Puppy Sitting

We have been on “puppy detail” for 5 days now. Our daughter went to Maui for her birthday and we got to watch the 10-week-old Malamute puppy, Nugget. He is beyond cute, smart, and rambunctious. He eats every two hours and chews on EVERYTHING! Legs of chairs, carpet, logs, nozzels, the wood floor, toilets, fireplaces, towels, socks, antique vases, couch, trays, you get the idea. Im going to be buffing puppy marks out of my life for years.

The first night he peed once in the house, but instantly knew that was bad. Gary did the smart thing and showed him (by example) how to pee in the back yard. Yeah, the neighbors love us.

He cried for two hours by our bed, and then I put him out and shut the door. Then he howled as only a Malamute can do while scratching the paint off the door. I finally gave up and put him in bed with us. Sensing victory, he circled twice and then jumped off the bed and went right to sleep.

Our older dog, Tripper was not pleased with this invader and growled non-stop for two days. Then he acquiesced and began to play with him. Now the puppy follows the senior member of the dog staff everywhere, latching onto his tail, and sniping his food. I believe if we leave the front door open, Tripper will leave and never come back.

He has never been left alone, so even taking a shower produced the essential lonely howl. We took him to work and there, he slept. I did get to walk him all around our little town, saying hi to the other shopkeepers and he only shat on three lawns.

But he is so cute and full of personality, we want to spend every moment watching him. We also want his mom to come back soon, so we can sleep and get the carpets removed. We have fun with the camera trying to pose him for a “bad boy” shot to shock his mom, so we won’t be the first call she makes when needed a babysitter. We are going to make fabulous grandparents.