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…

Vote for Suvi! (Plus, an Overdue Update)

I apologize for neglecting to post any updates about Margot lately, but I have been insanely super busy over the last month or so.  On top of my regular busy schedule with trying to juggle a full-time job and also manage my photography business, I’ve recently made a pretty big decision in terms of my photography business in general, which requires a LOT of planning and preparation.  Not only am I currently redesigning my photography website from scratch, but I’m also trying to get a ton of other things ready in time for the big Bridal Expo, which is taking place at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, WV on January 27, 2012. 

Vote for Suvi!

Before I give you an update about Margot, however, I’d actually like to ask a favor.  If you followed by previous blog about Lexie last summer, you may recall that her second eye surgery was almost completely paid for by the generous donations that we received through my blog and also through a blog that Chad Dressen so kindly posted on his own famous dogs’ website, www.ramseyandpablo.com.   Chad’s adorable Doberman and Chihuahua, Ramsey and Pablo, have drawn a nationwide following over the years, and recently a beautiful Pit Bull, named Suvi, joined their little family via Chad’s girlfriend, Brandy.  Suvi is currently in the running to become a Pit Bull Super Hero Breed Ambassador and help the Minnesota Pit Bull Rescue, but she needs your help!  Voting is taking place on the American Dog Magazine’s Facebook page until November 30, so please click here and vote for Suvi!  She, Chad, Brandy, Ramsey and Pablo are already super heroes in my book, so helping Suvi become an ambassador for her breed is the very least I can do for them.  Again, please spread the word and vote for Suvi as often as possible!

Ava and Margot on Thanksgiving

As for Miss Margot, she is getting so big!  I’m not sure how much she weighs right now, but she’s about as tall as Sam, and her crate is looking smaller and smaller.  She’s such a good girl, too.  On Thanksgiving, we took her to Justin’s parents’ house where they were hosting a small family gathering.   Justin’s second cousin, Ava, who is only 19 months-old, was fascinated by Margot.  After watching her for a while, Ava decided that she wanted to pet Margot.  I’ve seen Margot interact with children at the dog park, and she’s always been great with them, but Ava was much smaller than any other child that Margot has ever encountered.  So, I will admit I was a tad nervous at first, simply because I didn’t know if Margot would become too excited and accidentally knock Ava down by trying to smother her with kisses or something; however, Margot couldn’t have been better behaved.  She did surprise Ava with a kiss on the face once or twice, which sent Ava running back to her father’s lap for safety, but after a minute or two, Ava wanted to go pet the doggy again. 

Granted, Margot ignored Ava for the most part because she was so distracted by all the wonderful Thanksgiving food, but Margot was even a good girl in terms of begging.  She didn’t whine.  She didn’t paw at anyone.  She didn’t jump up onto anyone’s lap or even try to lay her head in anyone’s lap while they ate.  She would simply lie down at one corner of the table and watch everyone eat for a few minutes, and if no one offered her any scraps, she’d try her luck at another corner of the table. 

Margot is also still very well behaved whenever we take her to the dog park, which we are still trying to do as much as possible.  She absolutely LOVES to socialize with all of the different dogs and, of course, their owners.  I’m very proud of the way she manages to stay out of fights, too, as there are often little “spats” between some of the dogs.  Whenever trouble starts, though, Margot always high-tails it out of there!  Sometimes, if a fight starts happening in another area of the dog park, Margot will become curious and run towards the commotion, but she always stops as soon as she sees what’s going on and never tries to take part in it. 

The only time I really have to keep an eye on Margot is when an owner brings a smaller dog into the big dog area because Margot tends to obsess over little dogs.  She’s very curious about them and wants to sniff them incessantly.  Sometimes, this worries the little dog owners, so I will try to step in and redirect Margot’s attention towards a stick or something else.   There have also been times when a little dog that Margot is interested in will actually try to play with her a little bit, and despite Margot’s best efforts to play more gently with the little dog, sometimes she just can’t reel in her excitement enough, and so I’ll have to step in again.  Thankfully, it isn’t difficult to redirect Margot’s attention, which I can tell the little dog owners appreciate. 

Big girl teeth!

For the most part, Margot will spend several minutes socializing with as many dogs as possible, but inevitably she will always end up with one or two BFF’s, whom she will wrestle and play with until it’s time to go home.   She’s made BFF’s with all shapes and sizes, too, from a giant Mastiff/Labrador mix to a little Bassett Hound.  As long as they’re willing to wrestle with her, all dogs are friend-worthy in Margot’s book.

The one thing that Justin and I would both really like to see improve is Margot’s willingness to come when she is called.  I’m actually disappointed in myself for not keeping up with her obedience training very well, but the reason I’ve slacked off with her training at home is because I still fully intend to sign her up for some professional obedience classes after she gets spayed, which will hopefully be during Christmas break next month.  (I’m still waiting to hear back from the vet about how much the medications will cost to treat her for Von Willebrand disease both before and during the surgery.) 

After-bath swaddle.

All in all, Justin and I really couldn’t be more proud of our little Margot.  She’s such a joy to have around.  My favorite moments are when she’s sitting on the couch, lying half-way in my lap, and just calmly watching TV with me.   (We refer to this as her “zen puppy” state.)  It’s so funny to watch her actually watching television.  She’ll stare at the TV for a while, yawn, look at me with those soulful, almond-shaped eyes, give me a quick kiss on the face, and then turn her head and go right back to watching TV.   It cracks me up. 

Sam is Margot's favorite pillow.

I also LOVE finding Margot and Sam all snuggled up together on the sofa.  It’s so sweet the way Sam has finally adopted Margot, the same way she eventually adopted Lexie when she was a puppy.  It seems like only yesterday that we were actually considering letting Sam move in with Justin’s parents because she was so annoyed by Margot, and now Sam will let Margot do just about anything to her that she wants.  If Margot wants to wrestle, Sam wrestles.  If Margot wants to play tug, Sam will play tug with her.  If Margot wants to nap, Sam will patiently lie still while Margot climbs all over her until she’s found a comfortable position (usually right on top of her).  Sam has even been known to leave food in her bowl during the day and wait until Margot has been let out of her crate so that they can eat together.  

They’re both such sweethearts.  I’ve definitely been blessed with some of the best dogs anyone could have ever asked for, including Lexie and Jocie, whom I miss very much and still think about every single day.  Hug your puppies tight, folks.  :)

I am a human mattress.

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.

16-Weeks Progress Report (FINALLY!)

16 weeks-old!

Margot turned 16 weeks-old yesterday, and we celebrated by playing at the dog park!!!  I’m shocked that I didn’t take more photos of her first dog park experience, but I was too busy loving every minute of watching her socialize with all the other dogs.  We met Courtney and Elsea there around 6:00 p.m. yesterday evening, and Margot immediately recognized Elsea.  There is a separate area for small dogs to run and play, which was empty at that time, so Courtney and I let Elsea and Margot have a little warm-up run around the empty area before I finally decided that Margot could probably handle meeting all of the other dogs.

Margot the wallflower

I don’t even know how to begin to describe what an awesome experience this was for me and Margot both.  Margot was a little overwhelmed at first when a herd of big dogs came over to greet her upon entering the park (we called this The Welcoming Committee, as this greeting procedure seemed to occur every time a new dog entered the park).  Margot mostly stuck to Elsea’s side at first and always made sure she knew where Elsea was whenever she got brave enough to explore on her own a little bit.  Meanwhile, Courtney and I were enjoying watching all of the dogs interact with each other and admiring all the different breeds.  One of my favorites was a GIANT, black Newfoundland, named Fat Head, who was so sweet and friendly, but still intimidated every dog he tried to play with because of his massive size.  There was also a sweet, stocky Bulldog, named Tank, a scruffy little Schnauzer/Border Collie mix, named Prudence, an adorable little mixed-breed puppy, named Miko, who was the same age as Margot, only half her size, a lot of Labs, lots of Chihuahuas, one Rottweiler, a Weimaraner, a couple of Boxers, a Husky puppy, and a bunch of awesome mutts! 

At one point, I was so caught up in admiring all the other dogs that I lost sight of Margot.  When I found her, she was sitting oh-so-properly in the corner of the fence, just watching all of the action around her.  I laughed at how intimidated and shy she was being and encouraged her to get back into the game.  She rejoined Elsea and ran around with her some more, but several minutes later, I found myself looking for Margot again.  This time, I found her sitting on one of the park benches, just chillin’ in between two dudes.  She definitely seemed more interested in making friends with the humans than with the other dogs for probably the first half-hour we were there.

"Get back in the same, Margot!"

During that time, Kristy and Zach came to check out the dog park and watch Margot play (Kristy was in HEAVEN, by the way), and Justin met us at the park after he got off work around 6:45 p.m.  Having more of “her people” there actually seemed to help boost Margot’s confidence a little, and she finally started socializing with the other dogs more, especially the little dogs.  In fact, by the end of the evening, Margot was having so much fun wrestling with a Chihuahua/Min Pin mix that Justin and I felt guilty making her leave!  But, alas, it was getting pretty chilly and I hadn’t brought a jacket, plus the sun was going down quickly, so we told all of Margot’s new friends “good-bye” and headed back home.

The one thing I learned right away about going to the dog park is that both the dog and the owner are going to come home covered in mud and dog slobber.  So, that meant that Margot had to have a bath when she got home.  The last time I had bathed her was probably a month ago, and she was a bit of a handful at that time because she kept trying to jump out of the tub.  Last night, however, I think she was too worn out to fight me because she just stood perfectly still the whole time I bathed her.  Afterwards, Justin wrapped her in a towel and she fell asleep in his arms while he held her on the couch. 

Making friends at the dog park

I honestly don’t think that Margot’s first experience at the dog park and with socializing with so many other dogs could have gone any better.  I’m so proud of her.  The weather is supposed to be nice again this evening, so I’m going to try taking Sam to the dog park with us tonight, as well!  I hope that Sam will enjoy it as much as Margot did, although I’m a little concerned that Sam might not handle meeting so many new dogs and people at one time as well as Margot did.  Sam’s 11 years-old, and for the majority of her life her world has basically consisted of me, Chris, Zach, Kristy, Ashley, Justin, Jocie, Lexie, and now Margot, and you guys remember how long it took her to warm up to Margot, right?  Typically, whenever another dog or unfamiliar person enters Sam’s little world, her initial reaction is along the lines of “Stranger!  Danger!”  She barks a lot at first, but she also calms down fairly quickly once she realizes that there is no actual danger.  So, I’m hoping that, even if she does freak out a little bit and bark at the other dog park-goers when we first get there, once she sees how calm I am and realizes how much fun Margot is having, maybe she’ll loosen up and actually enjoy the experience, too.  OMG, you guys just don’t even understand how happy it will make me if I get to watch my Samul run around and actually have fun playing with other dogs tonight!  I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I do have a good feeling about this….

Anyway, I guess I should also give a quick 16-week progress report since I didn’t do one yesterday.   First of all, I’ve hung the bells from the kitchen door and have tried to encourage Margot to ring them before I take her outside to use the bathroom, but she is actually really afraid of those bells.  I thought maybe I just scared her when I first took her paw and made her touch them, so instead of making her ring the bells, I decided to just ring them myself before opening the door each time.  Well, I guess she just doesn’t like the sound, because that scares her, too.  Regardless, I haven’t removed the bells just yet.  You never know, she may get over it and eventually realize their purpose. 

Another thing that I’ve been doing lately, in regard to housebreaking, is leaving the sliding door open while we’re home so that Margot is able to go in and out by herself.  Margot and Sam both really seem to like this.  Last weekend, Margot actually took her Wubba toy outside to play with it on the deck while Sam laid outside on the deck with her and soaked up a little sun.  It’s just a shame that this is pretty much the only time of year that we’ll be able to leave the back door open for them like this.  It’s just not practical to leave the door open when it’s either really hot or really cold outside because it affects the temperature inside the house and lets in bugs during the summer months.  It makes me REALLY wish that we could have a doggy door because Margot hasn’t had one single accident while the back door has been left open for her.  In fact, whenever she goes outside to use the bathroom all by herself, she always comes RUNNING back inside and jumps all over us, smothering us with kisses, as if she’s really proud of herself!  Hahaha!  It’s pretty adorable. 

The only other major things to report are that Margot’s adult teeth are starting to come in, and she’s growing like a weed!  I kid you not, there are days when I SWEAR she has grown taller overnight.  Right now, she is almost up to my knees, which blows my mind.  What happened to that little 6 week-old peanut who used to be able to fit under my couch?!?!? 

Not only is Margot growing taller every day, but she’s also getting sweeter and sweeter.  This girl LOVES to be loved, and she gives as much love as she receives.  We still crack up at how Margot does her best to give everyone equal cuddling time whenever she’s hanging out with us in the evenings.  She’ll snuggle up to Justin and let him pet her for a few minutes, then she’ll get up and come over to plop down in my lap for a little while, and then she’ll get up and go over to the loveseat where Ashley is sitting to give her a few minutes of cuddle time, before eventually coming back over to Justin and starting the whole cuddle-cycle all over again.  It’s also funny watching her fight sleep for as long as she can.  Her eyes get really heavy, her blinks get longer and longer, and eventually her little head will start to wobble.  As soon as she nods off, though, she’ll quickly raise her head with her eyes wide open, and she’ll look around like, “What?  Who’s sleepy?  I’m not sleepy!”

I really cannot say this enough, but I honestly don’t know how I would get through the day sometimes without knowing that this little one is waiting for me when I get home.  After we got back from our vacation this past summer, I entered probably the worst depression I’ve ever experienced (and, if I’m being completely honest, I still haven’t really come out of it yet).  I’ve never been one to wallow in self-pity, but the amount of grief I’ve experienced due to so many losses in such a relatively short amount of time (first with losing Chris, then the devastating loss of Lexie after such a long, tortuous battle, and most recently the sudden loss of my Jocie just a month after losing Lou) has been, well, overwhelming, to say the least.  Unfortunately, each loss that I’ve experienced has also come with a huge price tag attached, which has resulted in a mountain of debt that I can’t even begin to wrap my brain around how I’m ever going to be able to pay off, which now has me seriously worried about losing my house.  There’s even more that I could add to this sob story, but my point isn’t to try to make people feel sorry for me (believe it or not).  My point is that Margot has been my little beacon through this fog since the day we brought her home two and a half months ago.  Sometimes, even I have a hard time believing how much joy she’s still able to make me feel, despite the fact that my life is pretty sad and crappy at the moment.  Margot doesn’t feel sorry for me, though.  She doesn’t know or care about what I’ve been through already or about how many more bad things are on my horizon.  All she cares about is playing and cuddling with me when I get home from work, which is actually quite a comforting thought.   I am so thankful that I have Margot in my life right now because she makes me forget about all of my sob-story problems and focus on something positive (her) every single day, even if it’s only for a few hours. 

To be clear, I’m not saying that Sam DOESN’T bring me joy because I do love Sam with ALL my heart.  However, after having just lost Lexie and Jocie so suddenly within a month of each other, I can’t help but face the reality that I’m eventually going to have to say good-bye to Sam, too, and it’s hard not to think about that every time I look at her now.  Once again, though, I have Margot to thank for not allowing me to focus on such negative thoughts.  Without Margot around, I’m certain that Sam would have spent the rest of her days just lying on the sofa, being lazy and lonely, and I would have done nothing but feel sorry for her and dread the day when I’ll have to let her go.  Instead, thanks to Margot’s persistence and Sam finally warming up to her, I get to watch my 11 year-old Samul play every single day, which brings me more joy than I can even begin to describe.   

Yes, I can say with 150% certainty that Margot is definitely the best unsure decision I have ever made.  I just hope that she understands how much she means to us and how much I appreciate her love, because I’ll truly never be able to say it enough…and Margot doesn’t understand English.  ;)

Bath time!

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.  :)

12-Week Progress Report

Margot is 12 weeks-old today!  Before I get into her progress report, though, I kind of wanted to apologize for yesterday’s super depressing blog post.  I’m happy to report, however, that I’m feeling a little better today.    My overall situation hasn’t changed, unfortunately, but it’s rare that I will stay as upset as I was yesterday for more than just a day or two.  If I allow myself a whole day to just wallow in self-pity and bawl my eyes out, eventually I’ll reach the point where I simply can’t stand feeling so down anymore, and I’ll find a way to pull myself out of it. 

Yesterday evening, Margot helped greatly in that endeavor.  Justin was spending the evening with some friends and Ashley was visiting her family in Ohio, so I asked Zach and Kristy if I could bring Margot over to their place because I really didn’t want to spend the evening at home alone.  I’m so glad that I went over there, too, because I spent the entire evening talking about wedding plans with Kristy and playing ball with Margot for the first time.  In fact, I felt like last night was the first time that Margot had ever REALLY played with me, like interactively.   She plays all the time, of course, but usually I just sit on the floor cross-legged and let her flop into my lap as she chews on one of her toys.   I’ve tried playing ball with her once or twice before, but she couldn’t seem to figure out that she’s supposed to retrieve the ball after I roll it across the room and then bring it back to me. 

Last night at Zach and Kristy’s, though, Margot finally grasped the concept of how to play ball!  She especially loved it when I would grip the ball while it was still in her mouth and kind of “whip” her back and forth until the ball wiggled free from her grasp.  Sometimes, after retrieving the ball, she’d start making that back-and-forth motion on her own before I even had the chance to do it to her!  (I had Kristy take a video of this because it’s hard to explain, and I also wanted Justin to see it when he got home.)

My other favorite part about playing ball with Margot was when she’d sort of hide on the opposite side of the coffee table and peek at me under the table with her butt still up in the air.   I would then assume the same position to peek back at her, and she would quickly “hide” behind one of the table legs.  We would play this little game of Hide-and-Seek for a few minutes until she’d finally dart past me in hopes that I would try to grab the ball from her as she ran by.  She would run past me several times like this before finally stopping and allowing me to grip the ball so that I could whip her back and forth again. 

As I’m writing this, I realize that I’m describing our little game in such detail that one might think that I actually believed Margot and I invented the entire concept of “playing ball” last night.  Haha!  I’m sorry.  I’m just excited about it because, like I said, it was the first time Margot had ever played an actual interactive game with me, and it was so much fun!  It was great exercise for her, too. 

Okay, so I guess that learning how to play ball should be a part of Margot’s 12-week progress report.  Unfortunately, because we spent all last week at the beach, I don’t have much else to add in terms of specific milestones or achievements.  I will say that Margot is now able to crawl up onto the couch all by herself (and it’s the cutest thing to watch), she seems to be in the early teething phase, and she’s able to “hold it” for longer periods of time when she’s in her crate.  The biggest thing I’ve noticed about Margot this week, however, is something that I also mentioned in yesterday’s blog, which is how well-behaved Margot is for her age.  When she plays, most of the time she just lays on her doggy bed in the living room and chews on her stuffed animals or her bones.  Every now and then she’ll get up and wander around the house looking for something new to get into (mostly shoes or some type of paper), but as soon as we tell her “no” and take that item away from her, she just goes right back to playing with her toys.  If she decides she wants to join me and/or Justin on the couch, all we have to do is hold the Nylabone for her, and she is perfectly content just lying there beside us, chewing on her bone while we watch TV.  Quite often, we will catch her watching TV with us while she’s gnawing on her bone, which always cracks me up.

Unfortunately, we’re still working on the housebreaking, as Margot still doesn’t clearly indicate when she needs to use the bathroom.  I know I shouldn’t consider this “progress,” but I’m actually kind of thankful that at least she’s started having her accidents in the kitchen instead of on the carpet because they’re much easier to clean up!  I would also like to think that the reason why she’s having her accidents in the kitchen now is because she is at least attempting to go outside on her own.  We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing, though, and hopefully she’ll eventually start whining or something when she sees that the kitchen door is shut instead of just having an accident.

A Fun Evening with the "Aunties"

I have forgotten to mention in previous posts that, at Margot’s last check-up, Dr. Ellis informed us that she should not be playing with other dogs or going for walks until she is fully vaccinated, because the Parvo virus can live in the ground for up to a year.  Therefore, it’s just prudent not to expose young puppies to too many unfamiliar environments or other dogs until they’ve received all of their shots.  The sad thing is that Margot won’t be fully vaccinated until she’s 16 weeks-old, which is still six weeks away!  So, we haven’t been taking her for walks around the neighborhood like we had been, which I have suspected is part of the reason why she’s been so crazy this week.

Last night, I decided to take Margot over to my friend, Susie’s, house to play because I know for sure that Susie’s house and yard are Parvo-free (Margot has already been over to her house once before and never got sick).  I don’t know what it is about Susie’s back yard, but Margot just LOVES to romp and play back there!  She especially loves to jump in and out of the thick, grassy plants that line Susie’s gravel walkway.   I also knew that Margot and Susie’s cat, Pete, seemed to get along pretty well during our last visit, so I was hoping that Margot would actually have a little playmate for the evening.   In addition, I thought Sam and Jocie might appreciate having a few puppy-free hours at the house.

Margot and Susie played in the back yard for a while, then Mandee and Kristy came over, and we all ordered pizza.  As we ate our pizza outside on the deck, Margot continued to play and explore on her own for a while.  I loved watching her have so much fun.  She especially seemed interested in sitting in Mandee’s lap, which I thought was adorable.  She could probably smell Mandee’s St. Bernard, Atticus, on her dress, although Mandee does adore Margot and showers her with attention, so I’m not surprised at all that Margot likes her so much.

After a couple of hours outside, we decided to go inside to watch a movie.  I crossed my fingers that Margot and Pete would get along as well as they did last time, and to my pleasant surprise, they actually ended up playing the whole time we watched the movie.  Well…by “playing” I mean that they would take turns stalking and chasing each other from room to room, but that’s pretty much how one would expect a cat and a dog to play together.  At first, I was a little worried that Margot might have just been bothering Pete, but on a couple of occasions Margot took a break from Pete in order to join us girls on the couch, and within minutes Pete would come creeping around the side of the couch to see where Margot had gone.  So, it seemed like Pete was enjoying their little game of “Stalk and Chase,” but then again, I’ve never been an expert on cats. 

Her first battle scar.

Margot had only one little mishap while we were at Susie’s.  Mandee took Margot outside after she noticed that Margot had started sniffing around inside the house.  Once Margot was outside again, she got so excited that she tried to run down the stairs and into the back yard, but she clumsily tumbled down a couple steps and fell head-first into the bricks that line the gravel walkway.  Mandee said that Margot immediately got up, shook it off, and continued playing, but now Margot has a little spot on her nose where the brick actually scraped off a bit of fur.  I hate that her tumble left a mark, but at the same time I actually think it’s kind of cute.  After all, what kid doesn’t have at least one cut or scrape on their little body?  Besides, Margot thankfully wasn’t hurt, and I’m sure the fur will grow back eventually.

As for Jocie, I’m starting to believe that the majority of her problem is just Margot.  She tolerated her for the first couple of weeks, but I wonder if all of a sudden the realization just sunk in that “this puppy isn’t just here for a visit, she’s here to stay?”   The reason why I think a large part of Jocie’s problem has to do with Margot is because she almost refuses to be anywhere near the puppy right now.  She stayed upstairs all day and night yesterday.  She even peed in our bedroom because she refused to come downstairs.  Thankfully, Jocie is still eating and drinking, although she still isn’t eating anywhere near as much as she used to. 

This morning, after I let Margot and Sam out and Sam went back upstairs, I heard Jocie come down to the first landing in the stairway.  I encouraged her to come down, but she just stood there looking at me and Margot through the railing.  She must have really had to use the bathroom, though, because after a while she went down another couple of steps.  Once again, though, she just stood there staring while I coaxed her to come down.  Finally, I decided to pick up Margot off the floor, and as soon as I did, Jocie came all the way downstairs and went outside to use the bathroom.  It was like she was being hesitant about coming downstairs because she was dreading having Margot “attack” her as soon as she got to the bottom. 

So, while Jocie was outside, I shut the back door to the kitchen and took Margot upstairs to hang out in the bathroom with me while I got ready.   After I was ready for work and put Margot back in her crate, I went out into the bar to check on Jocie (our kitchen door leads into the bar, which has a sliding glass door that leads out onto the back deck).  Sure enough, I found Jocie lying behind the bar.  I decided to let her spend the day out there today, so I got her food and water bowls and put them behind the bar with her.  As I sat there petting her for a few minutes, I noticed that her left eye looks a bit swollen today.  So, after talking with Justin, I’ve decided to call the vet today and see if I can just drop Jocie off in the morning to be examined.  Again, I kind of doubt Jocie’s eye problem is related to her strange behavior and decreased appetite lately, but I’m anxious to hear Dr. Ellis’ opinion tomorrow.  I just hope that none of this is serious.