Max's caching report

Hi. I'm Max. Eight pounds of furry dog. They call me a Havanese. A few weeks ago, my human put me in a box and shipped me on an airplane to my new humans. It took me a while to get used to my new humans - they wanted me to go to the bathroom OUTSIDE, imagine that! Anyway, now that the weather is nicer, the lady (she calls herself Mommy when she talks to me though she clearly does NOT look like my dog mom...) started taking me for longer walks outside. Sometimes, she has even taken me in her car to other places to go walking.

The first time she did this, we ended up at a nice place that had paved paths. We stopped a lot, though. Sometimes it was me. I just had to check out all the interesting smells and plants and such. Not to mention the other dogs, all of who were bigger than me. But sometimes we stopped and Mom checked on a container hidden away from other humans. She calls them geocaches. I checked out a few of them and they were ok, just something else interesting.

Then on Wednesday we went in the car to the vet. That wasn't so much fun, I got a shot. But afterwards we went in the car to find more of those geocaches. I think Mom likes having someone with her, she says she's done this for a while but usually by herself. Sometimes when we stopped, she got out, was gone a few minutes, then came right back. But sometimes she took me with her and we got to explore some new places then find one of those geocaches, too. Nothing much in there interesting for us dogs, mostly people toys and stuff like that. I also got to try something called a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries. I didn't really like them, Mom says that's good because they aren't so good for me anyway.

Then yesterday (Friday) we had the best day of all. We got in the car and first we stopped at PetSmart. Not sure what that is, but they like for us dogs to visit and I got attention from lots of people! Mom bought me some treats and we were on our way. We drove to another park! This one was grassy and we walked for a while, then Mom discovered we were on the wrong side of a creek and we had to walk through some stuff to get to the bridge to cross. Mom calls that "bushwhacking." Well, I'm too little for that so Mom carried me. Then we walked some more and found two more of those geocaches. We also met some geocaching friends of Mom's that gave me some more attention. Did some more driving and found a few more caches. Then drove to a place Mom called "Grand Haven" and went to a park by a really big lake. I think Mom called it "Lake Michigan." We walked up some steep stairs (Mom carried me) and found another cache there, too.

Then we drove on the highway for a while and ended up in a place called Holland. Found some more caches in some more parks, including one that was a half mile away from our car. Even though Mom carried me when we had to do more of that bushwhacking stuff, it was still a long walk for my little legs. I was tired when we got back to the car! I slept most of the way home after our day of adventure. I hope Mom takes me geocaching again soon!

Life with Max

Our house has gone through many changes in the last two weeks. Where once you walked into a nice formal living room, you now walk into that same room that has added a dog box, multiple dog toys, a dog bed, and no longer has antique cameras displayed within doggie reach. All of the reflective surfaces (the TV stand, the stereo, the fireplace, the picture window) in the room are now covered with a towel or other cloth as Max barks at his reflection whenever he sees himself. The bookshelf next to the front door has a leash, harness (for outside walks) and doggie treats on it.

The kitchen now has a feeding area with food dish and water dish, and a bag of dog food as well. And the other living room, where the computer is, has some dog toys too.

All this for a seven pound ball of energy. Max tears through the house from one end to the other, stopping only if he sees a piece of paper. Paper trumps just about any of his toys. If I try to read the newspaper on the floor, Max steals a section from me and tries to run away. He will play chase and sometimes fetch with his mini tennis balls, and tug with his "floss" toy (rubber hearts on each end of a rope with a rubber "floss" toy in the middle. He also has some other chew toys as well as a kong. He doesn't like the kong all that much. We need to find the right treat to fill it, I guess. He also had a stuffed squeak toy for about an hour or so until he ripped it open and started pulling out the stuffing.

Potty training is moving forward somewhat slowly. Its just as much training ourselves to watch for his signals at this point. Once he starts sniffing, watch out. We've had these carpets for almost 14 years so it wouldn't break my heart to get them replaced once Max masters telling us when he has to go out.

I did take Max for his first big walk on Wednesday. We went to Roselle Park, a nearby park with paved paths so that they were clear of ice and snow. He walked well on the leash and was eager to check out all the people, dogs, and ground in his path. We also checked on the three geocaches that I have in this park (it was the first place that I ever placed a cache) and they are all doing well. So Max is now a geo-pup as well! Guess the secret to having someone in my family enjoy caching is to start them young. He was one tired pup when we got home and not nearly as wild as usual!

Life with Max is good. Most of the time. I'm a bit frustrated (but not really surprised) that the majority of puppy care has fallen to me. Steve wanted this puppy but won't really change his morning routine to take Max out before he goes to work. So I've not slept past 7 since Max arrived. He did give Max his first bath last Saturday, though, and also came straight home from work last night since I had roundtable in Greenville and wasn't able to come home first. He's also a bit wistful that Max "likes me better" but its because I spend more time with him.

Max's first days

Last Thursday afternoon, we discovered that our new puppy would be arriving on Friday! So Steve took the day off, and we spent the morning preparing a place for Max and buying needed supplies. We picked him up at the airport cargo area about 2:30 p.m., and brought him home in a snowstorm. He was quite traumatized by his day - he'd already been to the vet the day before, then a car ride, two airplane rides, and then another car ride with strangers. He didn't want to come out of his box!

We just enjoyed him for a little while, then took him to our vet at 4:45. Our new vet had come highly recommended by about a dozen Facebook friends, a good way to get a recommendation! They were very gentle with Max, and even took him out of the room to give him a blood test so that he wouldn't associate "bad" with us.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to get acquainted. Still very quiet so a lot of petting and reassuring. Another trauma - taking him outside to go potty. Lots of snow on the ground, we ended up clearing a grassy area so that he wouldn't have his belly dragging in the snow. He still won't go anywhere on the leash except when he's sniffing out a favorite bathroom area now, but at least it's in grass.

Saturday, Max was still pretty quiet. He (even now) still won't leave the living room area. We're not sure why, but he definitely feels most secure there. Won't follow us out of the room, for example. He has become curious about everything that is in the living room, though. And perplexed at all the other doggies in the room at night - his reflection in the picture window and several glass-fronted cabinets.

Sunday and yesterday, Max perked up quite a bit. More puppy like behavior. He enjoys his small tennis balls, his chew/tug toys, and yesterday his mini-kong (place to hide treats.) We are mostly successful in getting him outside and have only had to clean up a few messes overall.

It's been interesting so far!