{"id":77,"date":"2012-05-16T10:31:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T15:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alidawinternheimer.com\/servicedog\/?p=77"},"modified":"2012-05-16T10:41:45","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T15:41:45","slug":"sevas-first-week-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alidawinternheimer.com\/servicedog\/sevas-first-week-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Seva’s First Week–so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life with a new puppy is a lot like life with a baby\/toddler. She gets us up several times a night to go out to the yard. (Thank goodness this is a spring litter!) She cries for attention. We can’t leave the house until she has been fed and visited the little dog’s yard. We have to pack toys and treats if we take her somewhere. She is full speed or nothing. Everything goes in her mouth. The only time she isn’t carefully supervised is when she is sleeping or crated. Everyone who sees her wants to touch her. And of course, she’s beyond adorable, which pretty much makes up for the hassle factor.<\/p>\n

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What a sweet face.<\/p><\/div>\n

Seriously. You’d go stumbling around the backyard in your bathrobe at 2:00, 3:00, 5:00, and 6:00 a.m. for this face, wouldn’t you?<\/p>\n

And like a baby, there was a lot to prepare. Puppies need a layette, too. Here’s Seva’s.<\/p>\n

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Most of Seva's possessions.<\/p><\/div>\n

Seva’s birth parents (and their human families) sent her home with some of those toys, and we have been happy to have them!\u00a0I also bought baby gates and a new rug for the kitchen. The old one was apparently edible. Her favorite indoor toy is called Hide-a-Squirrel, though clearly those are chipmunks.<\/p>\n

After just two days, I had to loosen her collar. It is amazing how quickly she is growing. She was only 1 pound at birth and 11 pounds when I got her, at 7 1\/2 weeks old. She grew to over 10 times her size in only 7 weeks. A human baby could take 10 years to grow from 10 pounds to 100 pounds. Not only is her growth rate incredibly fast, relative to ours, but her learning rate is, too. This is why training begins immediately. As with humans, there are windows for optimal socializing and learning. Part of the trainer’s job is to take advantage of those windows and guide the puppy’s development.<\/p>\n

And now, being completely sleep deprived after 4 days with the Seva puppy, I have run out of intelligible things to write. Here’s a video.<\/p>\n