They’re playing together and it is sooo funny. Zoe was bored so I gave her the rope-and-ball toy I bought her. (It’s pink!) But Zeeke ran over and wanted it. Well they both grabbed an end and were trying to pull it away from the other. Zeeke was being very nice about it, but stubborn, and she was being stubborn right back. He finally did get it and walked off with it…. with Zoe right behind him. When he sat down, she tried getting it back. They tugged for a while, he won. Well she just sat down and sighed. He had the toy all to himself, but…. went over and shoved it at her, lol! He wanted to play more! Finally they both ended up back at the pillow beside my chair, both laying down, both chewing on an end.

The two dogs played this morning. And I mean full-out, smacking each other in the head, bouncing around playing. She was on the bed, all full of energy, and he was standing on the floor letting her lick and jump on his head. But it got him ramped up, and he started using his paw and biting at her, then finally jumped up to pounce her. She flattened herself to the ground when he bit or smacked at her, then she’d pop up and dart under his tummy, where he couldn’t get her very easily. It was so funny! She was so hyper, she was trying to jump on his head, smacking his face, etc. Of course when he did it back it wasn’t much fun. I’m really impressed with how gentle he’s being, though. He pushes her over with his paw, sure, and he mouths her body, but it’s all very gentle. She’d let him know if he was being too rough, that’s for sure. I can sense she has a lot of sass in that little body.

So far, Zoe’s favorite toy is this one. It doesn’t have a squeaker - which is probably a good thing, since squeaks incite Zeeke to take toys - but instead it has some really crinkly material inside. She seems to really like the sound and feel of it, she’ll just chomp on it for 15 minutes. She and Zeeke also love rawhide toys - I know they’re not always great to give to dogs, and we have to be choosy about where/what we buy (because some make Zeeke very sick), but they really really love gnawing on them. And lastly, her kong. I love her kong! Most puppy kongs come in blue-and-white marbled rubber… well, I found a medium-sized pink-and-white one at Petco! Kick ass! It’s so damn cute. I stuffed hers and Zeeke’s huge black kong with peanut butter yesterday and gave them to them - Zeeke of course ran off with his, he loves his peanut butter kong, while Zoe ignored hers after a brief sniff. Hours later Zeeke found hers and took it and started licking it. Apparently that was the “stamp of approval”, because when he left it alone she grabbed it and tried carrying it up on the couch. Tried… it took her about 8 tries, because it kept slipping out of her mouth, lol. A little too heavy and big for her to carry like that! But she managed it, and then layed down and chomped the hell out of it. She didn’t lick the peanut butter much…. she just chewed hard on the kong. Which is great! That’s what it’s meant for.

Okay, so far potty-training is kicking my ass. We’ve hit something like 6 accidents today alone and my brain is starting to boggle. I don’t let her leave the room I’m in. I watch both of them, I sit with them. I get paranoid when she starts walking around. But I turn around for two seconds and there’s a puddle on the floor. *pulls hair out* I can’t correct her if I don’t catch her doing it! I mean, tonight she was sleeping on the couch. Out cold. I’m watching tv. I get up, talk to Den about paperwork. Come back, not only is she awake, but there’s a puddle on the couch. She doesn’t think she can jump off the couch herself (though she’s done it before when she doesn’t think about it), so she just… goes.

I’m simply amazed at how well they share toys. Maybe not as amazed as I was that Oreo was sharing with Tessa, but we were a little worried that Zeeke would get possessive of toys and especially bones. But it was all for nothing. She can walk right under his chin and take a rawhide out of his mouth and he does nothing. In fact, she did that just now. He feels so utterly non-threatened by her. Sure that’ll change as she matures, but I think by then they’ll have figured it all out.

Earlier I was laughing my ass off - Zeeke had a big rainbow squeaky toy. I watch tv for a few moments. I glance down to my right, and Zoe’s laying on a pillow with the rainbow squeaky toy. I giggle. So then a few minutes later it squeaked, and Zeeke got to his feet, walked over, and took it from her. She was totally unconcerned. In fact, she followed him across the room, and when he layed down to chew on the toy she walked under his chin and politely picked the toy up and trotted back to her pillow with it.

Today Zeeke needed to go out. So… how to do it? If I take Zeeke out, I can’t leave Zoe inside alone, not when I don’t know what she could get into and she might get freaked out being left alone. So, I have to take her too. It was a juggling act, let me tell you. I took Zoe out first, because Zeeke knows how to sit-stay (well, most of the time). I took her out, hooked her to her long line, ran back inside to get Zeeke hooked up to his long line, took him out. He immediately tried to trample her, she ran. I grabbed her leash, tighted my hold on Zeeke’s up pretty tight. So, with Zeeke on a short rein I started walking around the side of the house, and Zoe pranced on along behind me dragging her long line behind her (I had the end, not that I needed it). She’d pause to sniff something, then come galloping up to my feet.

I let Zeeke potty while trying to keep Zoe from tangling herself in the bushes, which didn’t work out terribly well. So I moved to the middle of the yard, where Zoe got hyper and ran like a holy terror… unfortunately that got Zeeke excited and he ran after her and pounced her, nearly smacking her with one of his humongous paws. She rolled over a few times, flopping on her back to try to disarm him. Both leashes got pretty tangled.

That was difficult.

I’ve just been making sure she goes potty every few hours and thus far no more accidents. That’s not saying much, I know, as it’s been not even 24 hours, but it’s something. It’ll take constant vigilance on my part, to pre-empt any thought or need of peeing in the house, but so far she seems fine as long as she gets taken out often enough. (Unlike Tessa, who peed constantly, like every hour she had to go or she’d pee wherever she was standing.)

I went through all Zoe’s paperwork today. What a mess. Apparently she was originally in a shelter in Tennessee, where she got her shots and such. Before they released her they also gave her her rabies (with a blank certificate??) and spayed her. Then the rescue took her, where she had some more checkups and there are some health certificates for travel and such. The problem I’m having is that the vaccination dates and info are just scribbled on parts of other forms. It’s rather annoying. I think I managed to get it all worked out and written down now, though. The rescue gave me a “puppy information packet” most of which I don’t really care about, but it had a medical record folder in it. I ripped it out and filled it all out with the information on all the other random forms, so now I have a fairly clear picture of her medical history. She’s definitely up to date on all her shots, won’t need to go back until next august.

Well, already had one potty accident… on our bed. Doh. I let her sleep on the bed, since a) she sacked right out with me and b) she can’t really jump off the bed, it’s a tad too high. (She can, unfortunately, jump on the bed, so she frequently gets stuck up there.) Well, she spent the whole night sleeping between Den’s and my feet, it was adorable. In the morning I knew I had to get her outside soon, so after a few minutes I got up to grab my pants. Just as I was grabbing them from the drawer I turn around and she’s peeing on the bed. Dangit. My fault - wasn’t fast enough. I remember now - puppies need to go outside to pee/poop soon as they wake up, right after they eat, after they drink, after the play….. pretty much all the time.

Zeeke is being an awesome big brother. On the bed she ran over to say good morning to him, he sniffed her and was sniffed. I caught her in his crate once this morning, had to haul her out, Zeeke was just standing there watching. (I had to close it - the rule of the house is, you’re only allowed inside your OWN crate; that means no Zeeke sticking his head in her crate, either! Good thing it’s too small to fit his body, ha!) I can tell it’s going to be tough at feeding time, though. Not because there’s any aggression - at all - but because they keep wandering off, eating each others’ food, etc. I want to keep tabs on how much they’re each eating, especially her, so I can’t have her scarfing down his meal while I’m not watching. But when I shut them in their crates to eat (that’s where I fed them this morning), they both stop eating. Arg. I guess that will only last so long until they get hungry enough.

I’m sure I’ll be working on this entry for a while, but I want to get it all written down!

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