Things Get Easier...

I am hoping that Monkey will join in the keeping of this blog, but, so far, she needs a bit more prodding. Maybe she doesn't have the time (entirely possible), but, maybe, if enough folks ask her to post on occasion (I was hoping we could alternate posts, but that might be too much to ask), maybe she'll decide to do it. Maybe not. We can only try. I hope she doesn't feel like I am putting her on the spot...or maybe that's exactly what I am trying to do. Sometimes, I am more clever than even I can determine.

So far today has been an accident-free day. I hope I don't jinx it, because yesterday was an accident-free day, also. It might be that we have turned a corner. I expect that we will regress a bit before we are totally out of the woods, but, honestly, ten days of house training, while stressful to the max at times, seems like a pretty good bargain.

On top of that, Parker rattled his crate at 4:30 this morning, which, in my book, counts as sleeping through the night. That's two straight nights for that. You can probably sense the tone of these entries changing, can't you? The only drawback is that Monkey and I have hardly seen each other in forever. I was gone this weekend, and it seems that once I get home from work, she is out the door to some or another meeting or function or lecture or whatever. I hope that we can spend some time together this weekend (even if all we do is run errands), and I know, at the very least, I owe her a birthday apple pie.

Well, I am going to stick a picture up on here and go feed the boys. It's kind of nice to say that...I wish we had some chickens, though.

A Breakthrough

There was a glimmer of hope today that at some point in the near future, our lives would reach something like the normal we used to know. Monkey was able to go to work for several hour stretches, leaving Parker happily snoozing in his crate. This certainly brightened her spirits, which were sagging a bit after her tumultuous birthday-less birthday weekend (although she did have a few well-wishers who tried to make it festive, Parker was not terribly cooperative). Even a slight accident by Parker (completely (as always) our fault...he hinted...but how much can one dog pee in a twenty minute period? He'd already been out twice.) was not enough to dampen our spirits.

Our happiness was brought on not only by Parker's "day" alone, but by the interaction between Ripken and Parker after I came home from work. We were in the backyard, and Parker was making runs at Ripken. At first, Ripken avoided Parker. Then, it became clear that Ripken was turning away from Parker and getting the little guy to chase him! They were actually playing together. Ripken bared his teeth at Parker, and jumped around with him. At one point, Ripken even knocked Parker down and stood over his prone little self, sniffing. And when Parker was chewing a stick, paying no mind to Ripken, the old dog went over and snatched the stick away from his little brother. Now that is some dog action I can endorse!

A Guest Post

Your tried and true blogger, ATR, is still back "home" for said wedding, and before he left he bestowed upon me the power to be a contributor to The Parker Chronicles. I'm not sure I can live up to ATR's witty, comical, satirical (and sometimes parenthetical voice), but I'll give it a go this morning during this respite of relative calm during what I'm referring to as "Puppy Watch--2010."

As ATR mentioned on Friday's post, we've had some ups and downs this week. We had a few accidents which were frustrating, and I took them a bit harder than usual as I'm sleep-deprived, more than a bit stressed at having had to basically take an impromptu week off work to be home with Parker, and feeling a bit sorry for myself at spending my birthday NOT celebrating my birthday nor having any time for myself. But overall, as I sit here on this Sunday morning with Parker napping in his crate and Ripken napping on the big-boy bed in the sunroom with me, I feel like we're moving forward. Since Wednesday, Parker has been in his crate every day for an hour or two, and more importantly, he has SLEPT IN HIS CRATE every night since then. Last night we had our longest uninterrupted stretch during the night--Parker went in at about 10:30pm and didn't cry to go out until about 2:45am. That is over 4 hours! Magic sleeping time for me--and I suppose Ripken and Parker, too, but really this is about me getting some sleep, I mean about Parker starting to sleep more through the night. So that is fantabulous progress. Parker is also doing fairly well on the leash for walks--he does better when he is following Ripken (he SO wants to be with Ripken), but is starting to get the hang of it sans Ripken, too. And then there is the total cuteness that is a puppy.

Additionally, for the first time in my life, I've had a glimpse of what being a stay-at-home-mom is like. HOLY CRAP! I've gone days without showering. I've gotten nothing really done in the hour or two during naptime when I feel like I should be getting something done. I'm behind in everything--work, laundry, email, phone calls, errands. I have moments when I feel like I can't even successfully do the *one thing* I'm supposed to be doing in taking care of the pup (see aforementioned "accidents"). I have also seen that I can possess NO patience at times and kinda scare myself with my reactions to Parker chewing, biting, eating everything in the yard, nipping at Ripken, etc. And yet, it somehow all seems worth it...most of the time.

The First Week

It has been a difficult week, as you may have surmised, with our new puppy. There have also been plenty of cute and heart-warming moments, as well, but, for better or worse, we seem to be dwelling on our failures rather than our triumphs, lately.

Some positives that we should mention, however, include a solid couple of crate-training days for Parker. This includes a Thursday night during which he needed to be taken out only twice. As luck might have it, today brought some crate-training set backs, but we'll deal with those later. Other positives include two days this week in which Parker only had one accident each day. This is followed by today, in which he had a pair, but we'll deal with those, as I said, later. Also, Parker seems to be learning his magic "go" word pretty well. The last couple of mornings that I took him out, he did his business pretty much on cue. Good dog. And, finally, every one's first battery of roundworm medication was administered with no problems. Be gone parasitic helminths (I think that may be redundant)!

And then, I went away for the weekend. I left Lincoln this morning for a cousin's wedding. I felt bad leaving Monkey alone with the puppy, but we'd made such strides this week that I thought things would be okay. Apparently, Monkey had a rough day. I wish she had had a better day, especially since today is her birthday. I feel bad. She feels bad. Parker probably feels okay.

That's all I can tell you, for now. We'll let you know more when we can.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

I took the day off today. That just goes to show you what sort of crisis we felt like we were in. Monkey had some appointments today that she could not reschedule, and Parker has not been taking well to his separation preparation, so I stayed home so that Monkey could do what she needed to do.

The past couple days have been much better. Ripken and Parker slept pretty well, last night. There was a little bit of disarray when Parker got too close to Ripken, and, ultimately, Ripken surrendered his entire dog bed and went to sleep on Parker's blanket. They both seemed relatively okay with that. (Ripken also totally surrendered a toy to Parker after Parker just went over and smelled it, today. Ripken dropped it like a hot potato. I think our oldest is definitely going to be the lowest in the hierarchy (I think I used the "p-word" in reference to him last night), but there's nothing I can do to change animal neurology at this point, I guess. Even if I could, that is a project for another time, I have to think.)

(Since we are in parenthetical mode, I forgot to mention that Parker had his first visitors on Sunday when Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura stopped by on their way back to the Land of Gopher Prairie. Thanks for stopping in, and thanks for the chew toys. Ripken's is destroyed, as you know, but Parker is really liking his squeaky one! )

So, the dogs seemed to get some sleep, but I was in full-on Daddy Mode. Normally, I am a sound sleeper. Actually, that might be an understatement. But, here of late, any sound arouses me to alertness. Every sigh of the puppy, every stretch of Ripken's, every mumble of Monkey's had me up and surveying the situation at the side of the bed. I am still pretty exhausted.

Still, today has been an improvement over Monday (I think), and all of Parker's accidents since Sunday have been of the liquid variety. And, right now, he is snoozing in his little dog bed in the kitchen, completely apart from everyone, and not whining at all. He's been quiet for at least twenty minutes. This is progress. Many positives, today.

Oh, and a visit to the vet yesterday reveals Parker to be healthy and sound and infected with ringworm. This is apparently not a great cause for alarm, and we are treating him and Ripken (as a precautionary measure) with some sort of powdered parasite killer mixed with apple butter, so it's not all bad, I guess. Our vet also seems to reassure us that Ripken will eventually warm up to Parker. "Puppies are hard on everybody," she reportedly said.

A Sunday for the Record Books

I knew this was going to be hard. I will admit that I did not expect it to be this hard. The past two nights, we have had very little sleep. Last night, I slept from about 1 to 1:45. I think that was the longest period of restfulness I have had since Friday night.

On top of the "all night" supervision of the puppy, Ripken is very wary of the pup. Parker, on the other hand, loves to be with Ripken, especially at night. Parker climbs onto Ripken's dog bed (he's not being crated, yet) and tries to snuggle with Ripken. Ripken puts up with it, but fitfully. He occasionally gets up to get away from the little guy (did I mention this previously?).

On top of that, here are the details from yesterday's summary of the morning (our first morning together): I didn't do a good job of staging my dog chores, so Parker managed to slip off and leave a very odorous calling card on the living room floor. I was so angry at myself for not paying closer attention.

After all settled down, Monkey woke up and was in the kitchen with Parker. I was reading the paper, and I heard Parker whine. I heard Monkey say, "Just a sec." I thought for a moment that I should go help her, but I didn't. And, in that moment, Parker left another mess in a different part of the living room. Again, I was mad at myself for knowing what was developing and not doing anything to help. To top it all off, a little while longer, with no notice, Parker peed in the dining room. Again, our fault, but that (for those of you keeping score) made three accidents before noon. At that point, Monkey and I felt like the worst dog owners in the world.

I guess it got better over the course of the day, but I think Monkey and I were so shell shocked by the dog elimination disaster of the morning that we simply kept a tense vigil over Parker for the rest of the day. And with Ripken wrought with canine angst over the arrival of his new family, we both felt guilty about changing the dynamic of the household. Oh, yeah, and we are both (maybe all) sleep deprived. So, right now, we feel like guilty, shell shocked, incompetent dog owners. Ah, the joys of owning a puppy.

It's okay. We recognize that things will improve. We expect Ripken to warm up to Parker; we expect that the number of accidents will decrease (so far today: one wetting); we expect that, one night, in the very near future, we will get to sleep the night through. It just won't likely be this month.

Day One: A Long One

Well, picking Parker up and bringing him home was a breeze. A long breeze, yes, but it was a breeze. We left at 7:30 yesterday morning and arrived almost exactly at our scheduled 9:00. I love being punctual. We loaded the puppy into the back seat, safely positioned on towels atop Monkey's lap (in the back seat), and headed south to Lincoln. Parker took to the ride like a champ, snuggling up with his new human mother. We stopped once, just in case he needed a break, but he just flopped down in the grass beside a cornfield and looked content (with a little case of the hiccups).

Once home, we introduced Parker to Ripken out on the front sidewalk, figuring that to be neutral territory. Ripken was excited to go for a walk, and after a few cursory sniffs, he promptly ignored that new arrival. We brought both dogs into the house, hoping Ripken's presence as Parker sniffed out his new digs would help both of them adjust to each other. After a little while, Parker seemed pretty tired. He found a spot on Ripken's gigantic sun room dog bed, and nodded off. Ripken and I went for a walk. After all, he expected it.


We fed Parker his first meal at noon and then went outside for some resting. Not much happened. Back inside, we played a bit, and then, more napping. After some water a few hours later, some more resting, this time sort of productive. Then, again, more napping. After diner, and some more (serious) resting (hooray, Parker), we spent a little time examining the crate in the bedroom. Two minutes inside with the door opened was cool with Parker.

Our evening was spent in the basement, watching some TV and chilling on the new giant dog bed we bought for that area. I thought a new bed would be better than Ripken having to share more of his space, but he was having none of it. The sofa (in the basement) is his domain, and he rightly claimed it. Parker, little as he is, looked fairly comical in the middle of a 50 x 35 dog bed.

We rested before bed, and then the real fun began, as we set Parker down on the blanket where he would sleep for the first night, tethered to the bed. The tethering, suggested by some expert breeders, was a FAIL. Parker has never been on or near a leash (except that morning to meet Ripken, when he was near Ripken's), so all he wanted to do was chew on the leash or the knob of the nightstand (another thing with which he has little experience). So, after about twenty minutes of him wrestling with leash and knob, Monkey and I made executive decisions (separately, but we are of one mind): while she removed the knob, I took the leash off Parker and the bed leg.

This settled everything down for about an hour, until, 'round midnight, Parker began to whine. He whined a lot, through calming and cajoling. Monkey took him out for a midnight rest, and he took advantage of it. This quieted things for another hour or so, when Parker began whining again. Again, nothing could quell his high-pitched protest, so, Monkey took him out again. This trip took a lot longer, but he did eventually do some business.

An hour later, it was more whining, chewing of the blanket and all proffered hands. I went to get a chew bone for the puppy. When I got back upstairs, Parker had walked around to Ripken's side of the bed and lay down with his older brother. With that, Parker was calm for the night. Unfortunately, Ripken is not too much in love with our new ball of fur, so, every twenty minutes or so, Ripken would get up out of his bed and I would have to cajole him to lay back down with Parker. Ripken clearly didn't love the sleeping arrangements from about 3 am on, last night, let me tell you. I don't think anyone but Parker got more than a half an hour of solid sleep.

And this morning was a bit of a house training disaster. I am learning that two dogs, even when one is trained and settled, are a handful. Suffice it to say, for now, that Parker has had more accidents TODAY than Ripken has had in his life. But, since about ten this morning, things have been much better. Now, if we can sleep tonight, we will deal with work schedules and the rest of the potential disaster that is Monday.

It's Go Time

We leave to pick up Parker at about 7:30 this morning. It is cold (relative to the calendar), today, but it should get pretty nice, once the sun starts shining. I am sitting here with my coffee, thinking it is a good idea to record my thoughts on this, my last early morning as a single dog dad.

I have mentioned before my hesitation. My hesitation over getting a second dog, my hesitation over getting a first dog, my hesitation over choosing a breeder, my hesitation over which dog to select. Even this morning, I feel a slight sense of "do you know what you've gotten yourself into?" But that sense is only slight.

What I really feel is excited and wonderful. It is a puppy for God's sake, one of the cutest and endearing things in the natural world. And he will grow into (if Ripken is any indication) a handsome, loyal, loving dog with the right care and training. Hell, even with poor training, he'll still most likely be a good dog. Of course, like every father, I want my dog to be great.

I am not a parent, as you know, and never will be. I am more like a shepherd, when you consider my career, but right now, I imagine I have a little insight into some of the things people might think when they are about to have a second child. Those thoughts of how, maybe we did it this way with the first kid, but we are going to get it right with this one. You know, this time...no table scraps! (Which Ripken rarely gets really (and usually only when Uncle Mike is visiting), but still rarely is more than it should be....)

I am kind of surprised at how important this is and has been to me. I am not saying that I expected to be a neglectful owner, but I had forgotten how much effort Meghan and I put into training Ripken. The joy we felt when he learned sit. The pride we take in how quickly he was house trained. Parker is a completely unique and individual creature. He will not be a Ripken clone, and we don't want him to be. But, we bring our boy home today, and all I want for him is everything. Everything I can give him and everything he can be.

May I Introduce...

Peter Parker!

Monkey and I traveled an hour north of Lincoln, just on the northern outskirts of Fremont, NE, where we found our breeder's house, and a collection of puppies so adorable that it was nearly an impossible task to determine which of them was our Parker. Our first difficulty was in keeping the little critter's straight. It was tough, but we managed to put all of them through their paces (we think).

Honestly, our Puppy Wonderlic tests were inconclusive. All of the dogs performed about the same for levels of submissiveness (or dominance), attachment, positive attitude, compliance, etc. So, it came down to look and that special something. After the breeder suggested we pull two of the pups from the running due to their suitability for hunting rather than house dog (which we agreed to), we were left with five dogs of seemingly equal quality.

After a long while of petting and calling, of lifting and prodding, of coaxing and more petting, we narrowed it down to two dogs. One, the smallest of the litter, struck me as the most Ripken-esque of the two remaining candidates. Physically, he had a narrower face and a sleeker length. Personality-wise, he seemed to want only to be near Monkey or I. And, for me, that was the least attractive part of his personality. he appeared sweet and docile, but he was too clingy. After a few more minutes of contemplation, however, and one particularly attentive "come," I changed my mind. He was the one.

But, there was something that troubled me about the dog. It didn't seem unhealthy, but there seemed to be a troublesome "weak" quality. Again, the dog was not unhealthy, but I just had a sense that the dog had some issues, I just couldn't put my finger on what they might be.

So, we focused on the other. Relatively submissive, attentive, robust, with a broad, short snout, he looked much different than Ripken did as a pup (of course, we never saw Ripken at seven weeks). And, after some deliberation, we settled on a Parker.

Now, Operation Dog Prep begins in earnest, as Monkey makes many purchases tomorrow while I grade district writing assignments (for extra pay), and we generally puppy-proof the house as best we can. Our new baby comes home early next Saturday morning.

It's Almost Time

Two more days, and Monkey and I will have picked out our new pup. Nine more days, and we will be bringing him home. That's pretty exciting! I can hardly wait. It will be hard not bringing him home on Friday! There is that scene in Of Mice and Men, where Lenny tries to sneak his new pup into the bunkhouse after George tells him they are still too young. That's what Monkey and I will feel like--a couple of Lenny Small's (without the dead mice in our pockets, of course).

The breeder posted a few updated pics. You can tell that the puppies are starting to turn into individuals. It will be fun (and hard) trying to decide which one we want!