Thursday, August 26, 2010

Walking Baby Tibby

The first week I had Tibby at home. Notice how excited I am to see her pee outside?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Day 3 - Pee Tired

 Awww, aren't you cute?!?
Why do you keep peeing and pooping on my floor!
At this point, I thought I would never sleep again and Tibby would never be potty trained.
Ha ha she is! 
Mmmmm, just this last week she finally figured it out.
"Oh, you WANT me to poop outside!"
We were both really tired.
I took Tibby outside all the time.  I was constantly trying to figure out when she was going to pee.  Every time I was wrong!
We would sit outside for hours.  And she wouldn't go.  We would go inside and she would pee on the floor.
People gave me advice: 
The vet, "Tie her leash to your waist.  Then you'll know when she needs to go."
No.  I will know when she goes.  When I first brought her home, Tibby wouldn't squat to pee.  She would stand like an immature boy puppy, legs spread slightly apart.  Maybe it was from growing up with all boys? 
Other people, "Rub her nose in it.  It worked for my dad/brother/sister/cousin."
NO!  Not gonna happen.
Friends, "Use a crate.  Then she won't pee.  Dogs won't pee in their crate."
The vet told me this too.  I really, really tried to use a crate.  Because everyone says it is the way to go.  I started out slowly - look this funny box has food next to it/inside it/near the area of the crate.  It has all your toys inside it!  The cat loves it!  I love it!  Look my head is in your crate eating the food!  So much fun! 
If I put Tibby in the crate she instantly peed and started to scream.
Have you ever heard a Tibetan Terrier?
Have you ever heard a normally silent TT scream for 2 hours?  Without.  Stopping. 
 And she is covered in pee and her toys and food and blanket are covered in pee?
I stopped using the crate.
I started keeping tract of when she pooped and peed.
She went at 5am, at 11am, at 4pm, at 8pm and at 11pm.
Yes, she pooped 5 times a day.
We took a lot of walks.
I still cleaned my floors a lot.




 So tired.

When I finally gave up on the crate, life was so much easier.
I made lots of fences out of NIC grids.  They are the best!
I use them with my bunnies too.
You can buy them at Target and other stores.  Then just zip tie them together to make whatever shape fence you want.  Way cheaper than puppy play pens/x-pens, although I have 2 of those too!



Monday, August 16, 2010

Tibby's First Day

 These are pictures from the day I picked Tibby up.
Tibby is my very first puppy.
When I was 13 I adopted an older cocker spaniel.  She was really smart and she knew a lot of tricks, but she had a bunch of issues too.   She wasn't socialized at all when she was a young puppy. 
Jessi, my cocker spaniel, died more than seven years ago, so it's been a long time since I've had a dog.
And I've never had a puppy.
I was curious to see why people bought and raised puppies.


And I couldn't say no to that face!

 It was a long drive home, almost an hour.
At one point we thought Tibby had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped the car and set Tibby on the edge of the ditch.  She wasn't wearing a collar or leash yet.  The minute her feet hit the ground she dove into the ditch!  The ditch was full of tall grass, so she almost disappeared into the tall grass.  In the first 30 mins of owning a dog, I almost lost my dog!

We made two stops on the way home:
1 Stopped at the vet to make a new puppy appt. and get Tibby checked out.
2 Stopped to pick up puppy supplies - collar, leash, bowl and lots of toys!



 Alexa and Tibby.
Alexa took this pic :P

Tibby and me.
Our first pic together!

Cutie face

My mom and Tibby.
By the end of the night we had named Tibby - Tibbit.
Tibbit is a palindrome and it's like Tibet for Tibetan Terrier.