J&A's Brittanys Perfect Puppy

Wow! Just... wow.  How can it be September 5th already?  How could the summer have come and gone so quickly?  

On June 24th  I walked out into the early morning darkness, looked up into the sky feeling the warmth of a summer breeze upon my skin and took a deep, deep breath while tears of gratitude streamed from my eyes. I lifted my eyes up towards the heavens and raised my hands to the God of all creation, and whispered words of thanksgiving to Him.  Holly had given birth to her first litter of puppies.  They were beautiful, healthy, strong and thriving as their brand new mother gently nurtured, nursed, and cleaned them.  The summer night was turning into summer morning and it was good.  

Then exactly two weeks later Maryann, Alana, John and I were there with Toph as she labored to bring forth her first puppy.  Our daughter's first litter, we all waited together through the first strong, natural contractions and all the way until it was clear the final pup had been born.  It was a special experience for me to share this with our daughter and granddaughter. llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllI lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Ha!  Those of you who follow my blog understand what just happened 🤣

I guess basically what I'm trying to say is that THIS SUMMER FLEW BY!  I have joked and tagged a lot of my photos on Facebook as "How I Spent My Summer Vacation".  But it's true and I knew that one day it would be the first day of summer and the next thing it would be Labor Day weekend.  I sort of was reminded of similar feelings in the past when pups were born in the winter months and by the time they go home it's springtime! 

You might think that now because  all the puppies are in their new homes I'd be catching up on some sleep and getting back into a normal routine.  Normal is over-rated anyway. Especially in regards to  8 week old Brittany puppies.

Like everyone else, I have a copy of "A Day In The Life of An 8 Week Old Puppy" posted on my refrigerator door.  I have made extras just so that every day I can write on it the specific times that my puppy does what.  I did mention I kept a puppy, right?! 

In the middle of the kitchen is an x-pen.  In my bedroom is a crate.  Being a multiple dog family and also because John is a morning person and I never have been or will be one - it made sense to bring the crate into the bedroom.  I can let my puppy out without disturbing the other crew, and they in turn can join John first thing in the morning.  So far so good and I think I have the perfect puppy.

On Sunday "Revere" slept through the night from 11 p.m. to 5. a.m. in his crate.  He had his beautiful blanket Aunt Julie made and a Kong toy stuffed with treats and peanut butter there.  At 5, I attached his 15' lead to him and brought him outside. At that point he hadn't mastered the stairs but that's no problem now! Outside, he did his business and I quickly brought him right back in, replenished his Kong toy and closed the crate door behind him.  And I went back to bed.  Not a sound from him. 

I'm compromising on my new wake up time.  Maybe if I MAKE myself go to bed earlier it will be easier in the morning.  Anyway, I gave him breakfast at 7, he played and went outside for awhile.  Brought him back in and put him in the x-pen with blanket, toys, water at about 9 a.m. and he was content until about 11.  He'd napped but otherwise, was just happy to watch what was going on around him.  That was Monday morning (DAY ONE) I had a slice of cold, leftover pizza for breakfast and finally got back to my coffee which by then of course was cold.  I drank it anyway.

At 11 he went outside for awhile then came back in to play with supervision in the living room. We are getting mixed reaction from the rest of the canine crew but it's all good and as they say, it's not our first rodeo!  So then I fed him again, we repeated a lot of the above but this time I decided to use the wooden end table crate in my living room. Figured that way I could get some work done and he'd be right there by my side. I expected a huge protest but I didn't get it.  Instead, he complained just a little bit and then quickly settled down. Laying on his back, belly up with the fan blowing on him. 

So on and so forth for the rest of the day.  Bedtime is being established as 7 p.m. with a quick outside a few hours later.  

He's a very serious puppy, very sweet and interested in things all around him.  It's been a joy to watch him as his world as he knew it has completely changed. He's taking it all in stride with such confidence.  The adult dogs are helpful to a point.  My training is done when it is just he and I.  So far he's bringing a canvas dummy back to me a few times for the fun of it.  He's been to the lake as well as our small farm pond.  He will go into the water and he has swam a few times too! This matters a lot to me as I'd really love  to test him in NAVHDA's Natural Ability and swimming is a requirement for the NA title. 

Okay, I guess I'm going to have to finish this exciting story tomorrow. I just deleted all the text and replaced it with rows and rows of the letter s. But the other thing I wanted to say is that along with retrieving the bumper for me, he's also been bringing back the quail wing that I toss out. I don't keep doing it for repetition sake. I want to instill within him joy and delight at pleasing me at an early age.  Focused obedience will wait for when he's much older. His first year is going to be a fun one. We have all the time in the world. He's coming when called most of the time. I won't repeat his name over and over and over nor will I use an unnatural tone of voice. He's getting it. 

In the meantime I'm going to focus on catching up on some sleep. Take care, God bless, Good night!  

PS Did I mention I have a perfect puppy?