Bella's First Week

So it's been one week since Bella has joined our house. I'd love to say she's the smartest little puppy in the world, listens to all of us, is totally toilet-trained, and is a joy to be around, but I'd be lying. Well, the last part is true.

It's been challenging trying to train her because she gets so easily distracted. She'll be on her way to do her business when suddenly a leaf falls, or a bird chirps, or a fly buzzes, or a car passes, or a dog barks in the distance, or a lawn mower is started, and it causes her to stop, forget what she was doing and focus instead on whatever it is that has caught her attention for that second.

Inside she prefers to pee on the Roanoke Times instead of the Star Sentinel. I don't think it has anything to do with content, but rather the feel of the paper beneath her paws. She hasn't figured out yet that she needs to get all four paws on the paper and not just her front ones. Her bladder must be the size of a pea. She pees constantly. I keep telling myself she's only 10 weeks old and doesn't have control yet to know how to hold it in, or let me know she wants to go outside. She has figured out how to let me know she wants to come inside. She pounds on door with both paws while howling like a banshee.

She has two beds. The one in my bedroom is a really nice one I bought from Tuesday Morning. That's where she sleeps when she's had enough. And I have to give her credit, when she wants to go to bed, she does. Very cute. The other bed is a cheap one I bought from CVS that I keep in the living room. She thinks of it as her nest. Everything and anything goes into in. She's brought all her toys, chewies, snacks, cardboard rolls, paper receipts, whatever she finds. She's like a raven. When she gets bored of playing with her toys she turns her attention to destroying the bed, not the one she sleeps in, just this cheap one. Her tail has also become a toy, or bother, to her. She actually does catch it and rolls around while holding onto it. I get dizzy just watching her.

I'm happy to report she seems to have gotten more comfortable with the men. I took the advice of a friend to have them feed her using their hand to put the puppy chow in the bowl. She no longer barks and tries to bite them, although with her teeth coming in, she does try to bite everything. I found her trying to gnaw on the crystal knobs of my bedroom set, the bottom of my dining room table legs, and the concrete step to the yard. She understands "NO!" as she'll slink away and then place her face on top of her paw giving me the puppy dog eyes. She's hard to stay mad at.

The scariest thing is that she's a leaper. Twice she's leaped out of the kids' arms while they were holding her. Thank God she didn't fall on her head because I know of someone that happened to and the puppy died from the injury. Now as soon as she squirms we all know to immediately put her down. She's got strong back legs that she uses to propel herself. It won't be long before she figures out how to climb on to my bed by using the fireplace step. Then I'm really in trouble!