Week 1 with Ellie and Atti

Upon first meet, Atticus and Eleanore were NOT instant-friends. Atti hissed and threw a fit, and Ellie didn't care one bit about the cat. (The video is on my Facebook) After this, Atti camped out in our bed for two days and ate very little.

When they glimpsed each other from different rooms, they would both growl.

Now, after a week... they still growl at each other but Atti will sit in the window in the same room as Ellie. So, that's progress. They are both interested in eachother, but they still won't get near each other. And no worries, Atti has his full appetite back.

THE FIRST PUPPY CASUALTY:

Eleanore has decided that couches are delicious...luckily this is the couch we were going to use for the basement..

ADORABLE MOMENTS:

She hasnt quite figured out how to use a bed...

But she is most comfortable outside, and loves to follow us around when we are in the yard.

I had forgotten what it's like to have a puppy, since the only dog I ever had was Gretchen, who lived to be 15 years old. She was our dog from the time I was 8 years old to 22. Now, at 26, it's been quite a while since I had to train a dog.

Week one of puppy-trial-period summary:

The week has been frustrating, but Ellie has started to respond to her name, and knows when we are upset with her. We have been working on Sit, Down, and Shake, as well.

Relations with big-brother, Atticus, still aren't going well. This is mostly Atticus' fault, but Ellie does growl at him if he gets too close, and vise-versa. Towards the end of the week, though, Atti has come and sat across the room from her. Granted they are on complete opposite sides of the room as far as they can be away from eachother..but still in the same room regardless.

As long as Ellie doesn't come towards Atti, things are good.

As I said earlier, Ellie is most comfortable outside, so the past few days we have left her in the back yard all day (Micah is home and checks on her to make sure she has water and shade). This has helped Atti too because he now feels like he can explore and get acclimated to this new house.

Potty training started off well, we had a bad day on Tuesday, but Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and last night have been accident-free! We have started her on a feeding/bathroom schedule in hopes of "regulating" her, and it seems to be working. Micah gets up at 1am and 4am to let her out, then I take her at 6:30am when I get up.

We also hope that in the weeks to come she will learn to use her leash so I can start training her to be my running buddy. (And tire her out so she won't chew up things!..that might be wishful thinking, but that's what I have to go on right now.

She has started showing a personality, and loves people. She met her cousin, Finn, (Micah's cousin's new puppy) last night and overall that went well, too.

And, of course, we are all exhausted. (As demonstrated by Noah and Atticus)