Getting into a routine: puppy playgroups, taking her for a walk, & cuddling

 This week Nala had some diarrhea (what a great opening sentence haha).  I think it's due to her accidentally eating some people-food from the ground.  We went out to eat several times and brought her with us, so I'm assuming she found some old food on the ground while we were eating.  I know dogs have sensitive stomachs and all she's known for her short 3.5months of life is kibble.  But thankfully she is not having accidents in the apartment anymore.

I think Nala has a pretty good life, we include her in as many activities we do, basically the only place we don't take her is to the gym.  She's never alone because I work from home.  I knew that when I'd get a dog, I'd treat it like part of my family, so I don't see her as just a dog, but as a companion that I'd want to include in every aspect of my life.  So while some people might judge me for treating her almost like a human baby because I take her to puppy kindergarten class for training, puppy playgroups,etc, I just want to raise a good puppy just like some people want to raise good kids. 

She looks so calm but she's actually very interested in a bird that was walking on the road

I've never seen a dalmation in person.  Here's nala meeting one at a dog park.

She finally found a dog that will play with her.  She doesn't let him bully her, she fights back, lol

She made friends with a boxer

Self-entertained with a treat dispenser ball

After playtime, she is exhausted and falls asleep just about anywhere

Yes, I'm teaching Nala to appreciate Harry Potter movies

We went to the vet again for her third round of shots and she did so well, she deserved a kiss.  She weighs a whopping 17.5lbs!

At the latest puppy playgroup we went to, she did a lot better playing.  We didn't get put in "time-out".  

She likes to play "chase me" and a little pug was playing along with her.  Nala had to slow down to let the pug, Peanut, catch up to her, lol.

 It was a scorching day, poor baby girl couldn't stop panting.  We left immediately to find some shade and water for her, and us

 Just an ordinary day at the house, cuddling with my bestie :)

Another of her many sleeping pictures (It's hard to take pictures when she's awake because they all come out blurry, lol, being such a high energy dog)

Nala's puppy playgroup "progress"

We get put into the "Socialization Station" when we need to regroup with our rowdy puppy and calm her down before she can go back out and play with the puppies.  We end up here a lot :(  We have two more puppy playgroups left on our punch card so we'll have to re-evaluate after to see if it's worth going back.  So far we don't think she is getting a lot out of them because she is too excited and none of the puppies want to play with her.  We've tried everything, even keeping her awake for 3 hours straight so that she is tired by the time we go, but as soon as she sees a puppy, the tiredness goes away.  I think she needs to learn how to read another dog's body language so she knows which dogs are not interested instead of annoying them.

All curled up on the small cushion (not dog pillow).  Ignore her ribs on the right picture, Vizslas are supposed to be lean dogs.  She already weighs around 17lbs!

I can't wait until the day she doesn't fit under the couch anymore.  For some reason she loves taking a toy under there and playing.  And for some reason an empty water bottle is her favorite toy, instead of the other toys we actually paid for, lol.  The picture on the right is when she was crawling out as I enticed her with a squeaky toy.

Her paws look so big in this picture. 

Just chilling in the car while we wait for the puppy's "daddy" to get off the Max from work.

Play and Sleep=Nala's life so far

Now that she is officially 3 months old, we've gotten to see her personality come out more and that has only made us love her more.  She is 95% potty trained; not 100% because we have yet to see what she does when we close the door to the patio, she could have an accident or run to the door to let us know she has to go outside (we'll be training her to use a bell at the door).  I was a fairly clean person before I got her, but now that she's here, she's made me be more conscious about keeping things tidy.  She has made a game out of running into my walk-in closet and picking up any piece of clothing that may be lying on the floor and run out with it.  She knows we'll chase her to take it away but even though it is so cute when she does this, we have to stop it from becoming her favorite thing to do.   

She has three more training classes left before she takes her Good Puppy Star Test.  I think she will pass it because we've had several short successful training sessions where she sits, down, stays, heels, and come when called.  On the puppy playgroup front, she still has trouble reading other dog's body language; she still assumes every other dog wants to play with her but it's not the case so far..

I don't know how she thought my laptop was a comfortable pillow; Needless to say, this is why I don't get any work done

She loves my sherpa throw

At a dog park, she is the only dog still on a leash because we don't trust the other dogs so we want to be able to quickly pull her out of any trouble

At the dog park, the dog owners seemed to be more willing to play with Nala than the dogs, lol 

I have to hold her like a baby when we are out and about because the busy street noises frighten her, plus she was really sleepy from being out all morning

the most awkward sleeping position ever; on the floor of my backseat of the car, lol

just plain cute

She pushed me off my side of the bed, lol

Some videos of Nala (week 8-12)

Self-entertainment chasing her own leash

She loved my friend's Alaskan malamute, Avatar.  However, he could not care much for puppies, lol.

After playing in the mud, it was time for a bath

Her second puppy playgroup=chaotic puppies

Note to self: exercise her more before playgroups so we can control her high excitement more successfully 

Week 4: 11-12 weeks old

Today my girl Nala is 3 months old.  She has made lots of progress on her crate training and potty training but she is still a baby that does not sleep through the whole night.  We weighed her two days ago here at home and she was 15 lbs!! Soon I won't be able to carry her for long periods of time without hurting my back, lol.  She still sleeps a lot, it seems to be one of her favorite things to do.  Sometimes we spoil her and let her sleep next to me on the couch or bed (not the whole night of course).

Here she is sleeping next to me on the couch

She's getting so big pretty soon her whole body won't fit comfortably on top of me, lol.  I'm already having to hold her so we won't fall off.

We let her chew on some egg carton and of course she shredded it to pieces (we made sure she wasn't swallowing the pieces)

She loves grass

Figuring out how to get down so she could go play in the water

Her second puppy playgroup was with puppies 12-25 lbs and it went a little better than when she played with the under 12 lb puppies.  The bigger guys were less shy but still not receptive to playing with each other, they were more interested in barking at each other.  As you can see in the picture above, I'm trying to hold her back from two puppies that were "arguing" with each other lol.

A tired puppy is a cute puppy.  Here it looks like she's saying: "mommy, please stop" lol.

And to end her 3 month update, here is a priceless picture of one of her many crazy faces when she's busy chomping on grass.

Week 3: 10 weeks old

I've had my vizsla for 3 weeks now and I couldn't ask for a cuter and more loving puppy (although she can also be a little devil child and annoying at times) :)  I want to say she is 85% potty trained because we only use "nature's miracle urine destroyer" once every other day.  She's sleeping a lot longer through the night, one time up to 5 hours straight!  Sometimes I spoil her and let her sleep on my lap on the couch.

Excuse my pink pajama pants but I love when she's sleeping on me :)

She also likes to curl up on my lap

Her face is the cutest thing to look at

Sleeping on me while I watch Game of Thrones

Sleepy baby

One of her crazy playing poses

We took her to the vet for her second round of vaccinations and she did amazing.  At 10 weeks old, she weighs 12.3lbs! Our baby girl is growing so fast.  I can't wait until she is fully vaccinated so we can start taking her to the dog parks.  

Me training her to sit and stay while I distract her with a treat that I'm placing on the floor.  

We took her hiking but she didn't want to walk for very long so she got carried most of the way haha

We took her to a puppy play group and she was super exuberant and full of energy.  She was playing rough with the other puppies and the trainer was not having it.  This picture pretty much sums it up; Nala is just a blur as she zooms by everybody as we try to catch her.  Part of it is our fault for taking her right after a nap and part of it is because she's a vizsla.

Week 2: 9 weeks old

We took her to her second puppy kindergarten class and everyone mentioned how much bigger she looked in just one week.  I didn't see it since I'm with her 24/7 but I know one day I will notice the dramatic change in her size despite the fact that I don't want her to grow so fast haha.  I still want to be able to take naps with her on top of me and not feel crushed.  Naps with her are the best, especially when she puts her head underneath my neck.

Sometimes her resting position makes it look like chicken legs.

She likes sleeping near my computer desk

Her favorite chew toy is this pink kong

We had a breakthrough with her potty training.  We left the door to the patio open and in multiple occasions she runs out on her own and pees outside then comes back in.  We follow her out every time so we are able to capture the moment and praise her for it.  She still doesn't know how to let us know she has to pee but she does our job for us by taking herself out haha.