to stay back, feed her and let her out, and put her in her crate to run an errand with my youngest for a bit.
Look at those eyes!
Life’s a bit different, a lot different kinda. I still don’t think having a puppy is like a baby. It’s just different, and she’s worth it 110%. Sweet girl.
