Back to Milo

We thought we had decided to call our puppy "Comet." Then yesterday Oliver made a nickname of the name (changed the "t" to an "ee" sound) which reminded Paul of a communist. So we had to change his name. Some were lobbying for Buddy, but I *think* we've decided to call him the name the seller had given him - Milo. I called a veterinarian in our town. We hadn't used this vet before because they only take care of cats and dogs. He has an appointment for December 23 for his next vaccine. The seller called me this evening to say that another one of their puppies was just diagnosed with parvovirus, which is highly contagious. There is a vaccine, but if left untreated it can quickly become fatal. Thus far Milo seems perfectly healthy. She said that Milo didn't have any direct contact with the other dog, but that doesn't guarantee he couldn't have caught it. We're praying he doesn't, but I'll take him to the vet ASAP if we see any of the symptoms. 

Owning a puppy feels like having a two-year-old in the house. We are trying to teach him to go to the bathroom outside. On Saturday he had only one accident. Yesterday he had four accidents. He went 23 hours without any accidents, but then he had two accidents this evening. The good news is that he hasn't had any accidents in his crate. We left him at home alone in his crate for two hours on Sunday morning. We only attended one service. Saturday night I slept on the couch in the family room. We put his crate on top of the toy box right and placed it right beside the couch. If someone wasn't right beside him, he cried and cried and cried. When I slept beside him, he only cried when I got up and went to use the bathroom during the middle of the night. Nadia slept on the couch last night. Of the seven accidents he's had, three have been on carpet. Yesterday Paul put baby gates up from the kitchen to the dining room so that he can't do anything on that carpet, and the other gate is blocking the entrance to the living room from the foyer. We put that gate their to protect the guinea pigs, Christmas tree, and gifts under the tree. In addition to learning to use the bathroom outside, he also needs to learn what he can and cannot chew and also to be nice to the guinea pigs. They are terrified of him. And we're also hoping he can learn to sleep in his crate at night without crying. Ian was going to sleep on the couch tonight, but he hasn't learned yet how to take care of the dog on his own, which means Nadia is going to sleep there again tonight. 

Needless to say it was challenging to do our schoolwork today. Milo has a lot of energy. He wants to run and play and does not want to be in his crate, but if he's out of his crate he needs constant supervision, and it's tough to keep him out of trouble while teaching three kids who are three different grades. I purposefully didn't include every single subject in the lesson plans for today knowing it would be more challenging with a new puppy, but we did start a new art project today which is ironically of a cat!  Thankfully the menu I planned for dinner today (chicken teriyaki and basmati rice) was much easier to make than the St. Lucia saffron buns and a raspberry Charlotte Russe dessert. It took almost five hours to make those two things plus do the dishes. Whew. Nadia really likes the dessert, which isn't a surprise as she loves raspberries, sponge cake, and whipped cream - which are all included in that dessert. Nadia and Ian do not like rice, but they said the basmati was better than any other rice I've served before. Oliver preferred the risotto that we had yesterday to the basmati.