Margot's Afraid of Santa...and Rain

Screen shot from my phone of the newpaper photo of Margot and me.

Margot and I made it into the newspaper last weekend!  I took her up to the dog park last Saturday, Dec. 1, because PetSafe was hosting a celebration to mark the end of Phase I of the dog park construction and the beginning of Phase II.  “Santa Paws” was there taking pictures with all the dogs, so of course I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.  Margot definitely didn’t like the looks of Santa at first, but once he started giving her treats, she decided that he was okay after all.  

When I look at the photo from the paper, I really cannot believe how big she is now!  She’s almost as tall as Elsea (my friend, Brett’s, 2 year-old, red Dobe), although Margot’s body is still obvious that of a puppy.  She hasn’t really developed her big, barrel Dobe chest yet, and she still has a little bit of awkwardness to her gait when she runs and romps around.   In addition, Margot still isn’t barking very much, except for occasionally when she plays at the dog park.  She also barked at Justin’s parents’ cat a little bit during our visit on Thanksgiving (in a playful way), but overall, she really isn’t very vocal.  She actually chirps more than she barks.  Yes, I said “chirps.”  She makes this funny little, high-pitched sound whenever she’s really excited or while she’s playing with Sam at home.  It’s hilarious and weird, but of course I think it’s adorable.

Margot playing with Buddy at the dog park.

The biggest milestone I have to report is that Justin and I have started transitioning Margot out of her crate.  We have left her out on several occasions for various amounts of time, ranging from a quick run to the store to an entire night while we slept upstairs, and so far she has done incredibly well!  We haven’t come home or woken up to any major disasters or accidents, which is a relief.  Mostly, I think she just curls up on the couch with Sam whenever she realizes that we’re not going to be back for a while, because that’s where we usually find her when we return.   We haven’t tried leaving her out during the day while we’re at work yet, but we’ll get there eventually.  She IS still a puppy, so we don’t fully trust her not to get bored and chew through some cords or destroy something else while we’re gone, and she’s still not 100% housebroken yet.  So, we’ll probably just continue to leave her out on random occasions in the evenings and on weekends to see how she does until we feel comfortable enough to try leaving her out during a work day.  Justin always comes home for lunch, so at least if he comes home to find a mess he’ll be able to crate her for the rest of that day.  Like I said, though, it will probably be at least another week or two before we do that.

My dog's cooler than your dog.  :P

As for the dreaded housebreaking report, Margot only seems to have accidents now whenever it’s raining and she doesn’t want to go outside, or if she absolutely cannot hold it during the night.  I do feel sorry for the girls whenever I make them go outside in the rain, but Margot is simply going to have to suck it up and get used to it the same way Sam has.  This morning, it was POURING when I opened the back door to let them out.  Sam walked hesitantly out onto the deck, but Margot put on the breaks the minute she saw the rain.  She tried to run back into the house, but I literally shoved her out the door and closed the door behind her.  I then proceeded to put some clothes into the dryer and fill the girls’ food and water bowls, thinking that both Margot and Sam would probably hurry and go pee so that they could come back inside as soon as they were done.  Well, Sam was soaking wet when I let her back in.  Margot?  Not quite as wet.  She had obviously NOT gone out into the yard with Sam and just stayed huddled by the door, but I didn’t have time to take her back out.  As I was putting dishes in the dishwasher, though, Margot came in and peed right at the kitchen door!  I immediately yelled, “NO!  Margot, go pee!” and opened the back door to let her out again.  This time, she quickly ran outside because she knew she was in trouble, but I seriously doubt she used the bathroom anymore while she was out there.  Again, she probably just waited right by the door until I let her back in.  I wish there was some way I could get her used to going out in the rain by herself, because she’ll go if Justin or I stand out in the rain with her while she pees, but we’re not always able to do that (nor do we want to).  So, the housebreaking saga continues…

4-1/2 Months-Old

Another play date with Elsea!

Today, Margot is 4-1/2 months-old.  I’m going to stop counting the weeks now, I think, since her major milestone of finishing her vaccinations has passed.  Well, almost passed.  She still needs to receive her rabies vaccination, which will happen after she’s spayed next week. 

We’ve been going to the dog park a lot, and Margot absolutely LOVES it!  I love it, too.  It’s actually a very social experience for the owners as well as their dogs.  The funny thing is, I don’t think any of us owners have really learned each other’s names, but I could tell you almost every single dog’s name that’s at the park each day.  Haha!  So far, other than Elsea, Margot’s biggest buddy seems to be a white, fluffy Husky mix named Coda.  They are simply adorable when they are together.  They wrestle and tumble around in the dirt until poor Coda looks like he’s more like a shade of beige than white.  Margot gets pretty filthy, too.  In fact, we all do!  By the time Justin and I leave the dog park, we’re both covered in muddy paw prints and slobbers from all the various dogs, but it sure is fun getting that way!

Socially, I’m pretty proud of Margot.  She can still be a little timid if she doesn’t recognize anyone at the dog park right away, but she’s still very willing and eager to make new friends.  She also doesn’t like to wander too far from me or Justin.  The dog park is a pretty big, fenced-in area, and a group of us owners usually hang out at the top of the hill.  Every now and then, Margot will get brave and venture down to the bottom of the hill with a small pack of dogs, as long as they are also accompanied by an owner, but she usually doesn’t stay with that group too long before returning to the top of the hill with us.  One thing is for certain, Margot is a “people” dog.  Just about any time we lose site of her and ask, “Where’s Margot?” we’ll usually find her standing beside a human.  She absolutely LOVES human attention and affection and gives her kisses freely to anyone who wants them.   She’s definitely a charmer.

Wearing Lexie's old sweatshirt.  :'-)

I should also add that Justin SWEARS he heard Margot let out her first actual bark when he had her at the dog park this past Monday, but I have yet to hear this for myself.  She does vocalize while she plays, and every now and then she’ll let out a high-pitched semi-bark, but Justin says that what he heard was an actual bark-bark. 

As for a housebreaking update, I don’t really have anything new to report.  I will say that I haven’t seen many messes in the house over this past week, but that could also be due to the fact that the weather has been nice and I’ve been leaving the back door open as much as possible.  I love that Margot loves to play outside so much.  It’s funny, because we’ve started finding random items out in the back yard, like one of her toys or a sock, which means she’s started taking things out there to play with them. 

Snuggling with Daddy

I will also add that Margot is definitely a cold weather snuggler and LOVES her blankie.  A few days ago, when the weather turned cold, I found one of Lexie’s old sweatshirts and put it on Margot.  It was huge on her, but I could tell that she kind of liked wearing it.  So, Justin and I went to Petco last weekend and I bought her a little doggie fleece.  It’s light enough that it won’t make her hot if she wears it in the house, but I do think it will help keep her warm when she’s in her crate.  I worry about her getting cold at night because we turn the heat down before we go to bed (otherwise, the upstairs bedrooms are like a furnace).  So far, she seems to love her new fleece.



Oliver



I have one more thing to mention before I go, and that is our trip to Little Victories this past Sunday.  Little Victories is a no-kill animal rescue, and Justin volunteered to work there one day last week .  While he was there, he met a lovable, three-legged Irish Setter mix named Oliver.  Now, Justin knows that I don’t really ever want a male dog, but he asked if I would be willing to meet Oliver anyway.  I found a photo of him on the Little Victories website, and the accompanying story broke my heart.  He lost his left hind leg after it was caught in a bear trap, and even lost one of his teeth trying to chew the trap off his leg.  Then, years later, he was shot in his other leg, which now contains a metal plate.  Well, after MUCH discussion about whether or not I’m ready to have a three-dog family again, I finally agreed to take Margot just go meet Oliver.  He was a very sweet boy, and he gets around so well on three legs that you almost don’t even notice at first.  He and Margot didn’t seem to mind each other one bit, either.  We took them both for a short walk up the road and back, but as soon as we got back to the main building, Oliver just seemed to want to go back inside.  I know this may sound funny, but I didn’t really feel that strong of a connection with Oliver that day.  I think he easily could have stolen my heart had he acted like he was very happy to meet us, but he really seemed totally happy living right there at Little Victories and couldn’t wait to get back to his bed. 

Snuggling with Sam in her new fleece.



So, Justin and I haven’t really talked about Oliver much since that day.  I honestly don’t feel like I’m ready to have three dogs again, though.  I WOULD adopt Oliver if Justin felt strongly enough about it, but, like I said, he hasn’t really mentioned him since last Sunday.  It’s just that Sam took SO long to finally warm up to Margot, and now they’re getting along so well that I don’t really want to risk messing that up.  I will 100%, DEFINITELY adopt a dog whenever Sam passes away, but until that sad day comes, I think I’m just going to leave things the way they are.

Margot's First Play Date

I have so much to talk about this past weekend!  It started when Margot had a vet appointment on Saturday.  The office was packed that morning, so we ended up having to wait for about an hour.  While we were waiting, I think Margot made her first boyfriend, a little Jack Russell mix named Max.  Max’s owner and I were sitting directly across from each other in the waiting room, and Margot and Max kept meeting in the middle to sniff each other .  Margot really didn’t know what to think if Max at first because she was so much bigger than him, and he kept trying to play with her the same way she usually plays with Sam.  Once she got over the size difference, though, and started playing with him, it was neat to watch how gentle she was with this smaller dog.  Since Sam is so much bigger than her, Margot is used to full-on romping on top of Sam and playing with all her might.  With Max, however, Margot made sure not to swat him too hard whenever she’d paw at him, and she never even tried to romp on him.  Unfortunately, Max started to “fall in love” with Margot a little bit, if you catch my drift, and his owner and I decided that Margot and Max should take a little break from playtime. 



12 wks Vs. 15 wks.



As for Margot’s appointment, she weighed a whopping 28 lbs this week, and she received her last set of booster shots (the ones that make her immune to the Parvovirus).  The real news, though, is that Dr. Ellis said we could go ahead and have Margot spayed in three weeks, so we set up her appointment for October 23.  My poor puppy is going under the knife!  No, I’m actually totally okay with it.  I told Dr. Ellis during Margot’s very first check-up that I wanted to have her spayed as soon as she was old enough to do so because I didn’t want to make the same mistake with Margot as I did with Lexie. 

Lexie was around 8 years-old before she was finally spayed, but it wasn’t an elective surgery.  Lexie had developed pyometra as a result of having never been spayed (my late husband and I had considered breeding her just one time before we had her spayed, but after we finally decided we weren’t going to breed her, we just kept forgetting to have her spayed).  Lexie required life-saving, emergency surgery to remove her uterus, which ended up weighing 4 lbs. because it was full of blood and pus from the infection!  I felt like the WORST mother ever, and that day I vowed to NEVER put off spaying another dog.  Not only that, but I was later told that Lexie’s mammary cancer probably had a lot to do with the fact that she wasn’t spayed at a much earlier age.  So, YOU HEAR ME OUT THERE?!?!?  SPAY YOUR FEMALE DOGS ASAP!!!!!

Anyway, as I was saying, Margot is going to be spayed in three weeks, then, when she goes back ten days later to have her stitches removed, she’ll receive her rabies vaccination, and then that will be the end of her vaccination visits.  I guess my little girl officially isn’t a baby anymore.  :’-(



Yesterday, Justin and I decided to take Margot to Petco to buy her a new Nylabone.  She always loves going to Petco because she usually receives a lot of attention from the staff and other customers, and yesterday was no different.  The girl who checked us out gave Margot a free dog biscuit, and then after she talked to us for a little while about Dobermans and other dog-related things, she ended up giving Margot another biscuit before we left.  

As soon as we walked out of the store, Justin said, “I think you should call Brett and Courtney and see if Elsea wants to play.”  Brett and Courtney are friends of ours who own a 2-1/2 year-old, red Doberman named Elsea.  We’ve all been so anxious for Elsea and Margot to meet each other that we’ve literally been counting down the weeks until Margot was fully vaccinated and cleared to play with other dogs.  Even though Margot won’t be 16 weeks-old until Wednesday, Justin and I both decided that it was probably okay for her to go ahead and meet Elsea, as long as we didn’t take them to the park or anything.  So, I texted Brett and Courtney and set up their play date.

Meanwhile, Justin and I stopped at Walgreens so I could pick up a few things before we headed over to Brett and Courtney’s apartment.  While I was shopping, Justin walked Margot around the parking lot.  When I came out, Justin told me that Margot had just had two bouts of diarrhea.  We knew immediately that it had to have been from the free biscuits from Petco because Margot has experienced diarrhea in the past whenever she ate something other than her regular dog food and Iams puppy biscuits.  She must have a sensitive tummy.  I wasn’t too worried about it, but a few minutes after we got back in the car and started driving, Margot threw up.  Luckily, I had a sheet covering the back seat so I was able to quickly wrap up the mess, but several minutes later, she threw up again.  I felt so sorry for her!  She looked pitiful.  We considered postponing her play date, but we decided to go ahead and take her to Brett and Courtney’s and just play it by ear. 



Margot's first play date with Elsea!



Well, I’m glad we didn’t call off the play date because it ended up being so much fun!  It took Margot a good 20 minutes or so to warm up and probably shake off some of the car sickness, but after that she was perfectly fine.  Elsea kind of freaked her at first, though, because she’s so much bigger than Margot or even Sam, and Elsea kept running full-speed at Margot, causing her to hide behind me or Justin.  Like I said, though, once Margot warmed up to Elsea and realized that she wasn’t trying to hurt her, they got along really well.  They mostly just chased each other and explored the yard together, but they also had a brief wrestling match a little later on while they were lying on the porch.  Brett, Courtney, and I took pictures the WHOLE time, of course.  Haha!  What can I say?  We were some happy, proud parents watching our kids finally playing together and getting along so well. 



Brett with Elsea and Justin with Margot



As I’m sure you can imagine, Margot spent a large majority of the rest of the day napping, as she was pretty worn out from all of the excitement.  Before we left Brett and Courtney’s, though, we talked about going to the dog park together later this week, after Margot officially turns 16 weeks-old.  I would love to take Sam, too, but I may take Margot by herself the first time just to see how it goes.  Sam, believe it or not, is quite a handful to take out on her leash.  She just gets SO EXCITED that she pulls and barks constantly.  I know it’s probably just a matter of working with her in order to correct those bad behaviors, but that’s where I keep falling short because I simply dread taking her out.  (It’s that bad.)  I know that I need to, though, because it isn’t fair to leave Sam at home while Margot gets to go out for walks and play at the dog park.  So, maybe I’ll do that this evening when I get home.  In fact, maybe Justin and I will take Sam by HERSELF up to the dog park as sort of a trial run.  Yeah!  I like that idea a lot, actually.  :)