It's the First Day

Meet the Teachers

We were doing drive-bys of the school for weeks waiting for the class lists to be published.  Apparently second grade was packed (28 kids per class) and they were trying to get another second grade teacher.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.  We raced to school as soon as we got the call and joined dozens of other families doing the exact same thing. 

From what I've heard there's a good and a bad second grade teacher.  The principal would not take requests, but she was aware of the problems last year and said she would place the students accordingly.  Everytime I've had the chance, I've told her what a hard year it was for Caden.  Between that and my prayers, Caden got the good teacher!  He's thrilled with Mrs. F.  I'll be spending a lot of time volunteering in his class this year.  28 second graders in just too much...well, as much as 28 first graders like his class last year, I guess.

 

I didn't really care which fourth grade teacher Allie got.  They are both wonderful teachers.  Allie wanted Mrs. M (Jae's teacher).  She was a little bummed because she got Mrs. D.  I'm not worried at all.  I think she's going to have a great year.

 

Jaelyn did not want Mr. K.  Anyone but him, she said.  We were surprised to learn the other teacher, whom she'd been hoping for, retired.  Jae got her replacement.  We went straight into the office to find out about the new teacher, Mrs. A.  We were told she's young, energetic, and nurturing.  She's moving up from younger grades at another school to fifth here.  After meeting her on meet the teacher's night, I like her.  I don't know what kind of teacher she is, but she's my kind of person.  Jae seems really happy.

 

The Collar of Obediance

"Make no mistake, it's not a training collar, it's an obediance collar!" says one of Dan's co-workers.  And he's RIGHT. 

Gracie is a sweet puppy, but she's a puppy.  She loves to steal things like socks, shoes, toys and toilet paper.  We have diligently been working at teaching her "drop" using treats as rewards.  The problem is that it hasn't stopped her from stealing the items in the first place.  She would still grab and dash away until we came after her with a treat in hand.   The other big problem is Zac.  Gracie LOVES Zac.  She wants to snuggle and cuddle and munch on him whenever possible.  No amount of telling her no or treats has worked to stop the problem.

A friend mentioned he had to buy a shock collar for his dog who was running into the street.  Just a few zaps, the dog no longer goes anywhere near the road.  I went right out and bought one.  Of course, then I started reading all the horror, bad dog owner stories on-line about using them and felt horrible.  It took me a week to put it on her and only after I'd used it on myself many times to make sure I wouldn't electrocute her.

The shock collar is maybe the single best thing (after obedience classes) that we'd bought for our dog.  She still loves Zac, but she approaches him with caution and plays easily with him.  For some odd reason, she gets this weird tingling feeling when she tries to tackle him :).  A month ago, there's no way Gracie could have sacked out on the floor twelve inches from the cat without being all over him.  Amazing!  Zac is thankful he can enjoy his sunshine in peace.

Now that we've gotten Zac protected, we are tackling the snatch and run Gracie likes to do.  She still gets things, but it's on a limited basis now instead of the every five minutes it was.  She will actually walk past toys in the floor.  She still can't resist an odd sock, but she drops it with a verbal warning or a beep from her collar (the beep precedes the shock). 

I even got Jaelyn to sit with me yesterday while I tried to brush a matte out of Gracie's ear.  She hates to be brushed and nips constantly at me and the brush.  Everytime she did it, I said no and Jaelyn shocked her.  It took three "nip-no-shock's" before she decided to obey.  She even let me brush out her muzzle.  She obviously didn't like it, but she tolerated it.  There's hope!

It's Official

Yes, another post about my dog.  That's my life for right now so get used to it :).

I took Gracie to the vet today and it's official, she is the cutest puppy in the world.  Three other pet owners and 2 receptionists all said so, so it must be true.  How fun is that?!  She didn't like her shot very much, but she got a clean bill of health.  She was so calm.  I was impressed.  She stayed curled in my arms and fell asleep or maybe she was just playing possum.

She had a better day today.  No soiling in her crate and she only had one accident this morning.  I should probably blame myself for it.  I took her out.  After she peed, I grabbed her up, praised her and brought her in.  She went straight into the superyard where she pooped.  I should have given her longer outside.  I guess we both have a learning curve to overcome.

Night Three

Thank you for all the advice.  I'm taking it all to heart (well, except for the advice that her royal highness didn't give.  I ain't doing that and I don't use ain't lightly :p)

Gracie is getting much more comfortable with her crate.  She goes in quickly, sniffing for her treat, and settles quicker after crying.  We draped material over her crate last.  Dan downloaded a heartbeat/white noise app and I put a box fan in the hallway.  All those things combined made for a much better night.  Gracie passes out around six at night and Dan and I do everything we can to keep her awake until we go to bed.  We only managed nine last night.  I actually laid her next to Zac.  She raised her head to look at him, yawned and went right back to sleep with a sigh.  Zac was not thrilled.  I heard crying around 1ish.  Dan said it was closer to 2, but I didn't focus too closely on the clock.  I had planned to just calm her down, but in my drug induced stupor (have I mentioned my sinus infection?), I had her outside going potty before I remembered.  She went right back to sleep and slept till five, then six and I finally got her up at 6:30.

I feel like we are close to getting night times worked out.  Now for the potty training.  Can I just say praise the Lord for wood floors?

So Cute But...

She has a cry that's killing me.  She misses her brother, sisters and Mommy something awful.  We've had two long nights.  I'm really hoping night three is better.

Gracie's Homecoming

What a fun day today turned out to be.  We left bright and early (tangent - the kids got up really really really early - darn daylight savings time) to drive to Nevada, Missouri.  It's a little tiny town with one McDonald's on the border between Missouri and Kansas.  Gracie and her breeder were already there waiting for us. 

We were so excited.  Gracie is the cutest, sweetest puppy.  She's tiny.  It was love at first sight for all of us.

Gracie sat between me and Jaelyn on the way home.  She went back and forth between our laps taking little cat naps.  She was a great car traveler.  I was worried since we have a 15 hour drive to get home at Christmas.

Once home, we set up her superyard.  I had many people telling me having a puppy was just like having a baby.  With babies and toddlers, the key to my sanity was containment.  We had gates, bouncy seats,  playpens, strollers, high chairs.  Our kids were never loose to get into trouble.  I'm following the same line of thinking with Gracie Mae.  She will live in her superyard and crate until she's potty trained and I can trust her not to chew. 

We introduced Zac to Gracie right away and neither was too interested in the other.  I'm sure eventually they'll be good friends.  For now, I'm happy Zac didn't get upset or be mean to her.

Doodle Update

Here's our weekly picture.  Our breeder says that the puppies are so active that it's getting hard to photograph them.  She had trouble with her flash and the color is not accurate.  They are washed out and much redder then the photo.  Don't you love the fluff??

New Doodle Pictures

You probably aren't as excited to see these pictures as I am.  And honestly, I can't believe how excited I am about it.  I want our Gracie Mae home...N-O-W...which is so funny from the "cats rule dogs drool" kind of person that I am.

The puppies are two weeks old and becoming toddlers as you can see from the one that got up and  toddled right out of the photographs.

I love the wavy hair.  Don't you just want to snuggle them and breathe in their puppy scent?

Introducing...

On September 11, 2011, the newest member of our family was born.

Mommy, Waffles, had three baby girls and four baby boys.  One of those three baby girls is ours.  Aren't they adorable???

At about six weeks, a trainer will do temperment testing on the puppies and we'll get first pick of the litter.  Our puppy's name is going to be Gracie Mae.

We had quite the complicated voting procedure, but Jaelyn read it was very important for every member of the family to agree on the name.  We contributed three names each to a master list and then got the right to veto one name.  From there, we ranked the names from favorite to least favorite.  We added up the scores and the name with the lowest score won.  I told you it was complicated.  I thought Gracie needed a middle name so I chose Mae after a great grandmother.  We are so excited.  We will get to bring her home on November 5th.  The breeder is in Kansas so unfortunately we won't get to meet her ahead of time.

We spent an hour at Petsmart yesterday picking out things for her.  Everyone picked out a toy and we bought her a collar and leash.  She's only a week old and she's already getting spoiled.