New Girl

Well call us crazy but we brought another little beagle home to join our family last Friday. Her name is Perdi (to go along with the 101 Dalmations theme) and she is a dream to train so far compared to Pongo. For example, she sleeps in the car instead of panting wildly. Her biggest downfall is the crying (shrieking) at night. It gets better each day though. So we are going through the stresses and sleeplessness of puppy training again. I think this must be like what having a second child is like. Luckily, the weather is cooperating wonderfully for potty training.



Pongo is sharing his things well, including his water bowl. At first, he just wanted his space, but he is warming up to her and even plays with her quite often, even though she is so small.

I love having a girl dog! Here, I have her dressed up in a little pink hoodie. I know she'll grow out of it, but I wanted to have a keepsake of her size when we got her.

Almost everyone I have asked advice about beagles on has told me that they are much better in pairs. I can NOT imagine training two at a time, so I'm glad we waited until Pongo is fully trained to do this. I am hoping that when she gets older, Perdi will help Pongo get over his seperation anxiety. I'm sure it will either help or get twice as bad. I guess it's a bit of a gamble. I'm hoping I'm a little wiser this time around with the training. We are going much slower with the crate. Do any of you beagle owners out there have any suggestions for crate training? So far, we are just feeding her in her crate and giving her treats and a stuffed Kong with the door open. She sleeps in the laundry room, so she is not spending significant amounts of time in the crate yet. I'm hoping we can make some progress by the time we leave for our travels next week. Yikes!

Anyway, for those of you who think we are nuts for doing this, I was feeling the exact same way as I lay awake listening to her cry the first couple of nights. But I have Pongo to prove that things get just better with patience. So if anything, this dog is giving me a lesson in patience, which I need to be reminded of every day.

In the world of work today, I attended the Pecora conference (a remote sensing conference) and got to spend time visiting with some of my former co-workers. It was so cool to see them and a little weird to be in the same room as old and new co-workers. It was also great to get away from the desk for a day!