Doggo Report
She's even more delightful and even more of a handful. I don't want to write too much detail about the ins and outs of puppydom because we're in the middle of it and I don't know what it all means yet. I'm thinking back to all of those "How to Home School Your Kids" posts that came out in March 2020 and all of the "dude you've been home schooling your kids for one week like everyone else" responses.
The joyful part is how much she is opening up to us. When we got her she was a bag of bones and now her body is solid and her legs are longer. Our back room is filled with dog toys and she plays with them all like crazy. Pro tip which I've learned since our friends did it for us: if someone you know has just gotten a puppy, bring them a couple of dog toys. One chew toy and one soft toy. That's exactly what your friends need.
The big win of this week was crate training. Once we'd done a few sessions during the day all of a sudden Doggo was magically able to sleep through the night so now we get to sleep through the night. Between you and me I cannot wait until the day when the crate is no longer necessary, but the reality is that she cannot be left unattended right now, and Hubs and I might need/want to leave the house at the same time before she's able to be on her own.
Eats
Um to be honest it's all a blur. We're going ultra simple with meals right now. When the dog grows up we'll get more ambitious.
Workouts
To be honest, they're kind of a blur as well but they happened. The most exciting part was getting in not one but two hikes for the hiking challenge. The weather was wicked gorgeous this weekend.
Watching
It's getting harder to find Big Hits from the 80's that we've either never seen or haven't seen since the 80's, but we pulled it off this weekend. Trading Places was a wow.
Reading
Still rocking My Brilliant Friend for the Cool Bloggers Book Club.
Still rereading the Dover series...I'm now on Dover Three by Joyce Porter. The series is a spoof of the great British detective novels in general, but Dover Three is the only book (at least that I'm aware of) that is a spoof of a specific book. It is a direct retelling of Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger. I remember a few years ago when I rewatched the old Miss Marple TV series being surprised at how close Dover Three followed the Christie story while at the same time taking it to new places. Joyce Porter's vision of small town England was quite a bit different than Agatha Christie's.
I've been listening to audio books on my hikes which is how I'm putting so many of them away. My latest venture there is Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter. It's a tell all of her career at Amazon. When I heard about this book I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it or not - in light of my own troubles with work these past few years I wasn't sure if it would it be cathartic or triggering. So far neither is true - it's good enough to keep listening but not the best book that I've ever read. I'm very interested to see where the story goes.
That's all for now. Next week I solemnly swear that we will be getting up to no good. More to come!
Yay for TWO hikes! Not bad for a blurry week!
ReplyDeleteI always admire people who can listen to something while they're doing something else. It's so efficient!
I zone out when I'm running, hiking or even cleaning. It's as if my brain greedily grabs that empty space to digest everyday life.
When I was running, I only listened to music or silence. I would never have been able to follow along with words since my brain was elsewhere. I could be happy with silence on these hikes as well, but I've just had a lot of audio books come along lately. But if I'm just walking around the neighborhood or cleaning, then it's a guarantee that I want a book or a podcast in my ears.
DeleteLiving the puppy life! It's a busy time but there will be a time after that and YAY FOR CRATE TRAINING. I am a huge proponent. Both our dogs love/ loved their crates, it's such a cozy safe space for them. They sleep in them and even until he died, Barkley would choose to go into the crate if we were going out. I guess he just liked to feel cozy.
ReplyDelete"How To Homeschool Your Kids" - lololol I remember that. Also "What the pandemic taught us" - written in like April 2020. People, seriously.
I listen to podcasts while I'm out walking, I feel like if I added audiobooks I'd be able to up my reading number so much! But I can't quit my pods!
I'm definitely in a podcast lull which is why the audio books have taken over. I only listen to non fiction though. If it's fiction then I'm reading it.
DeleteOhhh...I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteDoggo is so sweet (AND GORGEOUS), but it sounds a lot like having an infant (or toddler?) in the house. This will all be in the rearview mirror soon, but you're so wise to streamline things (e.g. simple meals) during this intense season of life!
Think of all the amazing hikes ahead with Doggo at your side <3
Having a puppy is kind of like having a toddler who isn't wearing a diaper. It's a lot of watching, a lot of playing, and a lot of "DON'T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!"
DeleteI do love her "little girl" phase but it is going to be so much fun when she's old enough to hike.
No! I didn't know Dover 3 was a re-telling of a Christie. I definitely read The Moving Finger at some point, but I obviously don't remember it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're able to sleep at night now! That's some real progress. And you're still eating, working out, and hiking... sounds like you're all doing pretty well.
Yes, we're doing well. It's a lot of babysitting time, but the baby is cute.
DeleteSince you just read Dover Three it's the perfect time to hop over to The Moving Finger. It's not memorable compared to Dover Three, but it's hysterical to see the source.
Yay for sleeping through the night! Big wins! A few of our friends did bring us dog toys when we first got Hannah and I do believe those are the only toys she has ever gotten. LOL. We are mean dog friends.
ReplyDeleteI have Dover One on my shelf from the library. I had to special order it from the University library because our public library didn't have it. What's up with that, public library? Don't you know my blog friends are reading it?
A grown up dog is a totally different ball game than a puppy. Stepdog never had more than 3-4 toys at any given time, and when we got a new one it was just to replace an old one. The shelter sent us home with about 4 toys, a friend gave us two, my SIL gave us all of her dog's puppy toys that he doesn't play with anymore, and we've bought several and we're still thinking that she doesn't have enough. Another big difference is that a puppy chews like crazy and we've already had to retire and replace her chew toys.
DeleteJust a few years ago Dover was totally out of print, which was sad. Now that it's on the Cool Blogger Radar I'm sure it will stage a full library comeback.
Trading Places is a movie that my husband made me watch. I also had to watch Glen Gary Glen Ross (sp?). There is a line (always be closing) that is quoted ALL THE DANG TIME in my industry so I guess it was good to learn about it's origin? 80s movies are something else!
ReplyDeleteI didn't love the Coulter book - it was kind of 'just ok' and felt overly long! But I could relate to some of what she experienced after my time at Target. Although Target wasn't nearly as dysfunctional... and our desks were normal and not make from doors. People bounce from Amazon to Target, and vice versa. So their cultures certainly rhyme...
Yay for sleeping through the night!!!!
I saw Glen Gary Glen Ross once and although I don't remember it, something about it left me with a bad impression.
DeleteYes, the Coulter book is falling somewhere on the fine-to-meh scale. Oh well. Hopefully it opens the doors for more work-tell-all-but-interesting memoirs.
I really enjoyed Dover Three - but I love Agatha Christie so it makes sense that I enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed the whole series; there was the right amount of mystery coupled with character friction and humor to keep me entertained.
ReplyDeleteYay for being able to sleep! I know crate training is challenging, but consistency helps! We have my mom's dog and her crate is her safe space; she hangs in there for naps and puts herself to bed at night when she's done with us.
Oh my goodness Lindsay have you read the Dover series??????? There have been times when I've felt that I was the only one on the planet who had.
DeleteOh, you'd never seen Trading Places before? That's a classic.
ReplyDeleteMulder learned to like his crate, but we don't have a lot of room, so we got rid of it as soon as we could trust him to stay safe when we left the house. Your girl is gorgeous and I love that she's settling in so well, opening up to you and feeling more comfortable. Living in a shelter has to be stressful, no matter how good of a shelter it is. Yay for sleeping!
Stepdog never had a crate in her time with us, so I had no idea about crate training. I know that Doggo needs it right now but I can't wait until those days are over for her.
DeleteDoggo looks so adorable! I'm sure she's quite a (delightful) handful, but so much fun as well. Max was never properly crate-trained, and that's something I'm not sure if it's to late in the game to tackle or not. I'm on the verge of moving to a new residence in the next few months, and am not too keen on him having free roam in a new-to-him place...
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the upcoming move! I'm not qualified to give dog advice, but since Max is an adult, maybe it would work to just start him off in one room and then gradually expand his turf to the whole house?
DeleteLook at that adorable Doggo! Look at that blue sky between and around the clouds!
ReplyDeleteI thought of you this weekend because we watched Kindergarten Cop as a family. It held up okay for me! I was surprised how much I liked it, and how much it made me giggle. My kid liked it okay, too. I wonder if she is old enough for the Terminator series...
I'd say that Terminator is worth a shot. The first time Hubs tried to show Terminator II to the boys they were too young and it spooked them. In particular it freaked them out that the bad terminator was after a kid their age. But a year later we tried again and they loved it. I remember so well when we could only watch a very limited number of movies with them, and then there was a golden period where we could see everything. Right now they're in the stage where hanging out with us in the evening is the last thing they want to do, but every once in a while the stars align and they will humor us.
DeleteI actually have not seen Trading Places although as Lisa mentioned, it is quoted all the time in my industry - Buy Low Sell High! I think I tried to watch it once but it did not draw me in, so maybe I only watched part of it. I can't remember. Don't kill me, but I am not a big movie watcher; in fact my coworker G makes fun of me that I probably have not seen a movie if it came out after 1990. Which is true! Although I have not seen that many before 1990 either. However, I am a Goonies / Princess Bride / Spaceballs fan for sure!
ReplyDeleteNo worries, we have enough other stuff to talk about besides movies! I haven't seen Goonies since the 80s and I'm not sure if I've ever seen Spaceballs. But I could watch Princess Bride for days!
DeleteI've never seen Trading Places! But I haven't seen a LOT of movies so that's not surprising, ha.
ReplyDeletePuppy life is a whirlwind! But it's the cutest whirlwind. They make 'em cute so you can't be mad when they're naughty.
Let's just say that Doggo is very cute! And she's quite a whirlwind;-)
DeleteI was just coming to see if you'd posted since this last post, but nope! Haha! Too busy puppy-parenting, I see. ;) I GET IT. lol. Charlie does pretty well in the crate but also doesn't seem to "love" it. I can think of one single time that he went in the crate on his own and laid down- and it was when I happened to be working in the sunroom where his crate lives. But otherwise, even if he wants to nap or lay down, he just lays on the floor or somewhere else. He will willingly go in the crate if I say, "Charlie, go in your house!" and have some sort of treat in my hand, but he always tries to dart back out after he gets his snack . Ha. As in, he doesn't seem thrilled to be going in, but once he's in and we leave, he usually settles right down and just goes to sleep. He does nap in there every morning for a good ~3-4 hours while I work- usually 9-12:30/1 or so. Then I take lunch and we walk or go outside, and then in the afternoon he comes down to my office and hangs out with me in there.
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness. Doggo. What a sweet face. I'm so glad that she is settling in with her people, and that you can (and have!) slept through the night. :) Here's hoping things have only continued to improve! How are the kids doing with her? Is she bonding with them, too?
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised it's all revolving around the puppy right now but I am so happy to hear she's settling in so nicely :)
ReplyDelete