Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Unknown said…
Ah! How cute. My dog is annoying me SEVERELY right now, but someday I'd love another puppy. I cannot give you any training ideas since we didn't do that great of job with Dewey. He steals things he shouldn't (baby toys, things out of the trash, etc) and is loud, and is a beggar, but we love him!
Alissa said…
SO CUTE! I'm very happy to have a little puppy "niece" now! Can't wait to meet her. Also, I really like the new blog look!
Stephanie said…
Oh she's so cute!! Congrats!!!
Casie said…
How cute! It makes me want a puppy - but then I read on about how much work they are...and remember that I already have 2 puppies, I mean, kids. =)
Laura said…
I am so deranged with lack of sleep and stress that I am stalking the internet for ANY tips to get her to sleep quietly. I guess the patience wears off with each passing sleepless night. What a great mom I am going to be someday...

Popular posts from this blog

Soul-Level Joy

Lately I’ve been blessed to notice myself experiencing soul level joy more and more. The best way I can describe it is just feeling happy at every level. Physical, emotional spiritual. It almost takes my breath away when I stop and soak it up. I wanted to capture one such moment here.   Lately Allie has been doing SUPER kind things (that I can not fathom myself doing at her age). For example, she brought one of her Happy Meal toys to dinner with us the other night at a restaurant and decided on her own that she wanted to give it away to a little girl sitting nearby. The joy on the girl’s face was priceless. Her grandma was stunned. Allie has such an incredibly generous spirit. She loves making others feel loved and special in her own 3 year old way. Sometimes she will also share her beloved French fries with Matt and I. 😱 Today we took Allie to the Denver Aquarium. This girl just loves to explore and “go somewhere” and we live in a great city to indulge her adventurous spirit. The...

Colorado Craft Beer Week

Matt and I decided to join some of our favorite local breweries yesterday at a craft beer festival to help kick off Colorado Craft Beer Week. It's no secret that craft beer is a huge part of the Colorado economy. Everybody just does it so well out here. It was nice to go to a smaller festival than the Great American Beer Festival where there are too many breweries to even get to every booth. Yesterday's festival felt more like a back yard barbecue. I even got to meet the hosts of the Craft Beer Radio show on AM760. There is a picture of me with Turk and the "Gubna" below. In addition to some good beer sampling, our tickets also included a meal of either beer can chicken roasted for hours on the grill (my choice) or a spicy brat (Matt's choice). The chicken was amazing. I even let Matt try some. :) I also had some fun and took some pictures at the light rail. (We were responsible and walked/rode the train to and from the event.) What a fun day! Even better was c...

Political Aside

I’m going to apologize in advance for making this blog political for today. There is just one recent development I can’t help but post about. Last week, Congress passed a bill that made it a lot harder for credit card companies to take advantage of people through late fees and overlimit fees. Sounds great, huh? This bill would have been a lot better if there hadn’t been a certain “add-on” bill piggy backing on to the credit card legislation, making it legal for concealed weapons to be carried in national parks, as long as they are licensed and registered. Now unless you are going into a national park to shoot condors or bald eagles (which is ILLEGAL!), I cannot think of a single reason why you would need to have a concealed weapon in a national park. It’s not like they are huge hot spots for gangs, thugs and violence. National Parks are set up as a refuge for endangered species and a place where wildlife can live uninhibited. Where a hunting license would be required to shoot wildlife ...