The Terrible Two's...as in Two Months!

The theme of this morning's post is brought to you by the fussy puppy to my left.

I may look cute, 
but I'm a holy terror when I have energy!

It's now been 7 days since we brought Betty home and what a sleepless 7 days it has been.  Don't get me wrong I'm over the moon that we have her, but right now she's going through this phase where she's acting like she has the terrible two's.  She takes about 5 naps a day which is great because when she's out she's OUT, and I can get things done around the house, but when she's awake- whoa brother, let me tell you, she's into EVERYTHING and whines like a toddler who can't use her big girl words.  

We knew she was a high energy breed but didn't think that would set in till she was older.  Don't ask why we reasoned this cause it turned out to be completely wrong.  The Plott Hound in her is also known to be headstrong and stubborn.  That's also already kicked in.  Trust me folks, after hundreds or thousands of years of breeding, people kind of know what they're talking about when they set breed standards for temperament!

Betty is basically at the stage where she wants what she wants, when she wants it and that was two minutes ago, so what are you waiting for!?  Food, potty, play-time, you name it.  I spend half my day trying to figure out what she's whining and fussing about.  I'm pretty well in-tune with her potty routine at this point although yesterday she peed three times on the floor of the living room with no warning at all DIRECTLY AFTER we had taken her outside.  I'm beginning to wonder if its due to the weather.  I don't blame her, I wouldn't want to pee or poop outside in 40 degree, rainy, hurricane weather either.  Just like a human baby/toddler who hasn't yet learned to talk she whines and cried whenever she's: frustrated, hungry, has to go potty, lonely, tired, wants to play, you name it.  She knows at this point that if she cries she gets attention.  I definitely want to nip this behavior in the bud.  

Currently Betty has a case of the zoomies.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, zoomies is what happens when dogs get bursts of energy and go crazy running around trying to release that energy.  She's racing around the living room like a thoroughbred. I just hope she tires herself out soon so she'll take a nap and I can get some housework done!

If anyone out there in Internet Land has any tips on how to get through this stage (specifically kennel training and keeping a high energy, low attention span dog busy) PLEASE share your thoughts!!!

Till Next Time

XOXO

Betty

Rachel & Josh

The V-Word

VACCINATIONS!

dun, dun, dunnn

All puppies have to go through a series of vaccinations to ensure their health and the health of any other dogs they come in contact with.  We've never had our own puppy before and our parents took care of vaccinating our family dogs so this is sort of uncharted territory for us.  The woman we adopted Betty from said she got her first set of puppy vaccinations from an at-home kit purchased from Tractor Supply Co.  I've never heard of at-home vaccinations and I'm a bit weary of it even though I'd prefer 9 times out of 10 to do things myself.  She said they were only $7 a set so that is a huge difference seeing as a typical vet visit can run upwards of $75.  We're still on the fence about whether to get the shots from TSC or take Betty to the vet.  We've got 2 weeks before she's due for her next set but money is really tight so I guess I'll have to do some more research before then so we can make an informed decision.

If you've given your dog at-home vaccinations from TSC or a similar place we'd love to hear from you, please drop us a line! As always we appreciate any feedback you can give us!

First Year Puppy Vaccination Schedule

I found this great "Dummies" site with the puppy vaccination schedule.  

I'll definitely be hanging onto it for future reference.

Till Next Time!

XOXO

Betty

Rachel & Josh

Weight

Good morning world!
It's 4:30 am on the East Coast and I'm wide awake.  Josh goes to work at 4 am on Sundays so I'm right up with him.  Betty and I took daddy to work and now she's back asleep and I'm still up.  I decided to put this time to good use and look up breed info.  It's been bugging me lately when people ask what breed Betty is and when we tell them Lab/Plott Hound they all comment on how tiny she is, some even saying their labs were twice the size she is at 8 weeks.  This leads me to believe 3 things could be possible:

1. Betty is the runt of the litter and might not be full size for her breeds (40-80lbs) when she's an adult, which is fine with us because we have a smaller place and having a smaller dog isn't a bad thing as long as she's healthy.
2. She's not really a Lab/Plott Hound.  I'm not sure what she'd be, but I'm really curious.  My sister and her boyfriend had their dog Aurora's DNA tested to find out her breeds and now I'm leaning towards getting that done just to make sure she's really what we think she is so we know she's the right weight.
3. She's sick. I hope to God this isn't the case.  She's playful, pooping and peeing just fine and has a good temperament.  She's been de-wormed and I've been checking to make sure they're gone for good so I don't think that's the issue.  Her appetite has been a little low in my opinion.  I'm not sure how much she should be eating a day/how much she's actually eating (this is the next thing I'm looking up!), but to me it seems like she sort of grazes all day.  My parent's Whippet, Bene, does this as well and he's perfectly healthy, so as long as Betty gains the weight she needs to I'm ok with her eating small meals.  For a breed that's susceptible to bloat from eating big meals and then roughhousing I'm fine if she's a dainty eater. I'm not sure what else would stunt her growth. 

In any event, I'm hoping to get down to the bottom of this issue soon.  If you know of any good websites or have any tips for us please don't hesitate to contact us! We would love to hear from you!

Til Next Time!

XOXO

Betty

Rachel & Josh

Happy Howl-een!

This is my favorite time of the year, the air is cooler, leaves are changing and falling and Halloween is upon us, a time to dress up as whoever you want.  I know some people have issues with dressing their dogs up.  They think it's ridiculous, cruel, stupid, beneath them, etc. I'm not one of those people.  I love dressing my dogs up and they love dressing up! My parent's dogs, Tona and Bene love to put their "pretties" on and prance around.  I also think it's functional in the cold weather we experience in Upstate NY.  I would rather look ridiculous than let my puppy get sick.  That being said Josh and I went a little crazy at Petsmart tonight. 

I usually try to shop for animal goods at a locally owned pet store (Pet Depot) rather than the big chain stores, but Petsmart has a tag engraving machine and that's why we originally went there (until we found out their tags were like $15!). So instead of getting her a tag like we planned we ended up perusing the racks of 75% off Halloween costumes! Yes, I said it, 75% OFF! Most costumes were originally between $10 and $20 so they ended up being dirt cheap (I think we paid $3 for each!).  We had Betty's costume narrowed down to a penguin and a pumpkin.  Pumpkin won only because the penguin had a hood and we didn't think she'd like having something on her head.  

Here she is in all her orange glory!

In between being bombarded by other customers and employees ooo-ing and aww-ing over how precious Betty was and the "huh?'s" every time we told someone she was lab/plott hound we managed to find 2 more outfits for her:

a cheerleader for her Uncle Jay's favorite team 

-And-

Mommy's favorite! Rockabilly puppy!

With all the excitement going on she got pretty tired quickly (a good thing for Josh and I who have been taking turns doing the 1am and 5am potty breaks) and decided she was too tired to find a legit place to sleep.  The following are my favorite sleep positions of the day.  Enjoy!

When she's really relaxed she makes silly faces

She also sleeps at 90 degree angles (daddy was so sleepy from work!)

In this scene, she was struggling to make it up onto the pillow, stopped and decided where she landed was good enough.  Too cute!

Finally, here she is totally relaxed and sprawled out, you can really see her tiger stripes here :)

Well, it's getting late here (10pm) and Betty has woken up from her 8pm nap and wants to play (Josh works at 4am on Sundays and has to be up around 3! Uh-oh).  

Final thought: They should really make a chew toy shaped like fingers because Betty won't leave mine alone when I'm typing!

Till Next Time!

XOXO     

Betty   

Rachel  & Josh

A Brave New World

Welcome Friends!

My name is 

BETTY!

I am an 8 week old Lab/Plott Hound mix living in Upstate NY.

Here's my mom and dad!

Josh and Rachel

or as I like to call them:

Pooper-scooper #1 and #2

I'm starting this blog to serve as cross between a diary and a how-to guide. Josh and I have never raised a puppy on our own before so we're entering a brave new world together.  Hopefully along the way I'll find useful tips and tricks to raising a well-rounded and well behaved dog that I can pass along to you! If nothing else this blog will chronicle the life and times of Betty.  She may be tiny now but I have a feeling 60 lbs from now she's going to be a big handful. Join us in this wonderful journey!

Till Next Time!

XOXO

Betty

Rachel & Josh