My Goodies arrived!

Yesterday my business kit from Creative Memories arrived and am so excited :) TONS of fun stuff to help jump start my new business. :)

Tonight (or first thing in the morning.... haven't decided yet) Adam and I are heading up to Eagle Rock to see Mom and Dad for Dad's birthday (which is Sunday). I never know what to get him..... If he needs something he usually just goes out and buys it himself which makes it very hard to purchase stuff for him.

For instance - I believe it was for christmas last year, Mom had said he wanted a gas powered leave blower for up at Eagle Rock. So I said PERFECT, make sure he doesn't buy it and Adam and I will get it for him for Christmas. A week or so goes by, talking to my mom on the phone "oh yeah, Dad just bought a leave blower....." I was so angry at him..... argh.... I don't even remember what we actually got him but it kinda ruined the moment......


So I leave you with some pics of Koda.... because I can :)

Pictures

This last picture really shows how much she has grown!!!

SNOW DAY!

Today I am working from home.... love these days! So I had the dogs outside for a little bit and snapped some pics.... enjoy!

Week #1 Complete...

Well we made it through a full week with Koda! It's been an interesting one....

So we decided to ask our neighbor to come let her out during the day while Adam and I are at work. She graciously accepted and we couldn't happier knowing (for now...) that she will not make a complete mess everyday!

The lining of the wee-wee pads plus the blanket has been great! That way she doesn't mess up our carpet and I can was the blankets and towels! She has been super good about not messing in the house except if we have her out with us in the living room.... so I make sure to come into her play area a lot during the day to make sure she gets the attention she needs (and deserves!!)

She has also figured out how to jump over the baby gate.... I know that it wasn't the most secure "gate" but it was working and we didn't think anything of it.... then one day I was in the kitchen and all of a sudden POOF! there she was at my feet.... so we came up with plan B...



We went to PetSmart last night and picked up a new gate that swings open and closed.... plus it is higher than the previous one. Adam then proceeded to build a wood contraption (which is actually quite cool) to help support the gate since we are not using it in a doorway quite yet.

Koda and Casey were outside for about an hour today since the weather finally warmed up (40 degrees!!) so she is all tuckered out and will hopefully sleep until it time for dinner!

In other news, work is going well. Finally completed a huge project that I have been working on since Sept '08. All the managers (including mine) will be at an offsite next week, so it'll be a quite one! Which is a good thing, means I can get other things done without being interrupted...

Still have a lot of snow on the ground, it's just been way to cold for it to go away. But then it ices over! So our driveway has been an ice-skating rink for the past week or so, but as I mentioned it got up into the 40's today with a lot of sun, so bye bye ice!!

Nothing else too exciting... so I'm going to go catch up on some TV shows I missed then time for the SuperBowl!! YAY commercials!! I mean...... ;)

The Puppy Blues

So Koda didn't do too hot today being in her crate for 9 hours.... Adam came home at 3:30 and she had peed all in her crate...no poopy which was good.... but the pee smell was pretty gross....

I don't know what we were thinking that she'd be fine for that long.... obviously we weren't.... she still pee's all over the place... So Adam and I were talking and realized that we are just giving her too much free rein too quickly.....until she can control her little (or big) bladder we are going to have to just confined her in a smaller place and only let her roam the house for an hour or two when we are home at night.... So I came up with a couple new plans...

In my office I have two desk, yup two. One with my personal computer on it and the other for when I work from home. Which does take up majority of the office. So I emptied out half of my office up to my personal computer desk, laid towels down on the carpet and gated it in. Plus added a couple (not sure if that's too much or not enough?) wee-wee pads.



Option 1: During the day she can be out of her crate but still be confined to a small location. And if she has to pee then she can do it on the wee-wee pad or on the towel and not in her crate. She'll stay in the confined area until she's old enough to learn to hold it till we get home.

Option 2: Crate her during the day and then ask my neighbor (who is home during the day) to come check on her at 10:00am to let her out of the crate.

Option 3: Adam could drive home on his lunch (which it's a 35 min drive one-way to his work) to let her out.....but he'd have to make sure to leave at the same time and not get caught up in his work

We are so at a lost of what to do....I know she is still young but it's frustrating..... Can anyone enlighten me on how they have house-trained a puppy?

The next two days I will be working from home so I am going to test out some situations and see what works.... Think I might do some research online too... I have a book called The Everything Labrador Retriever Book so I am going to read again too...

She is asleep now, then at around 9:15/9:30 let her O-U-T for the final time and call it a night....

Sorry my posts aren't more interesting....

Koda Update

Things with Koda are going well! Adam has taught her how to go down our stairs which has been a great help! Makes it a lot easier to get her outside plus when I carried her I was afraid I was going to drop her.

Yesterday Adam took a "sick" day to work on an outside project he is doing so it made yesterday easier for me. He left in the crate from 7a-11a let her for about an hour while he had some lunch then put her in the crate from 1-3:30p. She has not been messing or anything in her crate which is a good thing. Plus she has been sleeping through the night (from about 9p to 5a)which is about a good 8hours.

Today is the true test, she'll be in the crate all day from 6:30p till 3:30p when Adam gets home which is about an hour longer than normal... I'm sure she'll be find but will definitely have to pee right away!

She is still having accidents in the house, but not as often and it's just pee which I'd rather have then #2...

I'll post more pictures later!

New Member of the Family

I'd like you to meet Koda - Adam and I have had her for not even 24 hours and are completely in love with her!!

She is a Chocolate Lab Retriever. Her mom is a chocolate and her dad is a black lab. She has the sweetest of personalities! She weighs 24.5 lbs and is 14 weeks old. Last night was a long one.... we have her "safe room" set-up in my office. This is were she sleeps and eats. Since Casey (our golden) has had the run of the house, we wanted to make sure Koda (new puppy) has a place of her own as well. We decided my office was the best place since that is where I spend most of my time when we are home.

We picked her up yesterday in Thornton, PA at a private breeders house. I found her using the akc.org website. We knew it was going to be a long drive (3+hrs) so we told the breeder we would arrive by 1pm. This gave us time to prep the house for her arrival plus we didn't have to wake up so early to get down there.

We arrived down there at actually 1pm. The breeder currently owns 7...yes that's right 7 labs (she has all 3 types - yellow, chocolate and black). We got to meet Koda's mom (2 yr old Josie) and her dad (4 yr old Nicky). We knew right away that Koda will have a great personality, and be very loving.

On the way home, she was great in the car - just sat in my lap and stared out the window. Her breathing was a little heavy only due to the fact that it was a new situation. We stopped off at PetSmart to pick up a crate, a few toys, and food.

Got her home, settled in. Adam and I had some friends come up to the house last night and we were up pretty late. Which was actually good for Koda. It had a been a stressful day for her to begin so she was extremely tired. Had a few accidents in the house, but she is quickly learning.... kind of... I know house-training doesn't happen over night but I sure wish it did!

Didn't have any problems with her when we went to bed, but at about 3:30am I heard her rustling in her cage, then she barked. So I got up took her outside quickly (along w/Casey) and she peeped and pooped! Was very proud. Came back in put her back in the crate.... she started barking.... a lot.... so after 10 mins of this I went in my office and played with her till about 4:45 and we both crashed on the floor in my office. (her in the crate....) So I shutted the gate and didn't lock it.... which was stupid. 7:00a rolls around and I go to check on her and she had peed. No wonder she didn't need to go out! So lesson learned.....

Today is going well - still some accidents, but she's till young. It'll take time....

Casey is not sure what to do with her but is tolerating her for now.....

I need a nap..... is this what it's like to have a baby too??