Cats, Mice, and Rats!

It's not as bad as it sounds. Kendall and the cats have come to an agreement about who's in charge and you can bet that it's the cats. They're declawed (got them that way) so a few swats to Kendall as she frolicks around them lets her know when they've had enough. Rico is trying to be friends with her. He'll come in the family room, hang out, and even roll over on his back waiting for her to come over and play with him.

One of Kendall's favorite things to do when she escapes from the family room/kitchen is to raid the cats' toy box. I rid the box of anything that I thought would be a problem before she came, but it turns out that she loves to steal little furry mice. They're so small that only the tails sticks out of her mouth. I got rid of all of the mice today so that all of the toys are now as big as or bigger than her dog toys. Stephanie gave her some really cute little toys from Ikea that I put in the cat box. They're hers, but she likes to think she can run in and steal them from the cats.

She loves my stuffed rat that I picked up from Ikea. It's soft and has a nice long tail to carry the rat around by.

A Looooooong Car Ride

Yesterday we had to drive to Sutherlin, OR, about 175 miles south of here, to meet Marilyn who was buying our teardrop trailer from us. She's from Yreka, CA and had already made the drive up here once. We offered to meet her half way a week later, once she had a chance to get a cashier's check. We've taken Kendall on short trips in the car and she's ridden in from the coast with Julie, but never have we had her in the car for such a long trip. We left with plenty of time to make lots of stops on the way. The challenging part was that we couldn't stop with her at the usual rest stops. She hasn't finished her series of puppy shots yet, and we didn't want to expose her to any unnecessary dog viruses. We stopped at a Shell station near the Pioneer museum that didn't look like it had a lot of visitors and a church. We did have to make one stop at a rest stop so that the humans could "rest", too. Clyde ended up stepping in a big pile of doggie doo. Fun.

On the way back we stopped in historic Oakland. We ran into some people who have four Cavaliers in their family. What a great little town. It was built in the 1890's and has a bunch of little stores and an original soda fountain.

4:30 am!!

Kendall woke me up at 4:30 this morning. It's Saturday! She's usually really quiet in her crate at night, so her whining made me think she had to go out. She did, but then she wasn't content going back to sleep. We both got up by 5 am. Now, she's sound asleep in Clyde's lap. She's not a morning dog.

Routine, routine, routine

It's all about routine when it comes to acclimating a new puppy. We've got the housetraining thing going pretty well. She's now asking to go outside, as long as we're paying attention. We've had a few peeing accidents since we got her but only one pooping accident, which was my fault. It was the very first morning and I didn't know how long to take her out.

Now mornings are for cuddling and chewing bones in your lap. She goes in her crate in the bedroom while we shower and get ready, and then it's time for a little training and then playing.

We've been coming home for lunch, which gives us just enough time to walk her, eat, do a little training, a little playing, and get back to work in time.

First visit to the groomer's

Kendall went to the groomer's today for their puppy treatment, which consisted of a bath, a blow dry, a brushing, and nail clipping. We thought it would be a good idea to get her used to being handled by others and to be bathed by someone other than us - not that we've tried it yet. She came back smelling great, and they were able to get the pitch off of her chest. She picked up the pitch in the back yard the very first day she was here.

Kendall comes to live with us!

We got home from vacation on Saturday the 13th and Kendall came to live with us on Sunday at 4 pm. It was a fun but tiring week for all involved. It's now a week later, we've got a routine established, and things are going great. So far, no chewing problems. We work really hard to make sure she always has an appropriate chew toy. She has quickly learned how to come, sit, lay down, and roll over. We're going to have to come up with new things to teach her. She's a fast learner.

Yesterday we went to small dog play hour at the place where Kendall will go to puppy preschool. I tried to take pictures, but she was so fast, I couldn't capture it. She had so much fun! She jumped right in and played with all the dogs. She was exhausted afterwards.

Last night her hernia stayed in!! We've been pushing it in daily hoping that the hole would close up small enough to hold her insides in.

Today we're having some friends over that have kids to further socialize her. This was her BEFORE the kids came over. It's tough being a puppy.

Kendall at 8 and 9 weeks

Julie was nice enough to bring Kendall with her when she came in from the coast so that we could visit with Kendall before she came to live with us. We were scheduled for vacation the week Kendall would've been ready to come live with us. She ended up staying at Julie's until she was 10 weeks old.

Kendall at 5 weeks

We drove out to the Oregon coast, near Tillamook, to see Kendall at the breeder's. She had two sisters and a brother. Isn't she a cutie?