Mondayyyyy Alreadyyyyyy?

speakeasy14

@minskat30 I cannot help you with who your SS person is;  they are one of the three who were lumped with me so I have no idea who had you.  That person is going to have to reach out to you. Or you'll have to be in suspense for another week. 

eilis1228

labro said:

@wink0erin @eilis1228 Cinders ALSO used to do the squat and pretend to pee "trick". She was always too smart for her own good. It honestly took a LONG time to get her to stop tinkling in the house (I think she still had the occasional accident up through 10 months). We never were able to figure out what her deal was. She had a routine and a schedule but sometimes it was as if she completely forgot herself.

YES! This is Zoey 100%. She's randomly forgotten everything she knew a few days ago and has regressed. No idea what her deal is, but she'll re-adjust. I definitely think she peed on the rug on purpose though. I was calling for her to come to me before she did it, and then turned and looked directly at me while she peed. She knew exactly what she was doing.

jenna8984

@alpacina that kid was also Michelle's best friend on Full House haha.

@minskat30 good luck with Raj tomorrow!

@wink0erin good luck on the inspection tomorrow!

labro

@eilis1228 One time Cinders peed on H's arm. He had been playing with her for awhile and teasing her with her toy. She backed her rump up onto him and let go. My BFF says her dog will have an "angry pee" when she has an accident indoors.

AlPacina

@jenna8984 - OMG, YOU ARE SO RIGHT! I KNEW I knew that kid.

Well done, madam. Well done.

eilis1228

@labro OMG! I can't imagine how horrified your H must have been! And yes, I would definitely characterize her accidents last night as "angry pees." I'm just hoping she re-adjusts to her daily routine quickly and this attitude disappears ASAP.

untouchablets

@eilis1228 dogs don't work like that, spite and doing things on purpose aren't concepts they understand. She's still really young and dogs generally don't develop bladder control until at least 6 months. She probably just really had to go and couldn't hold it. I'd take her out more often and crate her for 15-20 minutes of she doesn't pee to prevent more accidents.

Edit: I'd look up Dr. Ian Dunbar, his website has a lot of free resources for new puppy owners regarding potty training and raising a puppy. These things really don't happen over night, and it takes patience and persistence for months to train a puppy to live with you.

eilis1228

@untouchablets We took her out quite a bit last night, so I don't know what got into her. She'd also gotten REALLY good at holding it and letting us know when she had to go. I was actually really impressed with her. I told H we just need to return to being a little more strict with her crate and potty break routine. Her separation anxiety is back in full swing today too. It's like everything she learned last week fell out of her head.

untouchablets

@eilis1228 this is all normal and when you go back to your regular routine she should be fine. Its all about consistency!

eilis1228

@untouchablets Thanks! We were pretty good about keeping her crated this weekend during our normal work hours, but yesterday we did deviate from that routine since she had a puppy play date. We'll hopefully get her back to normal soon. I'm even planning to work in the office on my normal work from home day just to get her used to this routine. I think yesterday helped H finally realize how closely we have to watch her while she's out of her crate. He would be goofing around on his computer while "watching" her, and he never seemed to get that she has to have 100% of our undivided attention while she walks around freely. We can only punish her if we catch her in the act, and she's smart enough to try and sneak off to pee or poop while we are distracted. We're just bummed that she regressed so much so quickly, but it's all part of having a puppy. Unfortunately with all of the holiday events this time of year, having a solid routine day in and day out will be impossible, so we just hope she won't regress further. :-\ This may be a weekly battle for us until January.

MissKittyDanger

Whoo! Monday just got better!
Christmas bonus' came in - much more than originally anticipated! - and then my boss calls me into her office.
her: you look nervous. i am not firing you
me: *breathes* I'm that obvious?

Anyways .... I got a mini raise  Everyone gets a 2% raise come January, but apparently they decided I was worth getting a raise this year {only one} This is exciting!


side note: I'm getting a pixie cut done soon  

untouchablets

@eilis1228 don't punish her for accidents. It'll just scare her and she will learn not to go on front of you and make potty training harder. Reward her HEAVILY with treats and excited praise when she potties outside and ignore her when she pees inside. Here's a potty training guide for you
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/errorless-housetraining

I am sorry (to everyone) if I'm acting like a know it all, but this is just my life's passion and also my job and I want everyone in the world to have a great relationship with their dog and most of the word of mouth advice out there is bad science that was debunked forever ago and myths or just plain bullshit.

jenna8984

@misskittydanger congrats that's great!!

@alpacina I'm super good with faces, I remember actors from the most obscure roles haha. Or if it drives me nuts, I look them up on IMDB.

wink0erin

On carrying the puppy outside when you catch puppy mid-accident... I have a funny story... Caught my ex's puppy starting to squat, jumped up without a word and carried her outside, all the while she was peeing on me and a stream along the floor.

Ex was mad at me since it meant we had a stream of pee to clean, but his method was nose rubbing/yelling/wadded newspaper and I was NOT OK with that. That dog was so hard to train because BF didn't know what he was doing, and even though I had trained more than 1 dog before (and worked with dogs in more than one job) he refused to use my methods. Consistency and positive reinforcement is so important when training a puppy. They want their people to be happy with them!

untouchablets

Yeah my roommates dog has been a potty training nightmare because she doesn't give him treats for going outside and she never MADE SURE he actually peed and pooped outside before he was let loose. He's over a year old now and needs to be crated when we can't watch him. She's not allowed anywhere near my puppy while I'm potty training lol.

minskat30

Still catching up with work but these puppy potty-training posts bring back all the memories.  I was a crazy with potty training.  I stuck to the "your puppy can only hold it as many hours as he/she is months old" mantra so I was outside with Raj every two hours or less (in the middle of the night it was every two hours with my alarm set) when I first got him at 2 months.  He never had a night time accident but I had a few daytime interventions where I caught him mid-stream and had the fluff ball in my arms with dribbles of pee running down me while I ran downstairs with him to let him out.  

@TwoDimes - I went downstairs without shoes, without a coat (in winter) and without my keys (thank God for neighbors who were home) many a time but never without a shirt...you win.  

Swazzle

These stories are hysterical!

I do nottttttt miss puppy training. 

When Snoos was a wee pup, we lived on the third floor of our apartment building. Carrying her down mid-pee was not the most fun I've ever had in my life! 

eilis1228

Thanks for all the tips. By punish, I mean that we yell "NO!" and pick her up and take her outside immediately. While one of us is outside with her, the other sprays down the area where she went with enzyme killer/cleaner.

I'm pretty sure I figured out why she's regressed so much recently-- she got into adult dog food yesterday and also stole some rawhide bones from our friend's dog. I think her stomach is really upset, so she's whining because she feels bad, fighting sleep because she feels bad, and having issues with potty training because her stomach is so upset. 

As far as all the training goes, I promise H and I spend pretty much all of our free time (and time when we should be working) researching how to properly train her. She gets LOTS of positive reinforcement for tons of things, we've just had to be a little more careful with the treats after peeing because she's a trickster. Even if she doesn't get a treat, she gets lots of love and praise and belly rubs (her favorite). 

AlPacina

@TwoDimes - You are a champion!

I am loving these potty training stories!

Out of everything I have accomplished in my life, included in the top 3 that give me the most pride is training my dog not to bite when he plays. Never had to do the potty training though. I really think I would have preferred the running outside topless in the snow to having my hair yanked toward the ground by 50 pounds of muscle. Maybe I should have gotten that puppy after all!

bethsmiles

@Swazzle - Your tree is like the perfect Christmas tree!
@Jenna8984 - I hope you had lots of fun in Denver!
@Speakeasy14 - FI and I had to share a car for a few weeks last year and it was so annoying! I hate being stranded without a car!
@eilis1228 - Good luck with your routine this week! I always struggle adjusting to a new routine. Also, my mom's puppy did the same thing with trying to trick her into thinking he peed outside when he didn't really do anything, just so he could get a treat.
-----------------------
My computer is being a pain today and is really lagging when I type and TK wouldn't load for me all morning! Anyway, this weekend the most exciting thing is that FI and I finally took engagement pictures (I'll AW them in a separate post). Saturday night we did our tradition of going to see Christmas lights, and honestly it sucked. The price went up, it was really crowded, and people had zero control over their kids. So we decided this is the last year for that tradition since it's been increasingly frustrating and less enjoyable every year. We'll come up with a new traditions for next year. Other than that we just spent the weekend relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep since neither of us have been sleeping well lately. And of course I undid all of that by only getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep last night.

jenna8984

@bethsmiles Red Rocks amphitheater was the coolest thing ever! That stinks about the lights, I'd just drive around and look at the ones for free!

speakeasy14

As soon as my bf gets here I'm free!  I hate people today, and it is making me that much more excited for my trip.  

Puppy stories:

Most recent:  My bf's brother was visiting the past three weeks.  The day they arrived everyone was excited to meet her.  I warned everyone not to over excite her because she'd pee, they told me I was crazy.  My bf immediately picked her up when they walked in the house, she peed all over him.  

When Callie was a puppy:  Callie used to pretend to pee.  So while you would be praising her for being a good girl and she was still mid squat, she'd look back then lunge over the fence.  Our solution was to build a second fence, over the existing.  My mom's backyard was the redneck backyard because of Callie's fake peeing. 

AuroraRose41

@minskat30 all the vibes for Raj tomorrow!

@speakeasy14 I hope you have an awesome trip! 

Late to the party again, sorry everyone! Work has been so hectic lately. I have been trying to schedule an MRI now since last week, and still nothing. I am getting super frustrated over this, especially because I just want to know if I need surgery or not. 

FI loves his new watch and keeps sending me pictures of it today. He wore it to work today. 

The only other update I have is that we ordered our invitations this weekend! It's a little bittersweet for me, as I really wanted a custom designed letterpress suite, but with our guest list ballooning from 130 to 175 right before sending out save the dates (because our families are TERRIBLE at remembering important people to invite), we just couldn't afford the custom design anymore. In fact, I didn't think we would be able to afford standard letterpress either anymore. Fortunately, Wedding Paper Divas was still having their Cyber Monday 30% off everything sale (fyi it goes until tomorrow if anyone needs anything!), and with the discount we were just able to afford a letterpress design from them. Has anyone else here ordered from them? So far I am impressed with the customer service and the design proofs, but am a little nervous ordering sight unseen. Hopefully they come out nice! 

This is what they will look like (sample from WPD.com and not our names or wedding details):


We ordered these, the matching RSVP cards and RSVP printed envelopes, and one matching enclosure card. I think we will also end up ordering envelopes for the entire suite from somewhere else so that we can have them printed with guest addresses and our return address in a nice calligraphy-inspired font (since we can no longer afford calligraphy for 100+ envelopes either). 

minskat30

Ok, I'm just catching up on posts....today has been busy.  Tomorrow we get up bright and early to drop Raj off too so I'm hoping we all hit bed early(ish).  Going to take Raj out for a late night walk before bed though since I've heard most dogs don't go #2 for several days post knee surgery.  

@swazzle - I adore Brody checking out the tree!  "What is this thing Mom?".  Bailey is hilarious hiding in the tree too....looks ready to pounce.  

I'm very jealous of your get together @swazzle @cu97tiger@Peaseblossom55 and @Hummingbird125 - you are all so pretty and it sounds like you had a blast.

@cocobellaf - I'm so sorry you were so sick.  True to form like my entire life past the age of 7 or so, I haven't been able to throw up this entire pregnancy.  Throwing up sounds like a relief at times but throwing up until you burst blood vessels in your face most certainly DOES NOT.  I hope this doesn't continue for you.  Hugs. 

@speakeasy14 - Have fun in Philly!

@peaseblossom55 - I'm glad you guys put up lights.  I know this is a hard time for both of you.  You remain in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope the show goes smoothly and isn't too hard on you.

@labro - I'm so proud of you for doing a 5k!!!!  That is awesome!  I just need to get my butt back to the gym and here you are doing 5ks!

@wink0erin - Good luck with the home inspection!  Let us know how it goes.

@jenna8984 - Man, I love polite kids.  I plan on raising a super polite child if said child will cooperate with me.  

@beachyone15 - Fried mac n cheese?!?  That would sound amazing if I wasn't currently turned off by fried food but if it makes you feel any better I had gluten free mac n cheese for dinner tonight...with extra cheese added to it for no reason. 

@MissKittyDanger - I hope Angel feels better soon.

@eillis1228 - I just want to give you a virtual hug.  Raising a puppy is hard work and I know you are doing everything you can to make it work.  Also, Rajah regresses daily with bad behavior if it makes you feel any better and he's 5 1/2...lol.  He's currently playing the game of "must bark at the TV because a dog appeared on TV, Mom".  Also, rawhide is evil...I once confused a bully stick for a rawhide stick and the results were not pretty.

@TwoDimes - Getting housework done is hard work...when I laze about the house I feel like I do nothing because I actually do nothing.  

@Alpacina - That first puppy gif!!!!  It gives me all the feels.  Raj's first snow was pretty much like that, except I don't think he was ever that tiny.  I love the Santa picture and also love that you watched Kindergarten cop... it is hilarious.  I made H watch it recently because he's a bit of a hypochondriac and I always use the line "Its not a toomah" with him.  I tried explaining the line to him but it was easier to make him watch the movie.  

@500days - Hugs for the memorial...I'm sure that was stressful in addition to a baby shower and a sinus headache.

@aurorarose41 - I love the invitation style!  I think it looks very elegant.  Calligraphy is really expensive and invitations are one thing you can definitely get away with spending less money on.  People will just be so excited to get an invite, promise!

AuroraRose41

@minskat30 thank you! That makes me feel SO much better about the calligraphy thing. And elegant is what we were going for. Our wedding is on the formal side and very over the top in some ways, but we have many friends still in grad school or figuring out their careers while working part time jobs, and we didn't want to specify a dress code and make anyone feel like they couldn't afford fancy enough clothing to wear (a nice suit or cocktail dress is very appropriate still, but mainly we want those people there wearing something than not there at all). But we wanted our invitations to convey that it isn't a casual event either, and I think these do the trick.