We Have A New Baby At Our House!

We have a new baby. She is ten weeks old. She weighs 10 lbs. Her name is Piper. She has the softest light brown hair and big brown eyes. We are absolutely exhausted! We are sleep deprived. I haven't had a shower in two days. I try to sleep when she sleeps. She is sleeping in my lap as I write this. Before I go any further, let me explain that she is a puppy!

J holding our new baby

At this point I really don't see the difference between a baby puppy and a baby human! I have experienced them both and am thinking the baby human was easier. They didn't have legs that worked yet, you could wear them, they wore diapers, ate on demand, and had no teeth!!! We are in love with her though! It is so funny to compare them to the human baby. If you ever wondered if you and your partners parenting skills are similar and work well together, get a puppy. A young one.


The first night Piper slept curled up, nestled in my neck. She arrived home at about 1:00 am. See, my wife wanted to surprise me for my birthday. She had planned this for weeks. Her best friend Jamie and her wife live in Atlanta. A friend of theirs rescued and was fostering three puppies that appeared to be a dachshund mix. They were taken from a hoarder situation. They all had Parvo. All but three of the puppies died. She is one of the three survivors! So my wife, her sister, and a friend drove halfway to Atlanta, about three hours to pick up this pup. They were supposedly running "birthday errands"! While they were gone, I was brainstorming. I knew that whatever the surprise was, my daughter was very jealous about. I had heard the whispers, the bits of conversation here and there. I couldn't possibly think of what my daughter would be jealous over! Then I remembered. She really wanted a dog. We have also been talking about it as well. Due to my back injury I knew it wasn't the right time. I called J. I begged her to tell me if she was getting me a dog for my birthday. I told her, "do not get me a dog for my birthday" I made her promise me that this was NOT my birthday surprise. Now mind you, she is driving three hours for "Operation Piper" I hung up the phone, somewhat convinced that there was no dog. At 1:00 am I was awakened to J who led me to the kitchen window. There in the window, J's sister is holding up Piper! My heart melted, I went outside, I was in love. She was so beautiful, so calm. And J was a panicked ball of nerves! I totally let her off the hook. She was forgiven for the puppy lies.

Surprise! Happy Birthday Mom!!

So, the first night, she slept blissfully against my neck. In the morning, and several doggy accidents later, I came to my senses. She really needed to be crate trained. J agreed reluctantly. She had not crate trained Manny our boxer when she got him 5 years ago. He did fine sleeping in bed from the start. I insisted that this was best. We got a crate and started the second night. He cried 20 minutes that first night. I thought J was going to die! I had to convince her we were doing the right thing. We set the clock to take her out in three hours. We all survived. The next night she cried less than five minutes. We are now having no crying at bedtime and she seems to like her crate. We are still taking her out every 3-4 hours during the night. During the day, she goes out every hour. Hence the no shower, housework, blogging, or much of anything else!


Like a baby human, I am napping when she naps, which is usually on my chest or lap. Her older brother, Manny is having lots of sibling rivalry. The chew toys that were bought for the baby are now being chewed on my him. He attempts to climb into my lap during nap time, all 80 lbs of him. I have to send him away and I feel terrible! It is so much like having a real sibling. He pouts when you show the baby too much attention, he takes her toys, is so clingy, needs lots of attention. They play really well together. He is a little rough on her, plays really hard. She does have those razor sharp baby teeth which does give her a little bit of an advantage. I think they will eventually be really good friends.

Manny and Piper- showing brother and sister love

Just as parenting a human baby isn't always predictable, neither is puppy parenting. We were originally told that she was a dachshund mix. We had wanted a smaller dog since we already had one 80 lb baby. When J picked her up it was quite evident that she was a lot bigger. We have since discovered that she appears to be a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It is a type of hound. She looks just like all the pictures we have taken. From the size of her feet she will probably get to be 50-70lbs! So much for a little dog! Just like with children, you never know what kind of child to expect. It's always good to be flexible!


J is known to get her out of her crate in the morning, take her outside to go potty and then spend the rest of the morning until she has to get ready for work with the baby on her chest, both of them sleeping on the couch.





Softie.

Favorite place to sleep.