Irritated = Irritating

Poor Poppy, I think her incision must be itchy today. She is supper whiny and irritated.

Yuk

I've given her pain killers and extra food and love. But somedays only a nasty, stinky, gross pig ear will do...

makes her happy

Poppy Got Spayed

Awww, my sweet Poppy girl having one new experience after the other. Just spent three days in the hospital kennel and is coming home with stitches.

Poppy got spayed! They don't wait around at GDA. The lady who grooms my other dog told me that when you spay a dog this young their head doesn't grow anymore so they end up having a small head and fat body. The girls at GDA laughed out loud when I told them that. I really hope that's not true. The dogs I saw at graduation looked like they had normal heads.

Poppy is accepting of the cone. She has no expectations that life is supposed to be cone free so she has no resentment about wearing it. But she doesn't like it. She won't go on the grass with the cone on so she is pooping and peeing in all the wrong spots, like the living room, the flower beds, or right in the middle of the walkway.

She's on drugs too, Rimadyl, which is an anti-inflamatory. I think it makes her loopy.

The cone has turned her into Puppy-non-grata. It hurts like hell when she runs into your shins! I saw Buddy finally growl menacingly at her. He has to let her know that she is hurting him. She followed me around the backyard where I was gardening and each time she sniffed a newly planted flower the cone dug it right back up. Sigh.

Is this what recovery is going to be like?

Ahhhh, much better!

Bad Girl Bad Girl, Whatcha Gonna Do?

I knew I put three blueberry muffins on that countertop. So when I came back and there were only two I figured that Dean ate one. Then I realized that Poppy was no where to be found. She had scurried upstairs and was busy wolfing down that muffin, paper and all.

"NO POPPY!"

likely to re-offend

Poppy Goes To The Store

We took Poppy to Target. She found a toy dog that barks and moves.

Why is she so obsessed with corners?

 

Poppy Sitters

Babysitter needed

Dean and I attended a heating and air conditioning convention in Las Vegas for Kilowatt. (I bet you didn't even know there were such things ;)

Thankfully GDA gave me a phone list of people willing to puppysit and Debi and her husband Ken were available. Debi and Ken had raised Jazzy for GDA so they knew all the Do's and Don'ts of puppy raising.

Debi with Poppy and Jazzy

Poppy became fast friends with Jazzy and got to meet all the the people at the Harley Davidson store where Debi works.

Home again with Haley

Poppy reunited with Buddy and Sally. There were lots of kisses, jumping and chasing.

Home again home again...

Thanks Debi & Ken for taking care of Poppy!

Two Months of Poppy

Lindsey and Haley adore Poppy

Poppy + Buddy = LOVE

Poppy is huge. I weighed her when she got her final round of puppy shots at GDA and she was 31 pounds! For the past two months she has brought so much joy to our family. She is curious and confident and sweet. I'm proud of the way she lays down under a table when we are eating or meeting. 

Hours meeting with people at Kilowatt were spent by Poppy sleeping on her blanket

She rides curled up on the floor in the car very nicely now that I have learned to put a bag on the passenger seat to deter her from squiggling up. 

Poppy prefers the seat but she knows it's not her place.

Poppy is very polite about sitting for food but other opportunities for sitting are lost on her. She jumps up to greet new friends with great enthusiasm.

Poppy and Jason Alexander at his annual poker tournament for weSpark

Poppy loves the gardener Ernesto and his loud lawn mower

Poppy wakes up with sharp piercing barks sometime between 4:30 and 5:30am. She has tons of energy which she expends running like a demon from one end of our house to the other.

For some reason when I put her in the yard she calms right down and becomes focused in getting back inside.

Where's that bunny?

Unless she spots the bunny. Run Cuddles, RUN! Buddy and Sally know not to actually catch the bunny but Poppy is so eager. So far the bunny is still alive though she spends way more time in her pen than she used to.

Walking with Poppy has become an arm workout. She pulls hard on the leash and I was out of my league trying to discipline a puppy with her energy level. GDA very kindly sent Yvonne, a trainer to our home to help me nip the problem in the bud.

GDA puppy trainer, Yvonne Martin, is AMAZING!

Within minutes she had Poppy behaving like an angel. You know what that means, right? It means that I am the problem. Yvonne assessed the situation and showed me a few training moves. She was encouraging and direct about what was needed.  One of the things she taught me was to keep Poppies leash on in the house during sketchy times, like early morning when she is possessed with all that manic energy or when someone comes to the door.

 

When I'm standing and talking to someone I give Poppy a job to do, in this case "Sit."

Sleepy Poppy

One Month of Poppy

POPPY

Poppy has been with us exactly one month today and she seems to have tripled in size. She is too cute in her little GDA cape. Everyone who sees her has to stop and adore her. Many times the first words people say when they see her are, "I love you."

Chillin' in Lisa's arms

I think that by taking Poppy around with me in my life I am teaching her that the world is a friendly place but actually I am learning how much love people are walking around with in their heart.

Our waiter fell in love with Poppy

We have two twelve year old dogs. A lab named Buddy who is a puppy at heart but is crippled by hip problems. Sally is a territorial Maltese- poodle mix.

Three way tug-o-war with Buddy and Sally

Buddy and Poppy

The first thing Poppy learned when she came to our house was to respect Sally's food and toys. Sally gave poppy the most hostile cold shoulder for about a week until she realized that poppy liked to play. Slowly Sally accepted Poppy as part of the family. Buddy was easy. He accepted Poppy right away even though Sally was thoroughly pissed off at him for it. I'm so grateful because when Poppy wakes up at 5:30am she has too much energy. Buddy and Sally play with her for hours.

 My living room is covered with dozens of dog toys. I'm hoping my rugs, furniture and shoes will be spared if I give Poppy enough distractions. She has already chewed the corners of two rugs. :-(
Her favorite thing to chew is Buddy's tail. She is either wrestling with Buddy or rampaging through the living room playing tug-o-war with Sally. They both like to chase Cuddles, our bunny, who lives in the yard. Luckily there is a pen that he can run to which is safe from the dogs.

So far Poppy hasn't shown any interest in the pool. The shower is a different story. She jumped right in the shower with my husband her first day here and she has been curious about it ever since. Luckily she seems to understand what "No" means.

Poppy is cooperative about riding in the car. Sometimes.

 Already Poppy is an experienced car rider. She goes with me to drop Haley off for school and to pick her up and many errands in between.  Our family goes to restaurants often and Poppy is great about resting under the table while we eat.

Lisa

Dean

Haley

Lindsey

Poppy sat in this planter without peeing for a good 5 minutes before I took her into Whole Foods where she promptly "got busy" in the bread isle.

Poppy is good at keeping pace with your stride when out for a walk.

Poppy's restaurant behavior.

Sleepy Baby