Hellooooo.......long time, no chat! I have a really good reason for disappearing for a couple of days. His name is Windsor McVey and he is home with us now! Bart took the above picture of Win and me at the breeder's house while we were waiting for our paperwork so we could take him home. I was sooo happy to squeeze that little boy.
We took him outside right away to get him used to his new backyard (and let him go to the bathroom before we took him inside!). These photos were taken in his first few minutes outside.
In case some of you have missed it, I have posted LOTS of tweets, pictures and even some videos of Baby Win's first moments at home over on my Twitter page. If you've been wanting to follow along on Win's progress, click here to catch up on my tweets. Get ready for cute overload though, if you do. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)
So there are a few things I can tell you about Windsor already.
- He is way more motivated by praise and affection than treats. I must say I love that about him.
- He takes a lot of little naps throughout the day....typically not longer than about an hour and a half at a time. (So good luck getting much of anything done...ha! And don't forget that the second he wakes up, it's time to go outside....so unless he's in the kennel you'd better not be far away when he does!)
- Potty-training seems to be going really, really well. He's a smart boy.
- When he's awake, he likes to romp and play for a bit and chew on his chew toys and shake them around like he's killing a wild animal or something. (It's pretty darn cute.)
- He's a bit of a roly-poly in that he runs up on the middle of his big fluffy doggie bed (think, "king of the mountain") with one of his stuffed chew toys and gets so involved in chewing that he rolls right off the side of the dog bed every time. Cracks us up.
- After he's done playing and rough-housing with his toys, he wants to be picked up and cuddled. Melts. My. heart.
- He can run up and down stairs if there are two stairs or less, but he's a bit afraid to tackle an entire staircase. (Oh darn, you mean I'll have to carry him? *wink*)
- He had his first shower and {short} blow dry yesterday just to get used to the dryer. He wasn't a fan of either. Which is why we'll continue with frequent showers to get him used to them while he's little so he won't mind them when he's older.
- The vet said to play with his ears, mouth, tail, feet, etc., which Windsor doesn't mind at all. He's pretty laid back. We do that to get him used to it so he won't mind things like getting toenails clipped, brushing his teeth, or when the littles come over to play.
- He's not a big fan of car rides. Yet. I fully expect that to change pretty quickly!
- He doesn't (DOESN'T) like sleeping in the kennel alone at night. At all. He woke up crying every hour the first night. That night, he slept in the kennel in the laundry room and I slept on the couch just in the next room with the door open so I could hear him and he could hear me.....except that every time he cried, I came to the kennel, stuck my fingers in the door and let him chew on them a bit. The second night, I slept on the floor right outside the door to the laundry room (closer than the couch the night before) and after getting up and going to him the first time, the rest of the night I just talked to him when he'd cry. But he still woke up and cried probably every hour or so. Baby steps. Today, we've worked on taking almost all his naps INSIDE the kennel with the door closed. I'm hoping that will help him to sleep much better in the kennel at night. But either way, I think tonight, I'll sleep on the floor right next to him IN the laundry room. That way I can stick my finger thru the door if I have to, without getting up. Though to be honest, today's naps in the kennel have gone pretty well. So hopefully tonight he'll do much better sleeping in the kennel.
- He's just about the cutest thing since sliced bread!
- Today, we started working on learning "come", "sit" and "down". That little boy has SIT figured out and he'll do it at random times when he knows you're looking at him and then he'll turn his head toward the treat bowl just in case we forgot that he's supposed to get a treat for sitting! He's a genius.
- He follows us around like a little.......well.....lost puppy. Haha. It's so funny how he watches our feet when walking next to us, so he knows which way to go.
- He had his first trip to our veterinarian yesterday and was SUCH a good boy! I mean, total angel! And all of the nurses/vet techs that saw him are in love with him too! They were telling us how they couldn't get enough of his puppy kisses and his puppy breath when they had him in the back....and that he was just so sweet and mild-mannered. (We were a teensy bit proud. *wink*)
- He's got the prettiest honey coloring. Again, lots of comments at the vet's office. :)
Mostly, I can tell you that we are completely and utterly smitten with this little boy. He's a gem. He makes us smile, he makes us laugh, he melts our hearts and he makes us so glad that we made the decision to get another puppy. Riley would love Windsor!
We're also extremely grateful that God saw fit to bless us with this specific little guy. We prayed that God would help us to choose the puppy that would be the perfect fit for our home. No puppy is perfect, but we really wanted to choose the puppy that would fit in the best with our family. It's hard to know which puppy to choose based on the short amount of time you have with them when you go to pick one out. You know? That's why we prayed that the Lord would help direct our choice. And you know what? I think we chose well.
I still have a Stamp-a-Faire recap to share with you when time allows but between all the potty training, the kennel training and the obedience training, I feel like I'm not getting anything else done at the moment. (Though you know I'm not complaining for a second!) Just bare with me for a bit as Win and I settle into a new daytime/work routine.
Mostly though, I'd like to be able to sleep upstairs with my husband at night, rather than on the laundry room floor! Hahaha. So that is goal number ONE right now. Win sleeping thru the night (or at least self-soothing if he wakes up) without me.....it's my number one priority right now!
Say a prayer for us tonight, if you think of it! :)
Much love,
