Four Months Old!

Photo credit - Nadia

Milo turned four months old today! At his vet appointment last week he weighed a little over 6 pounds. Milo is no longer scared of his reflection in a mirror, but he still barks like crazy at random things like the broom, vacuum cleaner, a jar of parmesan cheese, etc. The funniest thing he does (in our opinion) is when he spins around in a circle chasing his tail.

He still occasionally chews on the cord for the Echo dot or my laptop or the kitchen chair legs, but the things we've said "no" to him chewing lately have primarily been the pillows that I put in front of the fireplace to block the draft of cold air, the Wii remotes in the entertainment center (if Paul fixes that door it will be a big help as the glass is missing in the door which gives him very easy access), and the dish towel in the kitchen. I relocated the dish towel from the oven door to the microwave door to keep it out of his reach, but I haven't moved the pillows that are in front of the fireplace. Soon after we brought him home we flipped the toy bins in the family room so they were facing the wall, but he had still been managing to  get things from the bins so Oliver and I moved all those bins to the basement. I have three kids, and I think at this point there aren't any toys for kids on the main floor of our house aside from those that are in the toy box. Many toys have been relocated to either one of the kids' bedrooms or the basement.. We do have plenty of dog toys on the main floor of the house!

At this point he averages one accident a day. The time he is most prone to accidents is at night when Ian or Oliver are chasing him around the house. Milo LOVES to run, and wow is he FAST!!!! The longest he's gone without an accident is two days. I'm hoping that by the time he turns five months old he's not having any accidents. We shall see. If he doesn't have any accidents one day, he usually has two the next day. He didn't have any accidents this week on Wednesday or Thursday, and then he had three accidents on Friday and also had one this morning. Thankfully we don't have to take him out as many times a day as we did at first. I formulated a list of nine times a day to take him out, and the kids divided those up so that each child has at least three turns a day. I was very weary of hearing them debate who was taking him out each time. This plan has eliminated those discussions which is a big relief to me. I'm guessing that over time we'll continue the trend of taking him out fewer times per day. Every once in a long while he goes to the door and lets us know he needs to go out, but the vast majority of the time it's at our initiative. I'll be thrilled when he communicates his need to go to the bathroom more frequently with us! The longest he's gone without any accidents is 2 days. I look forward to the day when he can go three or more days without any accidents.

He's learned the commands "sit" and "down." He is very confused by "leave it." He gets into the down position for leave it. We have to keep working on "leave it." He's making a lot of progress with "come." He definitely comprehends that command but obeying it is another issue. I've ordered a clicker and will begin using that for positive reinforcement along with the treats starting next week. He loves the puppy ping pong game that is helping him learn to obey the command "come." He definitely comprehends "come" but it's hit or miss if he'll choose to obey that command. We're also going to start working on the command "wait."

Nadia successfully trimmed his nails. We're going to start brushing his teeth 2-3 times a week starting next week. He's getting groomed for the first time on Monday. Since that costs $50+, I ordered a pair of dog clippers today so I can take over the grooming duties. We already own dog shampoo, and I recently ordered forceps and the powder needed to pluck the hairs from his ears. The puppy kindergarten instructor showed us how to do that this week. Evidently if we don't, he'll get ear infections. Have I mentioned that dogs are MUCH more high maintenance than cats? He isn't AS interested in the guinea pigs as he was at first. If he manages to get into Nadia's room, he always goes for the Legos first rather than the guinea pigs. We've had to extricate many Legos from his mouth over the last seven weeks. Buttercup is the bravest of our three guinea pigs in that she will come right to the edge of their cage to greet Milo. We only allow Milo to observe them under our very careful supervision.

He sleeps in Ian's room at night. The last time he is taken out to go to the bathroom is 9:30pm, and he usually sleeps until at least 7:00am. Ian wasn't very happy that Milo got up at 6:45 this morning. If he cries in the night, Ian will sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag beside his crate for part of the night. The guinea pigs now sleep in Nadia's room. The smell of their cage is definitely more potent now that their cage is in a room where the door is closed almost all the time.

Milo loves us VERY much. He is a very affectionate puppy. Karyss and the members of our family are his favorite people. Oliver doesn't let Milo "kiss" him, but he gives the rest of us many kisses. First thing in the morning and when we come home from church or some other outing are the times he is the most exuberant in showing his affection through his little tail wagging like crazy and giving lots of kisses. Prior to yesterday, the longest he had been left at home alone was 2 hours. I met a friend for lunch yesterday after dropping the kids off at another friend's house for a playdate. He was in his crate from 10:30-2:45 yesterday. Thankfully he never has any accidents in his crate whenever we leave him. We don't have any field trips scheduled until April 22, so he won't be spending much time at home alone over the next three months aside from Sunday morning when we go to church. My moments of wondering why on earth we got a puppy are happening less often than they were during the first few weeks. I will freely acknowledge that he is very cute, and I do enjoy holding when he's sleeping or in a calm mood. We plan to take him with us to Long Island when we visit Aunt Janet in July (Lord willing), and if we are actually able to take our longer than usual family vacation out west in September/October, we're going to ask our friends if they'll keep Milo at their house while we're away.