13-Week Progress Report

Margot turned 13 weeks-old yesterday, and I didn’t even realize it!  I guess that means it’s time for a progress report, but first I wanted to share the good news that Kristy’s cat, Posey, returned home last night!  After posting flyers all over our neighborhood yesterday evening, Kristy’s neighbor from across the street knocked on her door to tell her that he thought he saw Posey run and hide underneath a car that was parked in front of Kristy’s apartment building.  She looked under the car and, sure enough, it was Posey!   I’m so happy that they found her!

That’s not all the good news I have from last night, though.  You’re not going to believe this, but Sam and Margot played together for a really long time again last night, AND Sam even initiated one of their games!  I was seriously about to die from happiness while I was shooting this video:

It was so much fun to watch them because Sam was putting Margot’s entire head inside her mouth, and Margot had a big grin on her face the whole time!  Also, I’m no Cesar Millan, but I think that Sam exhibited some other dominant-type behaviors with Margot last night, as I saw Margot assume a submissive, belly-up position a few times.  Of course, I could be completely wrong about that, but I can tell you this:  When I was home during my lunch break today, Margot didn’t even try to pick on Sam.  Not even a little bit!  Justin and I wonder if Sam finally earned Margot’s respect last night by proving that she could obviously whoop Margot’s little puppy butt if she really wanted to.   I’m really anxious to see if they’ll play again this evening and if Margot will pester Sam as much. 

As for Margot’s 13-week progress report, I’m bummed to report that she’s still not asking to be let outside or even indicating when she has to use the bathroom.   If we happen to catch her squatting to pee, she WILL stop urinating as soon as we yell, “No!” and then finish peeing once we let her outside, which I guess is a slight improvement (she used to just finish peeing, even after we yelled); however, that’s just not good enough for me.  Ashley gave me some bells that she used while she was trying to housebreak her puppy, Banksy, last year.  You’re supposed to hang the bells from the doorknob and train the puppy to hit them whenever she wants to go outside.  I guess it’s worth a shot, so we’ll probably start trying that tonight. 

As far as improvements go, Margot is getting better at performing “lay down” on command, although it’s not exactly graceful or 100% consistent yet, but she definitely understands the command.  Her play-biting is almost non-existent now, unless you’re really rough-housing with her.  Occasionally, she will mouth your arm, but her bite is very inhibited, and she will stop as soon as you tell her to.   Margot is able to climb and sometimes jump onto the couch all by herself now, which I’m sure some of you do not approve of, but I’ve always allowed my girls to lay on the sofas with us.  (What can I say?  I love to cuddle.)  Margot also conquered her fear of going up and down the tall fire escape-type staircase that leads to Zach and Kristy’s back door this past weekend, and I’d love to add the fact that Margot has stopped pestering Sam to this progress report, but I guess it’s still too soon for me to declare that with certainty.   

I suppose the biggest thing I’d like to note is the fact that I can see a little more maturity developing in Margot now, and I’m very pleased with what a good, sweet, young dog she’s becoming.  Up until now, if she wasn’t sleeping, she was playing at full-speed, or vice versa, and there really wasn’t much more to her personality than that.  Recently, however, she has been able to take her energy level down a notch, and it’s during those down-times that we’ve been able to notice new little personality traits starting to surface, like how she really seems to enjoy watching television, and how she makes sure to give Justin and me equal cuddling time by periodically alternating laps if we’re both sitting on the couch with her.  In fact, she has become noticeably more cuddly and affectionate lately, which, of course, I LOVE.  I especially love how she takes a few minutes to cuddle in my lap every morning before she fully wakes up and we have our morning playtime.  (Have I mentioned how sad I’m going to be when the day finally comes that she’s too big to fit in my lap?)