So she barks....

I am what you would call a paranoid (pet) parent. When Emma was a puppy (I know she still is, but I mean a SMALL puppy), I worried about everything. Okay, I still do for the most part, but I digress. I used to worry about her barking.

In the first few weeks we had her, she didn't make a peep. No whining. No crying. No barking. Nothing. She would occasionally do this thing with her mouth where she would open it to bark, but nothing would come out. It was as if she was on 'mute.' I didn't really think there was anything wrong with her, I just didn't understand why she wouldn't bark.

I posted a question on mycorgi.com (a website strictly for corgi owners) asking fellow corgi lovers if they had any takes on my silent dog. The general consensus is that I should thank my lucky stars that she doesn't bark.

Not too many weeks after posting the question, Emma started barking - slightly. She would do a sort of half-bark that wasn't very loud. We encouraged her to "find her voice" by asking her to "speak" for treats and what not. The problem was that the only place she could do that was here at our apartment. Any time we were away from home, we strongly discouraged her barking. I felt like we were sending her mixed messages.

I'm no longer worried that we sent her mixed messages.

The dog barks at everything. Everything. Neighbors going in and out of their door - she barks. Knocking or doorbells on the TV - she barks. Shadows - she barks. Nothing - she barks! Chad took her out last night and I heard her start barking like crazy. When Chad came upstairs, I asked him what Emma went crazy over. "Some one got in their car," he said. The parking lot is on the other side of our building...

There have been countless times she has literally barked at nothing. Possibly the most humorous scenario was a few weeks ago. With the weather "cooling down," we have been opening our patio door more often. At the time, the door was closed but the blinds were open. Emma caught something out of the corner of her eye and started running towards the door barking. At her reflection. We couldn't help but laugh...

It is funny though to notice the different types of barks she does for different situations. When it's just me at home, she does a quiet bark... not too loud. When Chad and I are both at home, she goes into protection mode. Which I guess is a good thing.

All in all, I'm glad our baby has found her voice and that she is protective of us.  Right now she is quietly chewing on one of her bones - but I'm sure 4 AM will be a different story.

Thanks for reading!

God bless!

-Shelley

Pupdate!

Okay, so Emma is now 23 weeks old!  Where did my baby go?!  Now she is a tenacious little dog whose only desire in life is to play - incessantly.  So I know many people are wondering how our little hopping puppy is doing.  Well, she is still hopping.  Anything faster than a slow walk turns into a hop.  However, we think her "knees" are starting to bend a little more!  We don't try to push them or anything, but every now and then we'll just check to see how they're coming along.  I don't know if she's going to keep making progress as she grows, but I'm a little hopeful.  Her legs still do not seem to be bothering her.  We went on a 2-mile walk/run the other day and she was still running when we got back to the car.

We have upgraded her food and water bowl.  They were just getting too small.  Her new ones a little large, but she'll grow into them. :)  We also got a mat for her bowl to sit on.  She's not too sure about that one - so it's a little funny to watch her eat as she stretches her neck over so her feet won't touch the mat.

Emma's favorite toy - in the whole wide world- is a little black squeaky ball that has paw prints all over it.  Her grandparents (my in-laws) got it for her.  Seriously, this is the only thing she wants to play with it seems.  We'll be sitting on the couch, watching TV, then guess what gets dropped on our feet.  And if we don't pick it up, someone starts to bark.  Then she'll try to jump on the couch in a desperate attempt to try and get our attention.  As I type, Chad is on the floor throwing the ball across the room.  Some days I don't mind it so much.  Then there are days like today.  I had a huge project to work on and the incessant squeaking was about to make me chuck the think out the window.  Her other toys of choice include empty coke bottles (coke meaning a variety of soft drinks - for all you non-Texan readers), and a cow we call "ting-ting."  Don't ask.

At this point, Emma has lost all of her teeth except the very back ones.  She has definitely been in pain from it all.  Some days, she could only eat her food if it was wet.  Ice cubes have been a favorite treat as well.  Hopefully this phase will be over soon, but I'm thinkin' those back teeth are going to be the worst ones.

Overall, Emma is doing great.  She's a healthy happy puppy who is staring at me right now with her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth.  Oop...now she's walked to the other side of my feet...  better go play...

I leave you with a video I took of Emma the day after we brought her home.  I think she learned this from, Daddy, but I won't rule myself out of the mix....

Snoring Puppy from Shelley Garland on Vimeo.

God Bless!

-Shelley

A Wonderful Weekend

My dad and stepmom live in Alaska.  Since they've moved up there, I only see them about 4 or 5 times a year.  This weekend was one of those times!  My dad was in Texas for work and decided to drive up to Fort Worth Saturday night to see us.  I was really excited about the trip because my dad has yet to see our apartment and he hasn't met Emma yet!  Unfortunately, it was just my dad on this trip.  My stepmom had other commitments and since it was just a short little trip, they weren't able to make it all work.  But hey, I'll take a visit any day!  I was a little nervous about Dad meeting Emma.  You see, I didn't exactly "share" the fact that we got a dog with them until it was necessary (i.e. I had to tell her to stop doing something while I was on the phone with Julianne).  Not that they're not supportive, they just didn't really think getting a dog was the best idea.    When I told my dad we got a dog, he was silent for about 30 seconds...  so I wanted to make sure that when he met her, he thought she was the most perfect dog ever (and why wouldn't he?).

I will say that Emma did not care for us cleaning the apartment at all.  She has been house broken since about 12 weeks and she peed in our room THREE times within the hour we spent cleaning.  I didn't know I was getting the kind of dog that carried out revenge plots, but here we are.

The only thing I was really worried about was Emma's breath.  It's terrible.  Awful.  Wretched.  Gross.  Because she is deep into teething, her mouth is constantly bleeding.  The blood mixed with her saliva makes her moth absolutely stink.  We bought some "doggie mints" at Petsmart - but they didn't really make a hug difference.  I remembered seeing something along those lines at Target so I went to pick some up a few days later.  Between the two, her breath was actually decent by the time Dad got here.

As soon as Dad started walking up the stairs to our apartment, I opened the door so Emma could run out and see him.  She stated wagging her butt (because she has no tail) so fast I thought she was going to throw her whole body on its side.  Emma loved my dad - and my dad loved Emma.  He spent the hour before we went to dinner playing with her. He kept talking how happy she seemed.  He was thoroughly impressed when he told her to "get her ball" and she went to find it for him.

I really enjoyed my dad being up here.  If anything, I'm a "Daddy's Girl" and seeing him and Julianne only four or five times a year just isn't enough (granted I don't mind trips to Alaska, either).  I'm glad he got the chance to see where we live and meet out precious Emma.  I still feel he probably thinks getting a dog wasn't the best idea, but it also wasn't the worst.  Love you, Dad! 

Thanks for reading!  Until Next week...


God Bless!

-Shelley