iluvdogs

Well, the new beagle puppy as been wreaking havoc in my life since last Friday when we picked him up from the breeder. With his name already selected and 6,000 baht in hand, we drove back to Thonburi and picked up the little guy. There was a bit of a distraction for me when there were several new puppies from a different litter in a crate waiting to be selected to go to new homes. I would have chosen a nice female to keep Taco company, but the father of the new litter was the same as Taco’s. There were also mothers of both Taco’s litter and the new litter running around that were loving the attention that I gave them.

With the puppy cuddling in my lap, we drove back to the school. There the puppy got his first walk in the grass and all the teachers were going gaga over his cuteness. Taco was very quiet most of the time, but when one of the office workers started playing with him, we heard his first bark. So adorable! He ran around the office like crazy and distracted everyone that came by.

Since then it’s been nothing but puppy care day in and day out. There’s something to be said about the committment required when the puppy really depends on you for everything from food, water, potty time, play, and attention. Waking up at the crack of dawn because the whinning puppy woke you from your sleep and he needs to go potty, soaking dog food in water so that it’s nice and soft, multiple feedings all day long; it’s all part of raising the puppy from weaning age. On top of all that, you need to make sure that you are setting a good routine and ground rules for the rest of your relationship with the puppy and onto it’s adulthood. Of course, socialization and training are all next on the agenda.

Taco, in particular, is a very needy fellow because he is stuck on people. He cries when I walk into the bathroom and he can’t see me. He’s happiest if he’s running around my bedroom or someone’s playing with him. If you put him in the crate and leave him by himself, however, you’d think someone was beating the little guy because he’ll bark and bark to no end. The first night was pretty awful. He’d cry himself to sleep only to wake up periodically and do it all over again. It lasted all night long.

Now Taco’s doing a long better with seperation. He quiets down faster and I hope the neighbors are not ready to kill me. He seems to prefer being on the balcony next to my bedroom better than staying in the crate in my bedroom during the day when I’m at work. At night, however, he really prefers to be where the people are.

I do have a secret weapon that I use late at night after the last potty time around 10 or 11 pm. Can you guess what it is? Secret weapon: Taco sleeps on the bed with me until the morning. It keeps me from spending the whole night listening to puppy whinning and I think this is critical. Another good thing is about using the secret weapon is that every time he wakes up, I know about it and it has really helped with the toilet training routine. This is part of the reason I’m so tired lately as well. Taco normally needs to go to the potty once around 2-3 am and then again around dawn. This morning he knocked my alarm clock on the floor during the night and so I woke up and was in a hectic rush to go to work. Oh well, it’s worth it!