Cheers! (from Jack Bowser)

It’s been two and a half weeks since we brought little Jack Bowser home and he is doing well!

Look at those pretty blue eyes!



Next year Jack will participate in the Mutt Strut at the Indy 500 track!

Jack is actually starting to go to the door to let us know that he needs to go outside, AMEN FOR THAT!!! The first week was pretty rough, it felt like we had a baby in the house…getting up in the middle of the night to let him outside to “potty” and constantly washing his bedding from little accidents. He had a few instances of messing in his crate, but we seem to be over that now. He can sleep through the night, and can hold it until I get home after work. It really has helped that Brandon is working night shift and can be home during the day to give Jack some relief.

Here's a few of the obstacles we've faced:

Challenge #1 - Using crate as a restroom

The breeder and several books told us that a dog will not pee/poop where he sleeps/eats. YEAH RIGHT. Ours did, and it was super annoying! But we figured that it was mostly just him being nervous his first few nights with us, and after a few days he stopped having accidents in his crate.

Challenge #2 - Whining while in crate

This just tears at your heartstrings! Ask Brandon, who actually slept on the floor with him the first night he was home. He just couldn't bring himself to make Jack sleep in the crate on his first night. The whining still occurs at times, but throwing in a kong with a treat helps keep him occupied and he sometimes forgets to whine.

Challenge #3 - Eating dandelions and grass

I'm all about eating organic...but this behavior concerns me. I mean, those yellow dandelions STINK so how can they taste good? But our dog continually finds it necessary to bite off as many as he can, then I reach down and pry his little jaws open and remove the shreds of yellow petals from his mouth. Then he usually runs away from me and tries to eat a rock or two. Go figure. Many of the dandelions have changed into the blow-y flower things...so Jack looks pretty cute when he tries to eat one of those and gets white fluffy stuff all over his little face :)

Challenge #4 - Razor sharp puppy teeth!

You are probably thinking, duh what did I expect from a puppy...but MAN THOSE TEETH ARE KILLER! He really likes to nip at our pant legs, and is even successful at holding on while he is whisked across the floor. But we have lots of toys that good for chewing so we try to distract him with one of those when the nipping gets too bad.

Hard plastic toys are great for puppy teeth

Although it is definately different around our house now with all this puppy responsibility it has been worth it. Jack is really starting to show his personality more and amuses us daily. One of his favorite things to do it run a "hot lap" around the dining room table and into the livingroom over and over again. Most of the time he hits his head on one, or two, or all 24 chair legs under the table but that doesn't seem to slow him down!

Visitors- Jack has gotten to meet his grandparents and the Lewis's (who brought him a delicious bacon flavored chew toy) and many kids in the neighborhood.

The most exciting thing for Jack has been his puppy play date with Tuxedo! Tuxedo is a one year old female cockapoo who belongs to my friend Carolyn. They came over on Thursday night and Jack and Tuxedo played for hours!

Puppy kisses!

They did very well together, although I had to adjust to all the romping around all over my furniture and such...and there were a few whelps and barks coming from both dogs, but Carolyn assured me that no one was getting hurt so I was okay with that. I've never seen Jack run around so much! We definately will be setting up more play dates soon! The best part was that he slept for like 9 hours afterwards.

Soooooo sleepy

Hopefully we'll see you soon and you can meet our little guy!

Until then, CHEERS!