dachshunds | Dangerous Common Sense

Day 79 — The Basics of Growing

By Galen|2018-12-12T16:06:42-08:00December 11, 2018|dachshunds|

Aurora enjoyed very much the sunny, drier weather in the backyard after the dense morning fog burned off. Not that the fog or wetness had bothered her, but apparently the damp makes things smell delicious. And taste delicious, too. I decoded that Aurora will scamper up the back stairs, and sometimes run straight into the house, when it's been a while since she's eaten. When she's full, the stairs are more of a struggle. Day 79 -- Struggling to Puppy Heaven This morning's assault on the stairs reminded me of one of her earlier tries! But, she made [...]

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Day 78 — Back to Work Day

By Galen|2018-12-12T14:22:54-08:00December 10, 2018|dachshunds|

Geoffrey and I are back to work today. There was plenty of puppy energy to spur us on. The before-gym play session was rambunctious, but Aurora settled down (eventually) on the bed with the other red dogs while I went to work out. Refreshed, she began taunting the older dogs after the reds woke up and Geoffrey started getting ready for work. Paris usually sleeps happily on Geoffrey's robe when he showers, but today she had to contend with demands for play! Day 78 -- Morning Play Session #2 And, Aurora is getting big enough to demand attention. At [...]

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Day 77 — A Family Day

By Galen|2018-12-09T17:53:01-08:00December 9, 2018|dachshunds|

The pack doesn't take its normal daytime nap when Geoffrey is home. Instead, today was mostly constant in/out/up/down. For Aurora, of course, the motivation for all movement was PLAY! I went to church and by the time I came home and did some stuff it was late, so no visitors today. We did discover that Aurora doesn't seem to want lunch anymore. She's enthusiastic about breakfast and dinner, nearly cleaning a big bowl of wet puppy food and kibble. Aurora also has discovered that she can use the human's fixation on bodily functions to get trips outside whenever she wants. She [...]

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Day 76 — Terrible Twos and Showing Off

By Galen|2018-12-09T11:09:59-08:00December 8, 2018|dachshunds|

The day didn't start off well. Apparently the terrible twos have struck Aurora. This morning she didn't want to do doggie things in the yard and kept trying to run up the stairs. I had to close the back door and block her path with my feet. Then she decided that she would shy away and not "Come" to me when called. She had been doing a great job leaping to the offered treat, but not this morning. So, she had crate time and temper tantrums. Sigh. But, the morning lit up with visitors! We were delighted that Aurora's dad's [...]

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Day 75 – Variable Speed

By Galen|2018-12-08T19:16:44-08:00December 7, 2018|dachshunds|

We are still dealing with yesterday's mastery of the up-staircase by Aurora. It's cute, but it's also a pain. She is enjoying being able to cut short the sessions outside where she is told to do her doggy things. Well, she'd like to cut these sessions short by running up the stairs and going inside. We've started closing the backdoor when we go out. Sigh! The fun part for the humans is watching Aurora's different approaches to the recently conquered stairs. Sometimes she struggle to pull herself up one step at a time. Other time she bounds all the way [...]

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Day 74 – Morning Accomplishments

By Galen|2018-12-08T18:59:41-08:00December 6, 2018|dachshunds|

Well, it happened. About 5:45 this morning, I had taken Aurora out for her housetraining. She told me several times that she was fine and didn't need to go out. A couple times she turned away from the backyard and went up the four stairs she'd just mastered yesterday evening just to show me how done she was with the backyard. She'd try to reach the pack members just inside who were taunting her with how comfortable they were inside. Each time I went up to the landing and brought her back into a spot where previous biological activities had [...]

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Day 73 — Four Steps at a Time

By Galen|2018-12-08T18:34:15-08:00December 5, 2018|dachshunds|

The big development of the day occurred late, out of the range of any camera. Aurora made it up four steps from the backyard to the landing tonight! True, she made her way up the steps to end the tedious patrol of the backyard I was insisting on because I wanted her to "Go do doggie things." She insisted that she had no biological needs, and I had been insisting that she needed get in touch with her own body. Instead, she turned toward the stairs and slowly, with great effort, climbed all of them to the top of the [...]

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Day 72 — Late Play is Better than No Play

By Galen|2018-12-08T18:19:45-08:00December 4, 2018|dachshunds|

Aurora was kept from her mid-day play routine today because I had to go to a 12:30 meeting. She made do, though. When I got home the sun had already gone past her backyard, but the far outback was still warm and fragrant. Day 72 -- Afternoon Exploration in the Way Back Aurora must chew everything, while Apex is very happy tackling just one of her balls. Because Aurora had a good lunch, we weren't worried about a late dog dinner due to the humans having a date night. When we got home, the adults chowed down quickly [...]

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Day 71 — Turning Off the Irrigation

By Galen|2018-12-08T17:06:08-08:00December 3, 2018|dachshunds|

Today Aurora reminded us of another home feature we used to have but which proved incompatible with puppies: a sprinkler system. Day 71 -- Examining the Roots Aurora has consistently (so far) focused on chewing plants and their roots. She's left the plastic bits of sprinklers alone. However, this picture reminds us that previous puppies chewed enough parts to make the system leaking and unreliable. For a while -- a few years, actually -- we dutifully replaced the tubes and connectors gnawed by our beasts. But, we've stopped. I'd like to say we stopped because we became more [...]

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Day 70 — Continuing Traditional Gardening

By Galen|2018-12-08T16:52:55-08:00December 2, 2018|dachshunds|

Our backyard planter boxes arrived when our first pack was getting elderly. We were able to grow some flowers and tomatoes without fighting over them with the canines. However, in 2008 SeQueL arrived, and the planters quickly became a favorite playtime destination. Aurora has continued the puppy tradition of wallowing, digging, and generally enjoying the now-falling-apart planters. Day 70 -- Morning Play in the Planter Aurora has also decided that the planter box is also a litter box, at least the center part of it is. Very confusing to us humans, but the whole box is being enjoyed [...]

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