I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible, while I won't miss waking up at 3am to let him out, or taking up every single minute of my lunch feeding and exercising him, or not being able to do anything but watch him (why didn't I buy a laptop?) I'll miss the energy, challenge and cuteness of him. I'm trying to to get so fed up with him that I don't stop appreciating the big picture.
It will probably be YEARS before we ever have another puppy, but a kitten is in our future!
My parents say that all the time "I wish we could just send her back!"
But she's so sweet, and so energetic and fun.. she's just so much puppy! Her back is already even with my knees, and that tail is a dangerous weapon!
She's pretty bad with commands too. She really only listens to my stepmom when she says "sit," and usually that's after you grab her face and say "Dora! Sit!"
I have training treats (if you don't have them, buy some they are a life saver, and only about 3 calories a treat, so a lot can go a LONG way, not like regular treats) and mastering "sit" was really easy with them. Now, whenever I say it, he sits and looks at me like, "Give me my treat, bitch." Of course, at this age, puppies are only motivated by positive reinforcement, and for a lab, there is no better reinforcement than food.
On the bright side, I can now get him to sit almost anytime anywhere, even with fairly extreme stimuli. Our neighbor, who is a Animal Humane Society worker, is very impressed with his sitting abilities. It makes me feel better.
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It will probably be YEARS before we ever have another puppy, but a kitten is in our future!
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But she's so sweet, and so energetic and fun.. she's just so much puppy! Her back is already even with my knees, and that tail is a dangerous weapon!
She's pretty bad with commands too. She really only listens to my stepmom when she says "sit," and usually that's after you grab her face and say "Dora! Sit!"
Ahh puppies!
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On the bright side, I can now get him to sit almost anytime anywhere, even with fairly extreme stimuli. Our neighbor, who is a Animal Humane Society worker, is very impressed with his sitting abilities. It makes me feel better.
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Fortunately I'm a cat person, and my pet obeying commands is not a problem, as it will never happen. :)
But really, I could never deal with a dog, I don't think. I don't have the patience.
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