Merida - the first few days

Two Saturday's ago we drove about two hours to Merida's breeder.  I was beyond excited!

Her breeder said she had come out of her shell a little and was sassy.  Boy, was that an understatement!  This girl has such a set of lungs on her, she's probably going to be a barker like Gimli.

The drive home was quiet, in contrast to when we first picked up Gimli.  He howled like we were going to kill him.  Merida, on the other hand was quiet in her crate.  We suspect it was because Gimli was so quiet in the seat next to her.

Friends of ours were participating in a BBQ competition on the way, so we stopped by for about an hour.  Everyone we met fell in love with Merida. She met men of all shape and sizes, she heard some rumbling motorcycles and pee peed on the grass. She handled the new experiences quite well.  She has a lovely temperament, loves everyone and is eager to please.

Our little household has had a whirlwind first week:

- Saturday night, they both went to their crates. Merida didn't cry too much, again probably because Gimli was so calm in his.

- Sunday morning, I was up at 5 to take her out to pee. I thought she might have wanted to poo, but she just wanted to play in the grass. I brought her in, lay on the couch but she was too squirmy.  I put her back into her crate and went back to bed, only to wake up at 6 am to let her out again.

- We've had a few accidents thus far. Usually, its because I can't get to her in time, but I try to get her attention, Gimli barks to help me and it's enough to startle her so she stops long enough for me to put her outside.

- She ran into the sliding door.  It was hilarious only because she was walking so slowly to the glass and she just bumped it and stood there confused for a minute.

- She's discovered a nighttime ghost puppy in the sliding door.  I'll have to get a video of it.

- She's got a set of lungs on her!  She barks and makes funny little "hrmph" noises when she doesn't get her way.  I'll post a video in a few days so you can get an earful too!

- Speaking of not getting her way, she's fond of nipping or snapping back if you scold her.  I know all puppies nip, so anytime those teeth come out, I walk away.  Then, she pouts and grumbles.  Tuesday night, she got my lip and it bled quite badly. :(

- She's started frapping around the house and the yard.  Because she's little, it's a disjointed frap and she runs into a great many things... like chair legs, table legs, coffee tables and Gimli! She'll get better as she gets older.  It's always scary when you see her take off running, then hear a thump and a puppy whine right after.

- Merida loves to eat paper and carpet and blankets. Gimli never liked to eat these so I'm a little taken aback.  She doesn't, however, have a thing for shoes like Gimli.

- She's very laid back to the point where I can reach in and take whatever she has in her mouth and she's ok with it.  This is extremely good and she gets praise every time.

- We've started her on puppy classes and she's doing well so far.  She has "Sit" mastered and is slowly working on her recall.  We learned our lesson, we're starting to teach that one early!  "Down" is giving us some trouble, but we may wait til she's a little older to try it again.

- She's starting to bond with me.  She'll crawl into my lap if she's scared or tired or just wants to snuggle.

- Gimli is slowly getting better with her.  They've played twice so far, which might not seem like a lot, but with Gimli, I'll take it.  He's starting to come around and to like her, though he makes it difficult to train her and to discipline her as he still feels it's all about him.

- That's about as close as he let her come for the first week. She can get closer now, even lie next to him for a few minutes at a time before he freaks out and moves away.  I guess he doesn't like to snuggle with her either.