I'm that mother where when I'm asked for the overpriced jumbo sized bag of candy in the checkout, I can easily say no.
It turns out though, when Elliot starting making puppy demands, put a note on the fridge saying we had 3 days to produce a puppy, and continue to talk about it... I gave in a got a puppy.
I'm not joking, I think he was about to extort us for a puppy. That 3 days note was omnious. 🤣
Honestly, this is a phase of life where we probably needed the humor a puppy brings. Even Dill needed it. We also have the time since Elliot is now 6 and everyone sleeps through the night and can fx their own snack.
So we got this pup. I was certain I wanted a dog the same size as Dill, and it had to be a nonshedding breed. Jeremy has always wanted a Golden Retriever, but they are a shedding nightmare. We hit in the middle and got a mini Golden Doodle. A few friends of ours had gotten theirs from the same lady, so we went for it. Honey should be the same size as our cockapoo when she's grown.
This is Elliot on the second day at home. He was complaining that his arms hurt. I had to tell him several times he could in fact put her down. She was so calm and sweet at first, so she was carried. Now she's gotten comfortabe and is super silly. The girl runs at light speed and is always up to something.
Then she will need a rest and Elliot is all about her again. The poor child isn't a fan of that alligator puppy phase.
Luckily she got the memo that she is Elliot's dog. She follows him everywhere.
I really wish I had photos of what Dill has been doing, but it wouldn't translate well. Whenever Honey gets really excited and yapping around the house, he grabs her ball, squeaks it at her and takes off running. He will turn to make sure she's still following, and keep running until she calms down.
It took him a day or two to figure out that a puppy is more tolerable when they're tired, and he's doing his part to keep her that way.
I've even caught him dropping her ball to get her attention on it.
In her other terrorist acts, Dill was asleep on the floor next to her (she was appearing sweet) and she hopped up when his eyes were closed and barked. It scared the mess out of him and I had to "protect" him from the puppy. He just had this look of "Why is she acting so crazy this late in the evening." His game of wearing her out started after this event.
There's even a touch of attitude in that fluffy cottonball. We had her in a pin while we were eating dinner the other night, she was whinning for a few minutes, and we suddenly heard awful growling. I guess Honey decided she was done and went from sad to angry (hot headed Honey), and made sure we knew it. All four of us were cracking up.
Of course, my mom manipulation has been to get Elliot to read to the dog every night to practice his sight word flash cards and read a level reader. Harrison isn't a part of the targeted reading practice, he just likes to read to her and changes whatever character he's reading to her name. I got a good chuckle when I heard the book "Goatilocks" being read with Honey as the main character.
I'm of course back at puppy training, and I really hope she is a agreeable as Dill was. He was really a breeze to train.
I broke down this time and got a Snuggle Puppy for the crate, I had debated for Dill and didn't. If you are on the fence, get it. They've got cheaper knock offs on Amazon. She has been sleeping through the night so well and isn't a problem to kennel at all. Poor Dill howled and cried at night for ages, I think I've heard her twice this week and that was on night one.
