Max and Puppydom

Max may be taking over our lives. To keep him from accidents in the motor home, I have been frequently taking him outside to do his business or numbers. He seems to have gotten the idea, and as soon as he is put outside, squats down and does number one, and then sometime in his walking about usually gets to number two. This whole procedure seems to go on about every two hours all day and also about 2:30 am. At 6:00 a.m. this morning we were at it again, but this time the benefit was to see the Big Dipper constellation overhead and the waning moon. We usually get Orion here early in the evening and have had a few discussions as to whether it is the Big Dipper or not. I think I can put that discussion to rest now.

I had forgotten that puppies have to be curious about everything. Leaves are particularly interesting right now. It makes walking sort of "stop and go," but mostly stop. So I make an encouraging clicking sound and say, "Come on, Max," with occasional success as we then go on to the next leaf or stick. This routine gets interrupted by a puppy refusing to go at all and looking at me like I was from a different planet and why should I be hanging or tugging on the leash.

Then there is the chewing. All, I repeat, ALL is fair game for chewing. Toys from the store are not necessarily as much fun as the box they came in. Papers in the crate definitely need to be chewed. Shoe strings are fair game as are pant legs, zippers in jackets, fingers and anything within striking distance. We have been forced to clean up all items from the floor. A can of rug cleaner was used for the obvious puppy deposit and then thoroughly barked at when found on the floor. An especially appealing item is the comforter on the bed which hangs near the floor and really needed to be chewed, NOT!

To make things more interesting, puppies eat and drink as often as they can, which keeps the whole cycle going, so to speak. Do puppies bark? Absolutely and at surprising things such as odd shadows or big trucks or anything that moves.

To suggest that our lives have changed a bit here is to cause me to laugh out loud. Now, why was it that I wanted a puppy? Oh yeah, snuggling time, laughing at his antics, visiting with everyone who stops to see the puppy, and the endless joy of caring for this newest member of the family. Happy travels.