Weekly Weigh-In and Training Progress: June 28, 2009

Kaitlin here...I have decided to do weekly weigh-ins and training progress updates to better document Lily's puppyhood. I wish I had done this kind of stuff when Mia was a puppy. I am also taking pictures like a crazy woman because she won't be this small for very long!

As of June 18, 2009 (at Lily's first vet appointment) she weighed 11 lbs. Today, June 28, 2009, she weighs 15 lbs. She is 15" long and 12.5" tall. She is approximately 14 weeks old.

On Tuesday we will have had Lily for 3 weeks. So far we have worked on sit, down, fetch, roll over, leave it, and touch. She is also reliably responding to her name now.

Sit and Down: She knows the hand signals for sit and down. Sometimes she will respond to the verbal cue for sit.

Fetch: She will fetch her toys at a distance of about 7-8 feet but sometimes would rather play tug with them than drop them at my feet like she's supposed to.

Roll Over: She was catching on to roll over very quickly but I have decided to hold off on that until she is less mouthy. My hands are all scratched up from her little needle toothies.

Leave it: After ten minutes of work on leave it I could throw treats up to about 2 feet. She is crazy for treats too so I was surprised at how quickly she caught on.

Touch: I am teaching her to nose target my index finger. She is doing relatively well with this but having a little trouble because she'd much rather put my finger in her mouth and bite down! I am hoping that by teaching her this it will help with her mouthiness.

Crate Training: Crate training is not going as well... I bought a 36" crate hoping that we wouldn't need a crate divider. It was a cheaper brand that didn't include one. The first night with her purple crate pad she peed so I took the pad out and gave her a small towel to lay on the next night. She peed on the towel too so I took that out. She also peed in it with no bedding at all. I knew after that night that we needed to get some kind of divider but I couldn't find one that would work with our crate. We ended up with this:

Plastic lid reinforced with weave poles.

We had a successful night last night, yay! She always gets a stuffed frozen Kong when she goes in her crate so that usually keeps her busy for a while. She also gets fed in her crate.

Potty Training: She is still doing really well with this. We still have to take her out about every 45 minutes but she is sometimes going to the door when she needs to go out and has even whined or rang the potty bells by herself a few times.


All in all, things are going very well. She will start a puppy/basic obedience class on July 12th that will last for 6 weeks. In about a week and a half we will get her her second set of shots so we can finally take her places!!!!!!! We're getting a little stir crazy in here especially since she's starting her wild puppy stage! It's difficult to properly wear her out inside.