So I'm not sure if you remember, one of the last posts in July was what resulted in a game changer and stopped us from redecorating our house: The fact that it would cost A LOT of money to redo our backyard. And on top of that, turf was out of the question. So what ever are we going to do about our puppy going potty?
Well, thank goodness for the patio we have upstairs, because we went ahead and bought her a Porch Potty!
I read different articles about potty training your puppy and there seemed to be a problem with using potty pads indoors as it'll teach the dog to go inside. And we really wanted to eliminate that. We did get her some potty pads for the inside of her crate JUST in case. But we mainly wanted to focus on her going outside. So this was a perfect opportunity - since our backyard is, basically, not going to work out - we found something that was the next best thing.
So we will be on puppy potty duty almost every hour for the first couple of weeks and then we will work to ween her will train her to give us some kind of a queue. Needless to say, I am quite excited to start setting this up as well as her crate.
I'm sure, as you guys all saw in the previous posts, we've set up some of the gates up so our cat will get used to having to use them. We're trying to make this process as painless for her as possible. We've set up very strict rules - Dogs aren't allowed on the bed or the couch. The guest room (soon to be our closet) is HER room and she has a tower in every single major room of our house. We're making sure that she doesn't feel like she's getting ALL of her territories confiscated. She has places to escape to.
We're easing her into the process and we're trying very hard to set thing up prior to the puppy coming so that she will get used to the weird new things.
I know, I know - this blog is rather dull and only someone like myself would get excited about the set up part, but like I said, we're in the final stretch - we've got a couple more months and the puppy will be ours!
Hi, everyone! It's been so long since I've posted. A lot of things have happened in the last several months, as far as nesting goes, it's been on halt - until the past several weeks. We received the news on February 9th that Abby had been bred with Huxley. My girlfriend and are awaiting to hear the news if the breeding went swimmingly - it should only be a couple more days. If everything goes according to plan, the puppies should be born in the beginning of April, and we should be welcoming our's home in the end of May.
This exciting news of course prompted us to decide on redecorating our house and really getting our house to finally feel like a home. We were in for a complete redo - our whole house was in for a complete redo. Over the past five years or so, we've unknowingly accumulated a hoarding collection that could have been a precursor to "Buried Alive". This of course resulted in us hauling things to goodwill just to get rid of them: three very old televisions, multiple lamps, boxes and boxes full of gookers that we have collected throughout the years, clothes, books, paintings, frames, and so much more. We've made about three trips so far, and have several more to go.
We essentially started with our guest room and the hallway closets upstairs. We're looking to convert our guest room into a walk in closet/Moose's room. One of the biggest thing was cleaning out one of our closets so we can put Moose's litter box in there instead of it being in our room. Mainly for safety reasons when the puppy gets here.
Here is a photo of me in moose's new Potty Closet Organizing things
Moose's Potty Closet will have her litter box (automatic cleaning litter box) on the floor, while we have the girlfriend's Crafts on the bottom shelf, Christmas Decorations in the second shelf and the girlfriend's previous art projects/canvases/sketch books in the top shelf. As you can see in that photo, we've still got a long way to go
Photo of the closet in our guest room. We had transferred all of the clothes and shoes that were in the closet in our room to the closet in the guest room
We still have A LOT of stuff to sort through and throw away, but this room used to be filled with stuff. We're slowly making progress.
This is the closet opposite Moose's Potty closet. We've dubbed this closet our linen closet and we've also put a box of memorabilia on the bottom.
We opened up a lot of closet space in our room and we've decided to make this one our Holiday Decor closet. Oh, how it feels great to be organized.
I will definitely be adding more photos and keeping you guys all updated a we progress on this project. I'll continue on with the home decor in Part 2 of this post.
So Duck and I decided to begin our redecorating extravaganza yesterday by starting off with our backyard and upstairs patio. The patio needed a bit of a sweep down and a rise.
We've neglected it for so long that it accumulated a lot of spiders, bugs and leaves from the recently removed tree in our backyard. We want to put an outdoor rug with a little sitting area and table. A patch of grass, maybe so that Moose will be able to enjoy the outdoors with us. So we got to work...
Power spraying the backyard sounds easier than it actually is. Especially on such a small area that's overflowing with yucky bugs. After letting Duck have a reign on the patio for about ten or fifteen minutes, we've decided to let the patio dry before we apply bug spray.
On to the backyard we trekked. We have BIG plans for our backyard: Installing a tile patio with hopefully some lawn for our future puppy and to add some greenery to the area. Perhaps a gazebo and a sectional for our friends to enjoy. In order to begin this whole process however, we had to get rid of the rock/gravel that is currently cozying it up back there.It makes our backyard look like a barren wasteland!
Our backyard, like everything else in our house, has a lot of potential. Not to mention, I'm renting this place from a dear friend of mine, and really want to help her raise the value of this property! It's such a great home, really, and with the right touch, it can be the coziest place! I can admit that we have been quite neglectful what with school and jobs, but I hope now that I have a bit of extra time before my Master's program starts and between looking for a job, I'll be able to give our home the right kind of TLC that it deserves.
So with all of that motivation in mind, it was full steam ahead. We get to work. In the 90°F heat, we began shoveling gravel into a bag only 1/3 of the way because we lack the proper tools to haul the bags out conveniently. We start in one of the corners, scraping the top layer away And then, after two or three scoops, all of the sudden, TING. ....W...what was that? Our shovel literally stopped after the first layer. Can't go any further and we feel like we're going to break our shovel. Why can't we get into the soil?
If we had done more research into this, we would have known, but the land that this is built on is adobe. It is rock hard and we can't get through it. Thanks to Duck's dad, who informed us of the state of the land and continued to tell us that our backyard is absolutely inconvenient for us to really do anything besides gravel and tile. Mainly because there is no gate opening and will not be able to get the proper tools into our yard.
sigh. Can't a girl with creative energy and nesting craze get a break around here? What do I have to do to channel this creative energy?
Completely disheartened and slightly irritated, something that happens extremely easily for me these days, we trudged our way back upstairs to reel it in and discuss our options.
1. We could continue with the tile and add nicer gravel where we were going to add grass and have some plants to add colour.
2. We could make our entire back yard tile.
3. Hire a landscaper.
We went with option number three and are awaiting a landscaper to come and look at our backyard and give us an estimate on the cost of fixing it up.
So all in all, our plans to do this all on our own to save some money has gone down the drain. I'm just hoping that my motivation doesn't go down with it.
Hi, guys. As mentioned before, in order to ready myself for a new puppy in our life, I've started researching about different breeds to see which dog would be the best companion for me. I've taken several different match maker tests and my favourite of all was the Pet Centric by Purina that my dear friend introduced me to during the middle of setting up for her Thesis Project. Not only are they incredibly hilarious because of the fact that the dogs talk, but also is a great first step in finding about what breed really suits you.
Choosing a breed was difficult for me, because there are so many dogs that I would love to have. And before I started my research I had a predisposition towards the dalmatian breed. However, the more research I did about the dogs, and testimonials from different owners I've gathered, I've come to the conclusion that they're absolutely perfect for me. The Pet Centric Dog Breed Selector is what ultimately began my whirlwind of research. I'm a professional at this, as I work at my school archives and have for the past year done research on different requests that we receive from all different sources.
From the Dog Breed Selector, I went to different websites and breeder sites to learn more about the dog - This included history of the breed, temperament, health issues, diet, and ideal training techniques. It's great to start off understanding the history of the dog breed. Dalmatians at the earliest time in history were used as war and guard dogs. They were also known to be hunting dogs, and later were used as carriage dogs - they ran alongside, in front of or under horse drawn carriages to encourage the horses to run faster and to clear the path of traffic. From there, I went to understand their temperament. Their history shows that they are high stamina dogs - they need a lot of exercise and can't just sit around for hours on end. However, at the same time, they love being with the family and being adorable snuggle-muffins. Being able to balance both of those traits out is ideal. Next were the health issues: Dalmatians, like any other dogs are prone to health problems and it is important to research more about these problems and alter the lifestyle as well as diet to best benefit the dog.
The most exciting bit is being able to teach your dog tricks. Now, I am a firm believer in the potential of dogs. I think that a lot of people are predisposed to different dog breed stereotypes, and don't give certain dogs a time of day because of that - They're quick to judge how difficult a certain dog is going to be to train or to have. The most infamous dog breed are Pitbulls. Some people refuse to give them a chance because they're known to be aggressive, but some of the sweetest dogs I've ever met were Pitbulls. I don't ever blame a dog for their behavior - you can't generalize a dog the same way you can't generalize people. Every dog is different and with the right mindset, and training techniques, I feel that any dog has the potential to be well behaved, intelligent companions. All dogs need to continue their training after the basics of sit, down, and stay. They become brain games and are fun for the dog and useful for the owners. Ideally, I want my dog to be perfectly trained and just all around fun to play with. Kind of like this beautiful Dalmatian, Dino.
Or Moose (yes, it's perfect because he has the same name as my cat) Link because the video won't embed So in order to succeed that, I went ahead and began researching training techniques. I bought a fantastic book called Brain Games For Dogs at Barnes and Noble to learn the different games dogs may want to play.
Now, I know I'm getting extremely ahead of myself here and am projecting an idealized concept of getting my puppy and having her trained at a drop of a hat. Though, underneath that, I do know that there's a lot of responsibilities involved and hard work. There will be a lot of ups and downs, like anything else in life. I'd like to think that I'm being a responsible owner in doing research and not getting a dog on a whim. And of course the research doesn't end here - There's so much more to do: puppy classes, pet insurance, and most importantly finding my puppy. But I'd like to think I'm getting a good start here considering we're waiting another year for her to come into our life. Because out of all of this, more than anything I want to be a great owner to my dog and not just her be a great dog for me.
First of all, I want to welcome you all and thank you for taking an interest in my blog. I'm a recent college graduate - with a BA in Art History. I'm currently looking for a relatively respectable job to no avail.
I'm planning on going for a Masters this fall, and in the mean time, I've developed a nesting complex. It's quite a bother when this complex has disrupted my sleeping schedule along with others in my household. I currently live with my partner of seven years, Duckie and our cat Moose.
We're a very happy family, but there's something missing in our lives. We've talked it over and decided to bring a puppy into our home. And after more talking over and convincing done on my part, we've (more I've) decided to get a dalmatian puppy.
As excited as I am to announce this, we've decided to wait until next summer to bring her home. This is going to be my first dog, and I'm planning on doing more research, as well as sitting in on puppy classes and figuring out great places to take the dog for fun activities. I want to be a responsible dog owner and not neglect my dog in any way.
In the mean time, we're also going to be redecorating the house to accommodate the puppy and to make the place more hospitable to invite friends and family. It is going to be a complete makeover, and we're quite excited.
We have a fantastic little condo with a lot of potential, and hope to apply some of our decorating magic to bring the place to life.
I will be writing about our projects and progress on the housework, as well as the process on getting ready for the puppy.
I hope you guys stick around and continue reading! Thanks!
Hi, I'm Lily. A 23 year old college graduate with an intensified nesting complex and a chronic internet addiction. Happy mother of a 9 year old neurotic cat and partner of the most amazing person in the universe. I'm trying to change my life around for the better and accommodate to welcome a new puppy into our lives.
