Variety is the Spice of Doggie Life, meet a Boston Terrier, Bernadoogle and a Lab

If you've been following along you know that Bliss Ranch has gone to the dogs the last few posts (links to the previous posts are at the bottom), and I thought I would tell you the real reason the canines have taken over....

Honest Abe the Mock-Viz gets up at 5:00 am sharp every.single.day. 

And he wants my company.

So to fill my time at the crack of dawn while he gets some outside time, and inside time, and outside time, and inside time, I scroll on Facebook and see what the bloggers I know are up too.

I discovered I wasn't alone in this new puppy business, there are other new puppy mamma's who have cute pups too, and you know the saying "misery loves company", well we might not really be in misery but we all certainly do understand what bringing a puppy home can do to life as we once knew it.

One of those puppy moms is Kelly from The Essence Of Home. Kelly recently moved into a brand spanking new home and her farmhouse style is beautiful.  I followed along the whole way on her home building journey, from purchasing their lot, picking the finishes and moving in. Hop over to Instagram and check out the photos of her pretty new place with glimpses of her new pup Kirby.

Like us, Kelly and her husband said good bye to their older dog and decided the place was too quiet without the pitter-patter of little paws.  And when I say little, I mean little, Kelly's dog Kirby is a Boston Terrier and just the cutest little guy.

He is expected to be in the 20 pound range when he is full grown, so his paws won't be getting huge and his pitter-patter won't be too loud.

Kirby was born March 20, so he is 19 weeks, one week younger than our dog, and Kelly and I both know first hand that there has been a lot of growing up in the past 10 weeks at home.  Puppy progress has been steady, and below Kelly has jotted down for us her top tips that have worked for her and Kirby.....

1) A fence in the back yard. This is important for any size dog and will instantly make your life easier and safer for your dog.

2) A car seat for your dog. This is huge for me!  He can ride with me and I don’t have to worry about him falling off the seat or roaming around the car. I keep it in the back seat already buckled in. 

3) Lots of chew toys. Our dog wants to chew on everything and everyone so we redirect him to the things he CAN chew on and it seems to work. 

4) Pee pads. We are still trying to get him trained to “go” outside, but sometimes puppies aren’t completely on board. They want to do what is convenient for them. Sometimes that means going in places you don’t want them to go. Although, you shouldn’t confuse them to go both inside and outside the house, I find placing pee in areas that he favors inside will save your sanity a bit. This can be temporary until he is fully trained.

5) Dog crate. We were using this for him to sleep in at first but he has slowly won our hearts over to sleep with us now.  However, when we leave him alone in the house we put him in the crate with a bed, toys, and pee pad.  This is for his safety and your peace of mind. We once used a play yard but came home to find he had escaped and was roaming the house freely!  So a crate works best for us. 

Thanks Kelly for those sensible tips.  Pet owners have to do what works in the beginning to keep their house and their dog safe, and as dogs grow up they leave many of their puppy behaviors behind and with that they gain new freedoms around the house when they can be trusted not to misbehave!

That cute fluffy little face above is Cooper, and he belongs to Kristi from Chatfield Court

Kristi is a home and DIY blogger and you can find us together each month as part of the Thrifty Style Team posts.  Currently I have been interested in a smaller thrifty renovation she's got going on - it's name is "Minnie" and she has been turning a trailer into a home away from home RV.  Someday we intend to make over something with wheels and hit the road, and following along on Kristi's custom Minnie adventure makes me wish someday was now.  Please head over to her blog and snoop around, but don't let the watchdog catch 'ya.

Lets get to the furball that is Cooper, a Bernedoodle.  He is past those early days of puppy training and sort of in his tween stage of life.  Cooper was born October 22, 2018, so that makes him just hitting the 9 month mark but still very much a puppy. 

Kristi is sharing with us a little about life with Cooper.....

Cooper is a blue merle Bernedoodle. He is considered a micro doodle so he should only get to be 35-40 lbs. Hopefully he sticks to the plan. He joins his brother Finn, who is a 7 year old Pekeapoo. They still haven't discovered the meaning of brotherly love but we are hoping that they are late bloomers. 

It's been a wild adventure since Cooper joined our family in January.

Potty training him was pretty easy. I did take him out a lot in the beginning but we went to the same spot every single time. That way he knew that that was his spot to go. Once he got the idea that the potty was outside, I introduced a door bell to him. He just rings the bells with his nose when he has to potty. He learned really quickly and does really well with it. I worried that he would ring it just to go out but that hasn't happened yet. One thing I did learn is that if he rings the bell it's best not to ignore it. That happened once and trust me, I learned my lesson.

Getting him used to a crate early on was very important, especially since we have another dog. I also restrict some of the rooms that he's allowed to go in. This was more for potty training but now that he's mastered that, it's a way to let Finn, his older brother, have a quiet, puppy-free space to take a nap. We still have a lot of work to do, like learning to walk on the leash without pulling and not jumping up when he greets people, but I'm hoping that will come in time.

We are going through the teenage rebellion stage right now, and he was just neutered so it's been very challenging and a lot of work. I know we'll have a great family dog once he gets past the puppy stage. At least, that's what I keep telling my husband and Finn. All puppy jokes aside, he is a great addition to our family. 

Thanks Kristi.  I totally see mischief in those eyes!  Some of the smartest dogs we have hosted here at the Ranch have been doodles of some kind.  I also have a set of bells on my desk for Abe even though he has a doggie door.  Because of the freedom his dog door allows, I'm hoping that he uses the bells to make the connection that I don't need to go outside with him every.single.time.!  I may be sending Kristi an email for more tips on the bells, and is it me or are Coopers eyes two different colors????

And then there is Finn the Labrador.  He wears his eyes with black liner, just like Abe.

Finn belongs to Susan from Homeroad .  She and I go way back and you can find us both working on projects from Old Sign Stencils and other repurposed items that we transform, like the before photo of a Christmas tin below that Susan repurposed for dog food storage.  You can see the tin update on her blog, but be prepared that you are going to want to spend some time there looking at all her projects.

Finn is the senior puppy of this post, born last September, so that makes him just hitting the 10 month mark, but like Cooper, Finn is still very much in the puppy phase. 

Finn arrived at Susan's house before Abe came to ours, and her words about having a puppy in the house again had me giving serious thought if I really wanted to bring one home, but just like Finn in her family, we're glad we added Abe to ours.

There was a lot to say about Finn so Susan has dedicated a post about him (HERE), and I'm looking forward to reading it myself.  Finn has gotten himself into trouble occasionally, so I hope Susan has included those misadventures.  He is a cutie for sure, and as past owners of labs we do have a soft spot for the breed. 

Coming up in August I will have some DIY and painting.  We had to make an inside Abe proof gate, an outside Abe proof gate, and an Abe crate that he could access both inside and outside.  Those DIY's were not on our summer list, but to keep the dog safe and the house safe from a chewing dog, they were all necessary.

Before I end I'm finding myself reflecting on labs, so I also want to mention my BFF who said goodbye to her big black lab Brad a few short weeks after we said goodbye to Moses in 2017.  As lifelong friends, loosing dogs at the same time wasn't an experience that we ever wanted to share, but it was nice that each of us knew how the other was feeling.  She had the best lab ever - you know you've got a great dog when people other than your family will miss them.

Quick Links:

All About Finn Post at Homeroad

The Essence Of Home on Instagram

Chatfield Court 

Homeroad

Old Sign Stencils 

Abe the Bliss Ranch Dog:

Meet the New Dog On The Block

Honest Abe's Doggie Fav's

Abe The Mock-Viz