Papu's first week

I can't believe it's been a week and one day since we brought Papu home with us. It feels like a lot longer time. I guess it's because we've had to take her out to pee for like thousand times. It's just one pee trip after a pee trip. But that's just how puppies are, and Papu is indeed an adorable puppy. She's adorable even when she goes crazy, runs around in circles and play bites us with her needle sharp teeth. I definitely don't regret getting her, she's everything I expected. And maybe even more.


I really wish her ears would stay like that. And they probably will.

Papu still pees inside, and we let her. She's only eight weeks old, so we don't even expect her to be fully house trained yet. We're just happy that she knows where she should pee. Of course there has been several accidents, but we have mostly learned how to prevent them by now. She likes to sniff certain corners of our apartment when she needs to pee, so it's easy to point her the right spot to pee if she has "forgotten" it.

At nights Papu usually wakes me up if she needs to pee. For some reason she won't walk through our relatively tiny apartment alone at nights. She needs me to guide her. I refuse to give her any attention, though. I wait until she's quiet and then I pretend to go to bathroom or something. I don't want her to believe that she's able to get me out of bed anytime she wants. Lately she has been quiet for all night, so I've actually managed to get a good night sleep.

I have not taught her any "tricks" yet, but she's learning how to behave nicely. For example, she knows that when we're sitting on the sofa, the only way to get our attention is to sit quietly. Jumping up or barking is not going to work with us. She also knows "off", though so far it has only worked with treats.


No cuddles? But I look so cute?!

I'm a bit worried about her socialization. We don't personally know anyone who has a dog, so we can't get her safe dog friends easily. And we can't take her to dog parks either, because she still haven't got his vaccinations. I've learned that you should avoid dog parks and other popular dog areas until your puppy is vaccinated. She haven't met many people either, so she's basically afraid of everyone. I feel sorry that we are so antisocial. It would be better if we both had plenty of friends she could interact with. But no can do. We're doing our best anyway.

Here's our puppy, Papu

We've brought the puppy to home now. She mostly sleeps. And eats and pees too. We named her Papu, which means "bean" in Finnish. She's actually named after my favorite food, chili con carne. I opened our fridge one day and noticed the half empty bean can. I thought it was a nice name and we never came up with other name suggestions. So Papu she is. Though I already have several pet names for her, like Papunaattori (Beanator), Papusoppa (Bean Soup), Papupata (Bean Stew, that also means talkative in Finnish) and Papana (that's like... rabbit stool in Finnish).







She's a miniature pinscher. We know that this breed is not exactly recommended for first timers, but it happened to be the breed that we wanted. Dogs live a long life and we didn't want to wait for ten and plus years to get the dog we want. We're both experienced with dogs, so we decided to take the "risk". I think it's going to be worth it.

The Zen

Yesterday was Sunday, so my mother called me. Apparently she has finally accepted the news. We are getting the dog, no matter what she thinks. And since she clearly can't stop it from happening, she has no other choice than cooperating. So she was really nice to me when she called, and we talked about dogs and not about her my little pony collection as usually. M.B. suggested that she's been reading my blog and found out that I found her last comments offensive, but that's can't be the case. My mother doesn't understand English. And it would be an impossible task for her to find my blog without help anyway.

It means a lot to me that the people around me are supporting my decisions. I know that I have always been a very responsible person, but am I really responsible enough to take care for a dog? I've pondered that for years and now I finally decided that I have what it takes. I have the time, I have the money and I'm ready to make some effort. But if the people around me start to question my capability, I start to question it too. And that won't do anything good.

Right now I'm feeling very peaceful and confident, and for now on I'm only concentrating on positive things. I leave no room for doubt. Most of my friends are very supporting, so I listen to them. I don't listen to those who think that I don't have what it takes to raise a happy, healthy dog. Obviously they know nothing. I've studied all the dog books I borrowed from library. I have read Finnish dog forums and learned several important things. I'm as prepared as I can possible be.

Toy Story

Yesterday we finally bought some toys for the puppy. The Puppy Kong was easy to select, since I've heard so many good things about kong toys. It's a chew toy you can fill with different treats and it's supposed to entertain and activate the dog when you are not around. It says on the Kong Company website that the dog can play with the kong toys even when it's not supervised. I'm not sure if that applies to puppy kongs because they're made of softer rubber. Anyway. We also bought a rope toy for tug plays. Now we just need something that squeaks and we're happy.



The selection of the toys was very wide, but I thought that the most of the toys looked a bit too cheap. Especially the squeaky toys. I know that you're supposed to supervise the dog when it's playing with a toy, but I still would like to make sure that the toys are as durable and harmless as possible. Just in case.

There must be a joke. I just don't get it.

"When you eat Milbona yoghurt for 14 days, 2 weeks have passed."

Thanks M.B. for telling me about this Lidl ad. At least it doesn't lie!

Who let my mom out?

My mother called me yesterday (as she does every Sunday) and I told her about the dog. I didn't want to tell her because I knew she would say something mean, but I decided to be all grown-up and tell her anyway. And she was mean. She let me understood that I'm not capable of taking care of anything. She said that of course I could try, but it would be J.R. who have to take care of the dog by himself eventually.

I think it's a bit funny how she thinks I'm totally clueless. I moved away from my parents when I was fifteen to live with my aunt while I studied in high school in Helsinki. After I turned eighteen I moved together with my first boyfriend. In other words: I've been independent and responsible person for years. I can't understand why she's so blind.

And she thinks she knows me! "You have never been interested in dogs". Like how could she know? She calls me once a week and tells me everything she's been up to. She doesn't bother to ask me anything to get to know me. She just assumes things. She said she was surprised that I'm actually willing to pay money to get a dog, because I'm so stingy. Sorry, but I'm not. It's easy for her to assume so because she never sees me spending money or wearing new clothes.

I know I should not blog when I'm angry and annoyed, but I can't help this. I'm a good daughter so why can't she be a good mother? Why she has to be so outspoken? I've always done the right thing so why is she so worried?

***

I bought a clicker on Saturday. There were no real selection, just cheaper one and a more expensive one ("multi-clicker"). I didn't know the difference so I decided to go with a cheaper one first. The sound of the clicker is quite loud and I'm worried that the puppy might find it scary. I've heard it could happen. I tried to damp the sound by putting the clicker inside a sock. It sounded a lot nicer.


I chose bright yellow for a reason: it's easier to see, harder to lose.