The baby of the house
posted in Livestock and Pets, Parenting |So we have, essentially, a baby in the house. A baby that does not wear diapers.
I never thought I would miss diapers. But I do.
Anyway, the baby is teething. Which means he is chewing. Everything. Boxes. Shoes. The used bandaid that somehow OmegaDotter managed to drop behind the living room sofa. The carpet. Markers that were under the sofa that were close enough for him to pull out. Hair ties that were hidden on the floor somewhere. Some Unnamed Things Under Our Bed (I do not want to know). He has reached up onto the chest at the foot of our bed and—in seconds—dragged off a scarf and a blankie and started chewing on those. When I am suiting up to take him out for a pee-and-poop-break, he starts trying to nibble the fur on my boots.
Of course, I am doing my damnedest to each time say “No!” in a firm voice, and then replace the forbidden chew fruit with a Family Approved Chew Toy. In the meantime, he is a chewing machine.
I am also keeping an ear out and trying to catch the faintest hint of a whimper that indicates pee or poop is about to be deposited. This means I am missing about half the time.
I had to shut the door to the downstairs bathroom, where the cat food is, because he discovered it today and was like, “Ooo! Treats! Yummy!”, even after I took him back to his food bowl and put a bit of puppy chow in it. Two bites, then it was time to scoot back downstairs and run into the downstairs bathroom.
One of our cats is hiding in our bedroom closet. He emerges in the middle of the night to settle on my tummy, purr, and lick my fingers, my nose, etc. But as soon as any out-of-the-norm noise occurs, BAM!, he’s back into the closet.
I have woken up in the middle of the night to haul him out for a piddle break.
So the good things: Seward is learning to sit. He’s isn’t learning to stay in a sit, but he does (generally) sit when we command it. He is learning that being taken out into the yard means it’s time for him to pee and/or poop and have Much Made Of Him. He is obviously fully recuperated from his Monday surgery to remove his itty-bitty testicles.
I’m too old for this. Luckily, it will only last a few months.
Aside from that, he’s a sweet, gentle puppy.
