Daisy Doodlebug!

I realized that I haven't posted much about Miss Daisy lately!  She is now 17 months old - almost a year and a half!  She is fairly big - probably about 65 pounds?  She used to be so crazy, but I am relieved to say that she has calmed down A LOT. 

I am sooooo glad to say that she is pretty much out of the puppy phase.  She still has a lot of energy, but she's manageable.  I swear, for about nine months there I thought she was going to send me to the loony bin.  She was a typical puppy (chewing on everything in sight, nipping the kids, potty training, etc.) and well, she was a lot for me to handle - especially with three teeny kids and being pregnant for a lot of her puppyhood!

We sent her to intensive obedience training when she was about ten months old, and it helped so much!  She has real manners now, and she is much easier to be around because she understands what's acceptable and what's not.  That is something I am sure I could have taught her myself with a lot of time and patience, but like I said, I was kinda busy!  ;-)

She knows all the basic commands like: sit, stay, come, down...how to walk well on a leash, how to heel, and then she also has a "place" command.  So, if you say, "Daisy, go to your place," she will walk over to her little doggie bed and lie down and not move until you tell her to get up.  She likes to push the boundaries on the "place" command by inching all the way off her dog bed until just her toe is touching. ;-)




Of everyone in the house, the person who loves her most is Ginger. I didn't expect that at all. I expected her to be Paprika's dog and that they would have some kind of mystical, amazing connection that would bond them for life. Paprika loves all animals - she is so nurturing. Well, it turns out that the kind of animals she connects with are much smaller - like insects! Haha. So, while Paprika loves Daisy in her own way, the person who actually wants to love on Daisy and play with her is Ginger!

Daisy loves people.  She is so happy just to be included in the action, whatever we are doing.  She thinks she is a teeny lap dog, even though she is full-grown now.  She will try to climb up on your lap if you let her.  She is very affectionate and has a super sweet temperment.  She is very gentle with the kids especially.



We have a very big, fenced backyard, and so a lot of the time, Daisy is out there because if she gets wound up (as Ginger loves to get her wound up), I worry that Daisy will trample Violet.  It is tough because as much as I want Daisy inside all the time, our house is tiny (1200 square feet), we have three little kids, and Daisy can accidentally knock one or more of the kids over when she's excited.  I have to watch her every single second to make sure she doesn't knock over the kids - so I always feel a little tense when she's in the house.

I wish it weren't that way, but it is what it is.  After the kids go to bed, she is always inside, and she sleeps in our bedroom.  So, it's not like she's out in the cold (not that it ever gets too cold here - ha!) 

I have the back window open (no screen), so whenever she's outside, she comes up to the window, puts her paws over the door, and begs to be petted.  Did I mention she has the biggest heart?!




The good news is that someone is pretty much always home, so she's never lonely in terms of us being gone a lot.  She has a family who adores her, and she gets to grow up with three kids who think she's the best dog in the universe.

I can only imagine that as time goes on, the kids get bigger, and Daisy gets more mature, that things will continue to get better and better with her.  Already I am so happy to say that I survived her puppyhood (haha!) and that we have come out the other side in one piece.  ;-)

So, that's the update on Miss Daisy Doodlebug!  Love her!






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