Saturday, December 06, 2008

New baby in the family...

Miss Kitty has a little sister and I am a dog mom! I picked up my little Pomeranian last night (so hard to choose from the litter of four - they were all so stinking cute I could have taken all four home). She's 7 weeks old, is teeny-tiny (the little one of the litter), and is the neediest animal I have ever met in my life, excluding my sister's Yorkie. Miss Kitty hasn't really taken to her yet (she has been in her hidey box since last night), but she will eventually.

The new puppy has no name yet, but she does have the sweetest little face and is quite the spaz. She also has no discretion about where she makes peeps and poops, refuses to go potty outside, and woke me up 14 times last night chewing on my hair and my face, and another four or five times whimpering (potty? No. Food? No. Love? Yes. Just wanted to play at 4am).

pup6

I need help with a name! Her bio parents called her Apollonia because her daddy's name is Robin Masters Apollo. I'm not in love with the name Apollonia and don't want to call her Apple because Gwyneth already came up with that one. This is what I know about her so far: She enjoys running around in circles, chewing on the leg of my sweatpants when I stand up, will suddenly pass out for a nap in the middle of playing with her stuffed dog, whimpers if I leave the room and she can't see me, has the tiniest little white feet, and weighs about 2 lbs. I've come up with the following list with the help of family and friends (my mom and Michael have already met her):

Lulu Belle (Lou for short)
Tuffie
Mimi
Tiny Dancer (Tiny for short)
Little Lily

I don't want her to be three months old and nameless, so I have to come up with something soon. Ideas are welcome! Right now, I'm leaning toward Tiny. Tiny Dancer. Too weird?

More pics here.

Also, any training advice is welcome. She is wearing her collar now after some struggling last night, but I took her out this morning on a leash and she did not like it AT ALL. She has a box with newspaper where she is supposed to potty, but pretty much goes wherever she likes, even after I've put her in her potty box or taken her outside every single time she makes wee indoors. I know she's a baby and training is a lot of work. I can handle it, I just need to figure out what to do!

Despite the behavioral stuff, I adore her already. I love her baby growls when she fights with her stuffed dog. She barks at the television. She climbs me like a tree when I'm sitting on the couch. And right now, she's licking my laptop (don't think my Dell warranty covers dog spit, but she's only licking the outside). She smells like puppy, but in a good way. And I fell in love with her sweet little face in a pic the owner sent me before I even met her. Her cuteness makes me weak.

12 comments:

  1. Ahhh... she's cute! I don't know nuthin' about training no puppies, Miz Kelly, so can't help you there.

    I like Tiny Dancer also because you can riff so many nicknames off of it...Tiny, Teeny, Dannie, Danzi.

    Personally, I'd be perverse with such a small dog and name it something like Marmaduke or some other famous giant dog name.

    But that's just me.

    Congrats!

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  2. Thanks, Janet! I like Tiny too and have been alternating between that and Lou. If I had picked one of the boys, it would have been Doug or Mr. Something (Mr. Biggles, Mr. Muggles...).

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  3. She's adorable!

    You might want to try a step-in harness -- less stress on the neck. Little dogs often get less freaked out by them.

    Potty-training is a little crazy. To get her used to it, you should try to take her out every hour, if not more freqently, and praise her extensively when she pees or poops out doors. Don't wait til she thinks she has to go -- pre-empt it. Tiring, yes, but sooo worth it in the long run! :)

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  4. Too cute! Has she had her jabs yet though? I couldn't take mine out of the house til he had his second one, but I don't know how it works in the States...she needs to go and see a vet asap so you can get started with all that stuff.

    Names - pick one that shortens well, you'll be calling it fifty million times a day so it needs to be something you like the sound of! I like Apps, personally, very geek 2.0 ;)

    To get her to like the lead use it indoors and tie it to your belt so she gets used to following you around. And if she starts to pull at all stop her right away! I wish I'd been harder on Benji's pulling earlier on, would have saved me a lot of trauma.

    Buy some dog books to learn what's best for training a young pup - I recommend Mother Knows Best (Carol Lea Benjamin) and It's Me Or The Dog (Victoria Stillwell). The Dog Whisperer DVDs are great but don't give any advice on puppies.

    I am going to look at more photos of her now, hurrah!

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  5. She just peed outside for the first time! I've taken her out 10 times since 6am and she just now made her very first outside wee! We're celebrating!

    Leigh - I wanted to call her Bella, but it's already taken!

    Warriorgirl - she has had her first shots and been dewormed (she's CKC registered and owners gave me all paperwork) and they said OK to take outside but keep away from other dogs until she's had second round of shots though.

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  6. p.s. I've kind of been stuck on calling her "Lou" this morning.

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  7. The dog training book we've used is How to Raise Your Puppy, by the Monks of New Skete. A friend says that she thinks it's a method that works best on German Shepherds, though, and she might be right.

    Pick a name fast or you'll end up with something ridiculous by just talking baby-talk to the puppy!

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  8. I love the name LuLu Belle...can I be her Fairy Dog Mother? Oh, I can smell the puppy breath now! Welcome to dog motherdom...I'm sure you're aware by now that it's MUCH different than a kitten. (laughing on the inside)

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  9. So cute!! Congratulations on becoming a dog mom!

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  10. Pip..short for pipsqueak
    Ella
    Lil Bit
    Moxie
    Miss Beasley

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  11. Lucy's full name is Lucy Belle. I call her Lucy Belle Spar when she does something bad.

    Good luck with potty training. It will come, it just takes some work. She is very young too, don't forget when it gets frustrating. She's only a little baby.

    Enjoy her - dogs rule!

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  12. Very cute dog. The behavior (minus the inconvenient bathroom use thank god) sounds a lot like how my kitten Napoleon behaved when I first had him.

    On a side note, my brother, a pretty stereotypical 22-year old male also has a cat named Miss Kitty, which I think is hilarious given his personality.

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