The other day I ran into the bathroom for a second, then ran back out. We keep that door closed all the time to prevent pets from getting into toilet paper and other things they shouldn’t, so I shut the door behind me. Zeeke walked past me. I looked around and couldn’t see Zoe. “Zoe!” I called. She didn’t come. “Zoe! Zoe!” Nothing. I walked back and opened the bathroom door, and out she walked. Silly girl had scooted in when I did, and I hadn’t seen her. I wonder what she was thinking in there when I closed the door!

So, we’ve had no potty accidents in what, a week? Maybe more. I think she’s got it now. How very… relieving.

She’s also developed a schedule - she pees about ten million times a day, but only poops three times: first thing in the morning, after breakfast, and after dinner. So those three times I pull on my boots and coat and gloves and whatever else I need to fare the weather, and take her out into the side yard. But the rest of the time I just open the front door, let her out, then close it almost all the way, leaving my hand (holding the flexi-leash) sticking out. She knows “go potty” and “inside,” so I can actually just control her by voice most of the time - the leash is for safety, of course. No ironclad recall on this pup yet, but she’s getting good. So anyways, she goes out, piddles, and comes in when I say “inside.” But one problem: the railing on the stairs. She has this habit of going out, right, then coming in at such a steep angle that the flexi gets caught over the end of the railing, and she can’t make it in the door. Being that I’m only half-dressed and it’s wet outside, I can’t exactly just step out to unhook it. So I say to her, “Go potty!” She gave me a confused look, went out onto the lawn. I shook the leash loose, then said, “Inside!” and in she ran.

I can’t believe I’m already developing voice control over her. I mean, it’s along the lines of what Oreo and I have (though of course Oreo’s 10 years ahead!). She needs such a light touch, it’s wonderful. I almost never raise my voice to her (only once or twice when I caught her in the middle of doing something REALLY bad) - and that was just a “NO, BAD,” in the disappointed, deep mommy-voice. That’s it. Everything else I say “Uh-uh,” and redirect her. On leash in the yard I am trying to not use leash control at all - I do give little tugs when she hits the end (she’s not allowed to pull, that’s her warning that she’s at the end and can’t go further), but I try to direct her in other ways - by calling her, using the command “this way.” The leash is there if I need it. But it’s not my main means of control.

She is just an awesome little dog.

The other day, I tried to teach Zoe “paw.” She got very confused about what I was asking her to do, she kept getting up and trying to lick my face (I think she thought I was upset? Or else she was just apoligising for not knowing? Not sure.). As well, Zeeke was right beside us, and he got so agitated that I kept saying “paw” that he lifted his.. and thunked her in the head. (Apparently her head was closest.) lol After prancing around whining for a bit she pawed at me - purely by accident, but I praised the HECK out of her. She was very excited. I tried again, again she whined and pranced, again she pawed me, again I praised and praised her.

So today, the kids have their rawhides, but Zoe seems a little antsy. Den and I give her pats and kisses and just generally fawn over her. But she’s still sitting there looking at me. So I put my hand down and say, “paw!” She gets up, and stares at my hand. I say again, “Paw!” and she smacked my hand with her paw! I told her with a good, smart, wonderful puppy she is, then got Den to turn around and watch. “Paw!” She smacked my hand again. By golly I think she’s got it!! (And she’s very excited about this. She loves the praise, and she seems happy she knows what I ask.)

It’s been a busy week! Thursday - Thanksgiving - we woke up to find snow on the ground, and still falling. When I opened the door to take Zoe out for her morning pee, she stopped right at the threshold mid-run, startled into a complete stop. It caught her so off-guard. She walked around very gingerly, not quite sure what this was or if she should trust it. She adapted very quickly, considering her personality.

So today she has decided she really likes this snow stuff. So much, in fact, that she asked me to go out four times in a row this afternoon. Soon as we’d get back in and I’d sit down, she’d be back at my side whining. I kept thinking she had to go potty still so I’d take her just in case. She made a token pee and then spent the rest of her time having fun. Brat.

She spends her time snuffling into the snow, sticking her nose into it and snorting. I’m starting to think she might be a good tracking dog, because she really loves to use her nose and follow scents - something that Oreo did rarely, and very badly when she did. Zoe also seems to like doing her run-in-mad-circles thing even more in the snow. She just seems so happy out there. Meanwhile my boot leaks and my hands were freezing.

In other news, we haven’t had any accidents in the house in days. Close to a week. I’ve even been leaving the office door open and letting the dogs have the run of the living room. She comes to me when she has to go. Yay Zoe! I’m so proud of her. I still make sure I take her out ASAP - no need to give her the chance to consider alternatives - but just the fact that she’s coming over to me and whining insistently is a huge thing. We still can’t leave the door to the bedroom or bathroom open, but that’s not because of potty accidents - they just keep finding things to chew in those two rooms. Bathroom especially, it’s off-limits. The bedroom is okay as long as one of us is in there. Although, this evening Zeeke fell asleep in the office and when I got up I realized Zoe wasn’t in there with us like I thought. I found the bedroom door open, and got worried. But where did I find her? Asleep on the floor beside the bed. Apparently it’s a comfortable nap spot. Whew!

Den’s mom dropped by yesterday, and Zeeke went nuts. He seriously loves her, and just falls all over himself to greet her. But it’s to such an extreme. It’s like he goes into overdrive - he can’t pay attention to anything at all, he can’t sit still, and he actually worked himself up into such a frenzy that he had to go to the bathroom really bad. After Den took him out he was a little calmer, but Den still had to restrain him until he calmed down. Den’s mom is the only person he reacts like that to beside Den himself, and really is the only visitor who is not intimidated by Zeeke (and therefore is the only person willing or able to help us train him).

Oh, and that whole time, Zoe was warily pacing back and forth behind me and the chair. She sniffed mother-in-law’s hand, but then scooted back out of range and resumed her pacing. When Zeeke was nearby she really wanted to get in on the attention Zeeke was getting, but it didn’t quite overcome her nervousness. However, when mother-in-law sat down on the couch beside Den, Zoe suddenly was able to go up to her and even jump up beside her to get petted. Something to file away for the future; apparently people sitting down aren’t as intimidating as standing up. And after that, well, then Zoe was her climbing-all-over-people silly self.

Before we got Zoe Den and I both agreed that we would need to keep the puppy out of Zeeke’s crate, since he can sometimes get territorial about it. So from day one, even though the dogs got along great, I would lock the crate to prevent Zoe from going in, or verbally remind her to stay away. We didn’t want to have a dog fight on our hands.

Then one day Den and I are in bed and when I look around for the dogs I find Zeeke laying in the back of his crate, with Zoe laying right beside him. They both stared at me curiously. I still watch them, but Zeeke shows no signs of getting upset at Zoe in the least, they both happily cram themselves in there (which isn’t too hard, it’s a huge crate).

I’m laying in bed with my laptop, and Zoe’s beside me playing by herself. It’s so incredibly amusing. She’s laying on her back with one of her nylabones in her mouth, chewing on it, and simultaneously wiggling, kicking her legs, and growling. Sometimes she throws the bone, and has to do an upside-down pounce-wiggle over to it. During that one of her back legs got close to her head, so she had to stop and bite it… then continued on with her growling and wiggling. LOL

I tend to take a lot of naps, or even sleep during the day instead of the night. The dogs have adapted very well to this.

They have a few cues for naptime: for one, when the lights go out, Zeeke turns in. This can be a problem if, say, we want to read for a little while before sleeping, but just the fact that we’ve found/trained an off-switch into him is a very good thing. During the day I try to let them get rid of energy before turning in for a nap, but sometimes they just won’t stop, especially if they’re loose together in the bedroom. In that case Zeeke going in his crate immediately calms them both down. I’m really very pleased with Zeeke’s crate behavior. I remember last year when he would bark for hours on end. I don’t even know when the switch came, but now I can put him in there and he lays down. He ony barks when he hears something (which, granted, is a large percentage of the time - but at least it’s not constant barking just because he’s in there).

Zoe doesn’t really need to be forced to cool down, I’ve written here before how she’s able to quietly occupy herself, or just settle down to wait for me to finish working. So along those lines - and to prevent any further damage to my property - when I come in the bedroom to read, or use the laptop, or nap, I first gather up several toys for her. I like to get one rope/plushie, one bone/chewie, and a rawhide piece. She’s just so good, she lays down with her toys and when she gets bored she’ll curl up to nap.

It’s very nice to see them adapting to our lifestyle and daily rhythm. Makes it much easier on me.

Funny tidbit: Zoe is pretty terrified of Den when he’s in his work uniform. I don’t know what it is about it, but she hides from him every day he comes home with it on. Even now, early morning, he just put it on, and she’s hiding under my desk staring that way. Odd dog.

Her weight today on our dinky bathroom scale: 24lbs.

This morning when I got up I crept up very slowly, and scooted out the door telling the dogs to stay where they were (both were staring at me). It was a gamble leaving Zoe in the bedroom, but she was curled up on the bed and I was hoping she’d continue napping. When I was done my shower I looked in to find… Zoe curled up on the bed. Go Zoe!