Because whenever anyone talks to me these days it’s “how’s the doggy?” and not “how are you?”
Kaizer is now 9 weeks old and we’ve decided we do actually quite like him.
For anyone who hasn’t been following along elsewhere, Kaizer is our Akita puppy and he’s been with us for a few weeks now. It turns out that introducing a puppy into your life is an excellent way of ensuring that nobody is remotely interested in anything else you have to say ever again.
He has what we affectionately call his Mad Hour at least three times a day. This is slightly misleading because (a) it doesn’t necessarily last an hour and (b) there can be several of them, so really it’s less of a Mad Hour and more of a flexible working arrangement.
Crate training is going well. He actively likes going in there for some downtime, which is fortunate because sometimes we also actively like him going in there for some downtime.
He has an entire basket full of his own toys and has finally accepted that the box containing all the accumulated toys for the grandchildren from over the years is not simply a second, more exclusive toy collection that we were keeping from him.
This has taken some negotiation.
The glamorous world of puppy training
House training is going exactly as you’d expect. Sometimes he goes outside and we celebrate like he’s just won the lottery. Sometimes he looks us directly in the eye and pisses on the floor.
We’re calling it a work in progress.
He’s also currently exploring the fascinating concept that clothes are generally worn by people and aren’t interactive tug toys.
Negotiations remain ongoing.
There are times when I feel as though the majority of my vocabulary has been reduced to NO, GET DOWN, LEAVE IT and various sentences beginning with “What have you got in your mouth?”
RIP, yarden
All the beautiful flowers we had in pots around the yarden have also recently been reclassified as interactive enrichment activities. Apparently their primary purpose is to be ripped apart, chewed enthusiastically and then spat back out onto the floor. Gardening and Kaizer currently have very different definitions of deadheading.
I suspect he thinks he’s helping. He isn't.
But we quite like him really
In amongst the teeth, the zoomies, the suspicious puddles and repeatedly saying “NO” or “GET DOWN”, he’s bloody lovely.
He’s funny, clever, increasingly confident and already very much part of the family.
There is something fascinating about watching a puppy gradually work out how his new household operates, where everything is, who is most likely to give in, which noises make everyone immediately look at him, which things he's allowed to chew and, more importantly, which things he's not allowed to chew and are therefore infinitely more desirable.
And he's discovering that being adorable gets you out of an astonishing amount of trouble.
🐾 Obviously his legal team advises that all allegations made in this post are strongly denied 🐾