We got Lenny...

We got an early surprise. A day earlier than expected the rescue organization called and asked if we could take our puppy home. COULD WE? Of course we could. So, dear readers, we got Leonard. Lenny for short. He's 8 weeks old, sharpei, boxer, bull dog mix, energetic and a wee wee machine! As expected, Arnie - our big male cat - loves him. He thinks he's a great playmate though they are still negotiating the terms of play. Mama Belle - our female cat who runs the house - merely tolerates him and has let him know that she is in charge, no matter what. Lenny watches her move through the house respectfully and leaves her alone.

Night one went relatively smoothly, mostly because he was pretty tired out from all the excitement. We are crate training him and though he yelped for a about ten minutes at bedtime he did settle down and sleep for nearly 4 hours. I got up to take him out in the middle of the night and he yipped some more at going back in the crate but settled down again and slept until morning. No accidents in the crate and he appropriately used the pee pee pad when he did have an accident. Day Two and we attempted some daytime crating. Not so successful. He knows I am home so he barks his fool head off. However, he did settled down eventually and nap for a couple of hour in his crate so I call that a win. Gave me a chance to get a nap too since I was up in the middle of the night with him.

Day Three - crate training was a bust. Bark bark bark whining crying...sheesh! Nothing I gave him or did helped him settled in and it seemed it took forever for him to even almost calm down. By midmorning I was at my wit's end. I hadn't had any solid sleep in three days and this was getting to me. My husband came home early to give me a break. I got in a nap. We carried on.

Tomorrow we start again. We have made his crate comfy and inviting and give him treats and reward good behavior but he's dead set against being in there. Tonight we're trying it with a crate cover and tomorrow we're getting some pheromone spray to see if that helps settle him down.

He's a sweet puppy. I couldn't be more in love. And I know that we'll get through this with patience and love. He'll learn. And so will we!