It's bath time!

Mollie got her very first bath today. She was relatively tolerant of being in the tub and being wet. But the hair dryer she was TERRIFIED of. Looks like we have some desensitizing to do...

"Mommy, what did you put in my ears??"

I felt sorry for her after her battle with the hair dryer, so I gave her a huge yummy carrot as a reward, which she soon lost behind her crate and went frantically digging for it to no avail:

After she lost her carrot, she proceeded to go bonkers and performed her daily ritual of running around in circles which we've coined as "Mollie laps":

In other news, she's been accident-free indoors for 3 days in a row now. That is a record for us! I hope I don't jinx myself for saying this. But I'm definitely getting better at detecting when she needs to go and making sure she has plenty of opportunities for potty breaks.

She's also pretty good with basic commands: sit - down - stay - come. At only 10 weeks old, too! I'm a proud momma. 

Fetch, on the other hand, is a different story... she doesn't understand she's supposed to bring the ball BACK! And I thought fetch was something dogs instinctively knew how to do...

Afraid of the kitchen

Normally we play with Mollie in our carpeted living room. But few days ago I decided to bring her to the kitchen with wood flooring. And for some reason, she wouldn't step onto the wood for the life of her. I kept tugging on the leash but she would just cling on to the edge of the carpet for dear life. When I finally convinced her to step into the kitchen her whole fuzz-ball of a body was quivering with fear. And this was not her first time in the kitchen either -- so, very odd behavior. I read puppies at this age can develop phobias of the strangest things. Anyhow, after a day or two of lots of counter conditioning, with LOTS of treats, she's finally okay with the kitchen again.

Speaking of treats, I learned she loves carrots. (In the kitchen!)

"Ehhh.... What's up, Doc?"

Feeding-wise, I finally realized the reason she wasn't eating out of her bowl was probably because the bowl wasn't ergonomically friendly for her, since she's short and the bowl is tall/deep. So I've switched to a plate, which seems to work better.

Still focusing on the housebreaking... she's been having at most 1 accident per day. I suppose I could live with that... for now. However, now we're also trying to get her to not "mouth" us with her teeth. Though she doesn't do it as often as other puppies I don't think.

Ugh, puppies. Train, train, train. Correct, correct, correct. I'm still hoping I have the patience for this.

Goin' a swimmin' in the water bowl

Apparently corgis like to do this for some reason.

Next summer, I'm dumping her into Lake Tahoe.

We survived the first week!

Whew... what a whirlwind of a week. As a first-time dog owner, I knew having a puppy was going to be a ton of work. But it wasn't until after she arrived and spent the first few days with us that I realized HOW MUCH WORK it was actually going to be. And being the impatient person that I am, I had episodes where I almost just threw my hands up in the air and gave up out of frustration (this was even while I was taking time off from work to take care of her). But, I'm slowly learning that it'll just be a matter of time for housebreaking and I just need to trust the process. So, baby steps!

Progress/observations this week:

• She is crate-trained now
• Learned basic commands: "Sit", "Down" (lie down), currently working on "Stay" - she's a smart cookie!
• She can follow/run with me on leash
• She lets Mommy trim her nails without much fuss (thankfully)
• She'll do almost anything for a Zuke's treat
• She loves peanut butter
• She loves mangos
• She loves giving Daddy kisses
• She likes Daddy more than Mommy, because Mommy has to train her and shoves her into a bag to go to the vet
• Vet costs are expensive! Sheesh.
• She sleeps... a lot! Even snores and dreams (her arms and legs wiggle)
• When she looks in a mirror, sometimes she'll think there's another dog and will jump up and lick it
• She's a fussy eater - doesn't always eat out of her bowl so Mommy has to hand-feed her
• Sometimes she goes bonkers at night and runs and runs and runs around in circles (maybe because of pent up energy from being crated)
• Overall, she's a friendly dog with a sweet personality - rarely barks nor shows aggression

I suppose at 8 weeks old, this is good progress, so I'm glad. But main thing we're focusing on now is having her learn NOT to voluntarily pee on the carpet!!!