Adventures in Puppysitting: Adventures in Puppysitting: Day One

I arrived today at just after 9am. Stella was in her crate and already whimpering, even though Dad was literally walking away from the door as I walked up.

This crate-breaking thing is going to be difficult.

I should back up a bit.

Today was my first day puppysitting little Stella. This is Stella.

Adorable, right?

Stella is a Tibetan Terrier. She doesn't look like that picture on the website right now, as you can see. She doesn't have the long hair. Plus, she is white haired with a panda face. So cute.

Stella and I are going to become best of friends, I think. I am going to be here for a few hours a day for the foreseeable future, so I am sure we will have lots of adventures.

When I first arrived, Stella napped on the couch next to me for about two hours. It's tough bein a pup, apparently. When she finally awoke, we played on the floor with her toys (a giraffe and an octopus). Suddenly, Stella ran under the dining room table. And proceeded to tinkle. Just a little tinkle. I suppose her first accident under My Watch had to happen at some point. I just wish it hadn't been her first bathroom break. Thinking she might still have to go, I took her outside and we went for a walk. A short walk - she's little yet.

Stella's legs are barely taller than the grass, so she sort of bounds around. It's pretty dang cute. It also makes it difficult to tell when she is going potty. On this walk, though, she most certainly pooped!

After we went back inside, it was time to start her crate training. This basically means putting her in her crate while she screeches and whimpers the entire time. I left her in there for about 45 minutes, and she whimpered and whined for about 40 of those minutes. It was pretty heartbreaking! If I could, I'd record the whimper so you could hear it. Devastating. I held strong, though, and watched the new episode of Flight of the Conchords while she bellowed away.

Finally, I let her out of her Cage, as I imagine she calls it. Or maybe she calls it her Cell. But Stella was not grateful to me for letting her out of her Cage/Cell. She was angry at me for putting her there in the first place, so she sat on the other side of the couch for the next 30 minutes to teach me a lesson. She lost the battle of wills, though, as she finally got a hankering to nip at my toes and needed me to let her down off the couch in order to do so.

The rest of the day was a cycle of playing, eating, drinking, playing, whimpering to go outside, going on increasingly farther walks, and sleeping. I tried to teach her to eat in her crate. She had about two bites. To be fair, the food has to be made soggy with water. So mushy. I wouldn't eat that stuff in a house or with a mouse, either.

As a puppy, Stella is of course exploring her new world, learning a lot about her surroundings and about being a puppy. She's not the only one, though, as I certainly learned a few things about being a puppy, too.

When close enough to strike, human ears are irresistible to a puppy's teeth.
The same can be said for curly hair.
Leaves are fun to play with...
But not when the wind blows them around. In that case, get as far away as you can, as quickly as you can. This is a matter of life and death.
Similar to ears and curly hair, puppies love anything they can tug at. This includes hoodie drawstrings and backpack straps...
The Sound of a Train is not to be trifled with. If you encounter it, proceed with caution. Extreme caution.