(Hey, look!  It is a guest post from none other than… The Man!)

Dozer at 9 weeks

So! It’s finally happened. We have a boy dog in the family.  We call him Dozer.

We researched. We planned. We paid. A lot.

In fact, we paid more than I have ever imagined paying for any pet. All of the gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, cats, and puppies I have had as a child, barely reach the total down payment of my little guy. Though, here we are with our little furry friend.

I drove over 300 miles round-trip to pick him up from the breeder’s farm. Leaving at 5:30 am, I was determined to get my guy home so he could have the afternoon to acclimate. I was home by 1:30 pm the same day.

The downside… Potty training. House breaking. Whatever you want to call it: It. Is. Hard.

The long trip home inside the kennel didn’t bode well with the little guy, and left a bit of a challenge for crate training. What to do. I slept next to him, on the carpet, all night long.  I am sore and tired, but hardened by the experience of having four daughters. I can change a poopy diaper and serve the night watch until the wee hours of the morning. I am battle ready, but a little out of shape and a little out of practice. This is all very new.

The first night ended in the black: 6 messes in the house and 7 outside. So far…  so fair I guess.  The next day, he got an even better score: only a few messes with the majority of trips outdoors being successful.

Now to tackle the other issues. Like the crate. We’re trying to make it the coolest place to be. I resorted to smearing peanut butter inside the crate walls to get him back inside. My goal is to get him to spend longer periods of enjoyable time in his crate.  I need sleep.

Thank God for a great wife, family and coffee machine.

Sincerely,

The Man

Love & Coffee.