King Louie

4th of July

I brought Louie home on the 4th of July. I had my boyfriend drive me around town picking up a little carrier, a bed, some toys, and some potty pads. That was before I had officially decided I was going to get him!

We drove an hour south to meet him, and when we did he was so healthy and perfect looking. I held him and he sat calmly in my arms, then I set him down on the ground. He walked around to everybody's shoes and gave each one a sniff, and the one with shoelaces a little nip, tail wagging the whole time.

I was a little concerned because he was only 8 weeks old, and the fragility of chihuahuas leads people to recommend breeders wait until 12 weeks to send them home. But I knew the seller would sell him whether it was to me or someone else, so I decided I'd be his new mommy and take care of him.

I placed him in the little carrier I had picked up for him, a purse-like bag with mesh sides and a zipper opening, in which I had placed a super soft fluffy bed. He crawled in and curled up right away, falling instantly asleep.

I took him with me to pick up some more supplies (including a child's playpen) and set up his little space in my room. He sat with me most of the evening, sleeping and being calm while I petted him, not even getting freaked out during the fireworks show, which was so close to my house it was shaking the windows! He was such a trusting little puppy.

Week 1

Louie's had a big week. He's gone to work with me every day, where he sits in my cubicle with me in his little carrier/bed and sleeps most the day. He got a clean bill of health from the vet. He met my roommates' three big dogs and their cat, and he met my boyfriend's two cats as well. He likes their cat toys better than they do.

He met some neighborhood children who have a tendency to let out loud squeals at random moments and scare him to a shaking ball of fur. He went to a puppy play session, but the puppies there were too big, he just watched. He met some well-behaved children at a park, but he was very scared of just the sight of them.

He will "go potty" almost every time I tell him to (as long as I pay attention and take him out when he needs to go) -- he definitely knows what I want him to do, and he knows outside is preferable to his potty pads, which he'll use if he has to. When he goes outside, I tell him he's a good boy over and over and he wags his tail. The other night he even whined to let me know he needed to go outside! Of course, he also whines to let me know he's bored, lonely, worried, or hot, so I didn't know that's what he was whining about until after he went on the potty pad.

He loves playing in the yard. He will "c'mere" when I ask him to, as long as I sound really excited about it and he isn't preoccupied with something even more exciting. When he decides he's going to "c'mere" he leaps into action and runs to me as fast as his little 2 pound body will carry him, his floppy ears blowing in the wind. I tell him he's a good boy and he gives me kisses on the lips (if I pick him up so he can reach.)

He loves to rest his head on my shoulder and watch the world behind me. I like to nibble on his ears. I think he likes it when I do that, because sometimes I get kisses.

He can be very stubborn -- if he wants to cuddle with me and I don't let him, he whines and yips and tries to jump out of his playpen (which worries me, because he could really hurt himself!) He doesn't like it if I'm in the bed and he isn't! I've been trying to trick him by cuddling him to sleep and then putting him in his bed, but he just ends up waking me up in a couple of hours. I let him sleep with me last night, and he slept right through the night! I just don't know what to do about that.

Ten weeks!

We survived two weeks together! He changes so much every day, I'm still trying to figure him out. We've got the feeding and potty schedule down pat -- his only accidents have been when other people were watching him and don't know his schedule or his signs.

Louie either caught a cold, or is showing symptoms from his kennel cough vaccination. He had sniffles and sneezes all weekend, and developed a cough over the last few days that has finally started to peter out. I've been so worried about him!

I knew raising a puppy would be a lot of work, but I wasn't prepared for how much stress I'd feel about him all the time!

Bit of a scare this morning!

Louie and I had a bit of a scare this morning -- I was taking him outside to go potty, and he was filled with wriggly excitement about getting outside. Since he's too small to work the stairs yet, I have to carry him down the porch. After the bottom step, I was setting him down on the walk when he wriggled out of my grasp! Luckily he was only about 8 inches up, but unluckily he landed on his face on the pavement.

He immediately cried in pain, which broke my heart and had me in a panic. I held him, then placed him on my back in my lap, made sure he was calmer, then inspected everything I could. I was sure he'd have chipped a tooth or cut his lip, hopefully nothing worse... but I couldn't see anything wrong. I could touch his muzzle without any reaction from him, and he seemed able to bite normally.

He was a bit shaken up for a while, but soon returned to his normal puppy self. At the end of the day, I gave him another little inspection, and the only strange thing I could see was a bright red vessel in the white of his left eye. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Octopus!

About a week ago, I bought a little squid looking puppy toy for Louie. When I introduced it to him the first time, I said "Octopus!"

After that, every time I handed him the toy, I'd say the same thing, "Octopus!" My boyfriend even started saying it :)

Today he was playing with the octopus, then, after a while, was sitting looking up at me with the toy at his feet. I said "Octopus!" without doing anything. He sorta looked halfway down towards the toy, then back up at me... I said "Get it!" and he immediately grabbed the octopus and started playing with it!

I laughed and told him he was a good boy and let him play for a while. A few minutes later, he looked like he was settling down for a little nap. He was in one corner of his playpen with the octopus in the other corner where he had left it. I wanted to check to see if it was just a fluke, so I said it again, "Octopus!"

He looked right at the toy, I said "Get it!" -- and he went up to it, put it in his mouth, then dropped it and looked up at me like "Yeah, I got it, it's an octopus!"

"Sit!"

Louie and I have done a bit of work on "sit."

First I praised him a few times when I found him in a sit position on his own. I guess sitting is a natural position for puppies (as they look up at you anxiously) so it's easy to find them in the position and encourage it.

I hand-fed him his dry kibble a couple times, luring him into a sit with each piece, saying "sit" as soon as his tush hit the ground. He learned frighteningly quickly!

Next while playing with him, playing a bit of "chase the toy" I was holding, I held it above his head and said "sit" -- when he sat, I gave him the toy for a bit of chewing/play-killing

He quickly made the leap to sitting on command -- no lure or hand signal necessary!

Funny story: While telling this to my boyfriend on the phone, Louie was napping in his pen. My phone kept cutting out while I was telling my boyfriend what I had taught Louie to do: "You taught him what?" Me: "Sit!" Him: "What?" Me: "Sit!" -- after about three or four times I looked over at Louie and he had gotten up from his nap and was SITting, looking at me like "What do you want?!"

Mama's crazy

I am going crazy spoiling my puppy to death. I bought him a Juicy Couture sweatshirt, a PetFlys carrier, some fabulous snacks and chewies... and I just keep buying more stuff! I'm out of control!