On Sunday, we took Daisy Doodlebug to the vet for her last round of shots. I feel like I've been living at the vet's office these past few months! We just have her spay left to do (that will be mid-October). Phew!
She is getting so big! She weighs 33 pounds now, according to the vet's scale. We got her when she weighed 6 pounds!
We also weighed Ginger and Paprika on the vet's scale, too...just for fun. Ginger is 28 pounds and Paprika is 47 or 48 pounds. I can't believe Daisy already outweighs Ginger! Eeek!
Do you remember when Daisy was this big?
And now she is this big! (And still growing!)
Life with Daisy is getting a little better. She is still a really big troublemaker. We are training her, and it's going so-so. She is so smart and learns most things super quickly.
The only issue that really really really bothers us about Daisy is that she bites our kids. And we have done every training trick in the book to try to get her to stop that behavior but she still wants to use our kids as her own personal chew-toys. Not us adults, just the kids.
I know she is just playing, but it drives me NUTS! Nuts, I tell you!
And before you tell me to establish pack structure, or have the kids walk through the door first, or give her a chew toy to divert her, or have the kids feed her, or have the kids walk her, or tuck Daisy's gums under her teeth so she feels it when she bites, or yelp when Daisy bites the kids, or spray her with a water bottle, or anything else...let me tell you, I have tried it ALL!
Daisy is 4 months old now...she'll be 5 months on September 15th. I know part of this nipping is just typical puppy teething. And part of it is her trying to establish her place in the pack. It's kinda weird but ever since Daisy grew bigger than Ginger, she is being nicer to her. Daisy is the most rough with Paprika. It's like she knows Ginger is a little more fragile.
So, that's the status on Daisy. We still love her. We are still keeping her. She still drives us crazy sometimes (and how she earned her nickname "Crazy Daisy!"). She makes us lose our minds some days, but she is cute! Did I mention that she is cute?! And I'm hopeful that we can train her to be a little lady, too...the sooner the better!
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4 comments:
She is really cute! She looks just like my moms dogs:) My moms dogs are really good and don't bite Brennan so maybe she will grow out of it. Her dog, Daisy, does try to "take reign" over Brennan if you know what I mean-I guess to show she is the boss? That is really annoying, but other than that they are good. I hope she grows out of that phase soon for you!
she is too cute!! love that pic of her and ginger!
She is so adorable Erika! I wanted a golden-doodle so much, and Daisy looks like exactly the one I had in my mind! Your post brings back so many memories, because from the time Callie (our golden retriever) was 4 months to about 7 or 8 months she was so hyper, and there was so much screaming in our house from her chasing Noah and nipping at him, or tugging on his shirt. I thought I was going to go insane. She also was so much more gentle with Shelby. I think she saw Noah as her sibling and just wanted to play rough, not understanding that her little teeth were like needles! We tried everything too, the only thing that worked at all was using a baby gate to separate them when we just needed some calmness. It does get better! By the time she hit a year she was much more calm and now at 18 months she is the best dog we ever could ask for. Our kids TORTURE her and she just lays there and takes it, and licks them like she is happy for the attention. Hang in there!
I wanted to let you know that our 7 month old puppy has stopped the biting. It happened about 1 1/2 months ago. I know you said that you have tried everything, but I will let you know what is working for us. We have found that Rusty does much better when he is worn out. If I'm going to let the kids play outside, I go out with them and throw the ball so that Rusty doesn't focus on them so much. After he is worn out, he is much calmer to play with them. The trainer also recommended getting a citronella remote control collar. We just started using it this week and it is amazing. Rusty likes to play a little too rough with our small shih tzu. Whenever he gets rough, I just click a button and it sprays a small amount up by his nose. It stops him in his tracks. Since we started using it, he has been more mellow with her too. I only use it when he is too rough with the smaller dog or our 18 month old. There is also a button on it that you can use as a warning. It makes a beep sound. That way you aren't having to use the citronella every time. He still has other typical puppy behaviors that drive us crazy, but I wanted to let you know that the biting has stopped. Hopefully it was just an age thing and that you are right around the corner of it ending. Good luck!
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