A Dog Named Krypto

Quite by surprise, last Sunday we got a puppy.  We saw an ad in the paper and it happened to be exactly the type of dog we had been talking about.  Mostly the dogs in the paper are larger, like pit bulls or labs.  When I called to find out about the dogs, the woman said she was from Winnamucca - about 3 hours from here, but she was heading in to Carson City with the dogs.  So we were able to go see them and pick one out right then.  He's a little Poodle/Bichon Frise mix, all white except for a little golden brown around his ears.  He has some pink still on his nose and little ears that flop up when he lays on his back.  Because he's white, we decided he should be Krypto - the Super Dog.

He's a little more than eight weeks old now.  Potty training has been a full-time job this last week.  It took quite a few days to get him to use the little patch of fake grass in the house and I think now that a week has past, we're getting more than half of his potty trips in an appropriate location.  I hung a bell from the back patio door handle to try and teach him to ring it if he wants to go out and poop on the grass.  He actually started doing it yesterday or today.  He grabs ahold of the bell and jerks his head back and forth to ring it and then is very happy to go outside.

Of course, the first few days with him the weather was really nice.  Then on Thursday it got really cold and he was upset about going outside.  It hasn't been too windy today and yesterday so it's still not too bad outside during the day, but during the night it's around freezing now.

Krypto naps a lot, but doesn't sleep through the night right now.  He falls asleep on everyone's lap and mostly seems happiest just relaxing in someone's arms.  For me, that has meant it's hard to make dinner because I only have one arm free.  His whole body fits between the palm of my hand and a few inches before my elbow.

He loves to chew stuff and he's very bite-y in the mornings lately.  He wants to be up playing right at dawn and then he's ready to crash again around 9am.  So I'm feeling pretty tired this week.  It's been busy with the boys too, so I haven't had a chance to take a nap in the afternoon to make up for some of my missed sleep.  He hates being left home alone, but he also doesn't like riding in the car, so there's been quite a few things he has to get used to still.

The boys are loving Krypto, but also having to adjust a little bit.  Peter's been really responsible this week with not putting his things on the floor and being willing to take Krypto outside when I'm busy.  Grady's been feeling some of the effects of not being "the baby" in the family anymore.  He's always saying how much he loves Krypto and he loves poking at him, but he's also been in puppy mode himself and hasn't been very agreeable this week.

We finally got a little harness and leash for Krypto today.  Tried it on at home and he definitely doesn't care for the idea of having something strapped to him.  But he walked around for a little while with it on.  We have another two months for him to finish getting vaccinated and it's recommended that he not be out on the sidewalk (or any place other dogs have been) until he's got all his vaccines.  So he's got some time to get used to walking around on a leash.