Houdini-Puppy

So yesterday when I got home from work, I expected to find Zelda amid a sea of pee and poo, because she was home by herself all day and was only walked once. I walked in the door, looked in the kitchen, and there she was behind the gate, super-excited to see me. I scanned the floor, and only one little dry puddle of pee. I was shocked! What a good girl!! I couldn't belive it, and couldn't stop praising her for being so good.

I took her out as soon as possible, she did her business and I brought her back in. AS soon as we walked back into the apartment, she made a beeline for the living room. I followed her, and the first thing I saw was my bra on the floor. Oh my god! I thought, I left my bra out when someone came into the apartment to walk her, how embarssing! Wait a second, since when do I leave my bras in the middle of the living room floor? Next thing I saw was ANOTHER bra, then I looked at Zelda, and she was chewing on my red sneakers. The sole inserts of my sneakers were on the floor in a thousand pieces...

??????????????????????????

What the.....

At some point of the day, she got out, ran into the bedroom, stole my bras (which I think is hysterical) and my sneakers. But how did she get out? She must have knocked the gate down, which amazed me becuase that's pretty near impossible. When I came home, the gate was up, so Michelle must have put her back in after sh walked her. I couldn't wait to fin out.

Bryan saw Michelle this morning, and asked her what happened. She said when she came in to walk Zelda, the gate was still up, and Zelda was in the living room.

??????????????????????????

What the.....

Ok, either she's Houdini-Puppy, or she jumped on top of her crate, and then over the gate. I couldn't believe it. How the heck she did that, I have no idea. Keep in mind this gate is almost 4 feet high. She's never tried to get out before, and she's been home alone that long before. I really couldn't figure it out. I'm not even sure if jumping on her crate is HOW she got out. i'm baffled.

At least the only thing ruined was my shoes.....which I loved..... bow your head in prayer for my shoes.

1 is the loneliest number

Bryan had to go to Washington DC today for business, which he does about once or twice a month. When that happens, Zelda has to stay home by herself which totally breaks my heart. I usually take a half day at work when he goes, but today I can't since my whole team is traveling, I'm the only one here. Not only do I worry about her being bored, the idea of cleaning up a day's worth of pee and poo isn't too exciting either...lol.

We have a neighbor, Michelle, across the hall who has 2 dogs, a 2 yr old basset houng named Miles, and a little froo-froo dog (I think a maltese?) 5 yr old Daisy. Miles and Daisy are Zelda's best friends. Everytime she hears them walk by, she barks and jumps and gets all excited to go outside.

Over the weekend, Michelle had a bachelorette party to go to, and she'd be out all night. We offered to take Miles and Daisy out a couple times while she was gone. They were so cute! All happy and excited to see us. They were little angels.

Last night I asked Michelle to return the favor. Luckily for me, Michelle took the day off today, so she can take Zelda out. I'm so happy, I feel like I'm not deserting her. When I left this morning, I put some lights on, filled Zelda's Kong, and put on some classical music. Now when I get home maybe she won't be a big crank-pot when I get home like she usually is when we leave her alone...lol

Tonight's her second puppy class, maybe that will make her forget about her lonely day :(


This is how I expect to find her when I get home, surrounded by all her toys waiting to play.

Zelda's 2 favorite pastimes

Sleeping on top of the couch/Watching the traffic from the top of the couch Bothering Bryan while he's sleeping, which also happens to be my favorite :)

Why can't they stay like this forever?

These pictures are from her first day at home.


I'm so excited to see what she'll be like when she's older. I hope she'll grow into a true companion, obedient, smart. She will soon be a teenager, and I can see the rebellion starting already... my little bratty dog :) Soon she will grow out of that phase and become, well, normal...lol

Part of me will always remember her like this. Looking at these pictures, I just want more and more puppies!

First Day of Puppy Class

So today was the first day of puppy class for Zelda. She was DEFINITELY the most rambunctious one there! She was running around trying to play with all the other puppies, wiggled around when I tried to pick her up, she just wanted to play the whole time. All the other puppies would sit still when being held, lay down, jump up once in a while. I like to blame it on her being the oldest. She's 16 weeks,all the others were 14 and younger. Of course I might just be fooling myself :)

We didn't really learn anything new. I've been doing so much reading on puppy training, most of the stuff we talked about I knew already. I am really glad that we will be learning about loose-leash walking next week. That I definitely need help with. We learned about potty training, crate training, chewing, play-biting. The only "trick" we learned was "watch me" to calm her down and distract her. I've already been working with her on that, so she had a head start. She also knows she has to sit or lay down before she gets a treat. As soon as I'd call her name, she looked at me and sat. I was so proud of her! All the other puppies were jumping around. But of course in between she wouldn't settle down. After a while we started showing off and had her rollover.... we're such snobs....lol

I'm hoping this experience will desensitize her to other dogs a bit, so she won't go all crazy and jump in their faces. It was cute when she was younger, but now that she's getting older, its becoming a bit obnoxious. Everyone always thinks its cute, but I picture her 5 years from now....not so cute. Have to stop the domination before it starts!

Lesson #1 (at least since I started keeping count)

Trust me, I've had more lessons than I can count since I got Zelda.
So today I learned a little lesson regarding food. When we first got Zelda, she ate anything you put in her bowl. After a couple weeks, she ate less and less. Her food would sit there for hours, she would pick at it occasionally. We became concerned she wasn't eating. We went through several steps:

1. Got another bag. As i read on Gwen's blog, sometimes their food might be spoiled, and you would never know. We started her on Pro Plan, so we got another bag, and nothing.

2. Asked our Vet and friend, Corey, if we should worry. He said she's not underweight, so as long as she's active, we shouldn't worry. Man, is she active...lol

3. Tried another food. We got Eukanuba, she still woudn't eat it. Now we were really just figuring that she's just not an eater. But as she was growing, she was getting skinnier and skinnier. All the pictures I've seen of puppies her age, they all seemed like they had weight. I just thought she was growing to fast, but she's not real big, and if she's growing fast, she should eat more and more!

4. Tried taking her food away if she didn't eat it within 15 minutes. Once the next meal rolled around, no difference. She still picked.

5. Asked another vet. A different vet spayed her than our friend. It was included in the adoption costs. So we asked him, and got the same answer. As long as she's active, don't worry. But yet her ribs were sticking out more and more.

6. Tried yet another food. We got a free sample of Pedigree, figured we'd give it a try. Gave her some for dinner tonight..... I don't think David Copperfield could make food disappear that fast!!! Man, did she scarf that down! I think we have a winner!

Tomorrow is her first day of puppy class, so I think we'll pick up some Pedigree while at PetSmart. Maybe she'll actually start eating regularly!
I'm very excited for Puppy classes. She already knows how to sit, lay down, give paw, other paw, rollover, and is starting to get the hang of stay. One thing I'll be real thankful for is learning how to train her on the leash. Trying to take her for a walk is always such a mess!! I need some real technique help!

One of my favorite pictures.... although she ruined it when she woke up as I turned on the camera. It was soooooo much cuter when she was actually asleep.

I waited too long!!

I've had Zelda for exactly 2 months now. I (or should I say we?) Adopted her on January 20th, 2006 at 8 weeks old. I found her on petfinder.com, after searching for many months, wanting to take all of them home. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was mine. She had the most adorable picture, a little peanut being held by big hands. Her tongue was out licking the hands in kisses of affection, and her little ears were flopped over. We went to the shelter on their adoption day. We just went to look, thinking she would be adopted. When we arrived, I saw her right away. All her brothers and sisters had been adopted.... she ws the only one left, waiting just for me. I mean us...lol.

Me and Bryan had been talking about getting a dog for a while. But we kept saying it wasn't the right time. Well, Bryan started working from home, and there she was, looking all perfect. Once he had her in his arms, he knew it was the right time.

At first we named her Khan. You know, the Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan? When William Shattner yells "KKHHAAAAANNNN!!!" We got the idea from a friend, so when she pees and poos on the floor, we could do the same.... "KKHHHAAAAANNNN!!!"
After 2 weeks, we realized that was not her name....lol. I wonder how many dog owners change their dog's name after a couple weeks. After much discussion, it was down between Shelby and Zelda. We liked both names, and couldn't decide. Shelby, becuase of our love for Mustangs, and its such a cute name! And Zelda, after the great video game. When I was little, I always wanted to be Princess Zelda and have Link come rescue me. Maybe we'll get a male dog and name him Link :)

Since we liked both names, and couldn't decide, we put it to a vote amongst all our friends. Zelda won, 24 to 4. Once it was definite, we knew it couldn't be anything else. Especially after looking up its meaning, and finiding it means "Woman Warrior" How perfect for a little itty bitty peanut that wants nothing more than to lick you all over?!?! Oh the irony :)

After using the great reference blog of Gwen Bonenkamp, I realized I've missed out on 2 months of not recording every detail, moment, and fit of laughter that Zelda has brought. Gwen is going to blog about her experience with her new puppy (perfectpaws.blogspot.com) and one of her readers, Paula, has done the same for her dog Gypsy.

My other blog, Confessions of a Super Hero Addict, was short lived. I do need to go back to writing in it, but I felt Zelda needed her own. So I will start from her 2 month mark (well, actually 4 months old) and record it all!!

Look at the picture above, and this one, and you'll see how much she's grown in the past 2 months!