Millie – The Initial Days

Originally published September 22, 2017

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First potty break… OMG she’s the size of my shoe!

The yard is spotless, the house is clean. Yet with the internet down and study becoming impossible at home, there isn’t much to do but wait. In the end, I was sweeping swept floors and tidying tidy tables. It was right as I swept up another magical pile of dust (seriously, I’d swept earlier that day and there was ALREADY a pile) that Tymikka said “Puppies”. That was usually cue that we’d received photos. We’d fawn over the adorable pictures of a little girl we didn’t know yet. She was growing bigger and bigger on screen and in our minds.

This time was different. This time, we were picking her up.

Early.

Unprepared and hours before we were ready, my heart began to race from anticipation and excitement. Talk about being calm for a dog, it was near impossible. We got straight in the car within minutes, stopping by just for petrol and the rest of the $$$. Then we drove all the way to Wanneroo for our new baby girl.

We got there, greeted by Storm (yes, her mum’s name is Storm, it was a sign). She was wagging her tail and looking run down, the gorgeous mum she is. She really is a beautiful dog. Then we were let in the yard, which was covered in puppies. Our beautiful girl was at the back, on the grass. She was running about and playing with her siblings. I greeted Storm with cuddles, knowing we’d soon have our puppy 24/7 for her cuddles. Storm was glad of the attention and the break from her pups.

We chatted, talking about the vet being early for the vaccines and what they’d been fed. Then we finally took our baby home. The saddest moment was the backwards glance at Storm as we carried her puppy away. I think she broke my heart, or I broke hers. I hope she’s okay. Eventually she will be. Must be hard loving your babies then seeing them all go over the span of two days.

When we got home she was tentative and shy. She quickly bonded to Meeka and me, refusing to enter a room unless we put her there first and encouraged her to explore. She followed us everywhere, our little shadow. She even refused to go out to the toilet unless we BOTH went, crying if just one of us tried to take her out until the other would come as well. She has us trained already. Luckily throughout the night we got her doing it with just one of us, so that didn’t last long.

She already is knowing when and where to pee. We take her out and most the time she’ll go straight away, and get extremely excited when she does, knowing she did well and will get praised. She’s had two accidents, both of which were more my fault than hers; I just wasn’t quick enough. We don’t have a dog door, and if we did she’d be too small for it anyway, but soon we’ll look into one so she can learn to take herself out.

Now she’s gaining some independence, exploring more on her own and not crying the instant she’s left to herself. She is learning her name. Energetic little bursts of speed come out of her as she runs at us, bouncing back and forth. She is adorable and smart and the most perfect girl we could ever have. She’s shy with people at first, but already she’s learning to overcome that. She’s been introduced to Meeka’s boyfriend, and now my sister and mother as well. In a little bit she’ll meet Meeka’s sister too. She’s learning to overcome fear, with the sounds of barking dogs next door, a lawnmower, and screaming kids (the back door neighbours had a bouncy castle with water slide, it looked fun).

She sleeps a lot. Much, MUCH more than Meeka and me now. I don’t think either of us slept for more than 3 hours last night. I’m not sure how I’m awake right now. She sleeps in her puppy crate and cries when she needs to go out if we don’t wake and check her before then. Sometimes we have to nurse her for a moment, relax her from the excitement of going outside at night to pee, but within a few minutes she is generally asleep. By that point we can gently place her in her crate to sleep peacefully.

Or she just crawls on us, curling into our warmth and sleeping there. She’ll sleep on the bed eventually, once she’s toilet trained properly. Until then, she gets cuddles constantly and crate time for proper sleeps. At the moment she’s asleep beside me on the couch while I type.

Millie sleeping with Hedgehog the warthog and rope.

I may have gotten distracted… A final ended with the winning kick AFTER the OVERTIME siren… It was dramatic. Literally once in a lifetime. Only three times in history has a draw occurred in a final and never has the losing team won from a kick after the siren. Go Eagles!

Anyway, Millie is cute and adorable and perfect, and currently asleep again. We have our rent inspection today for the new house, so she’ll have another lady to get used to for a short time, if she doesn’t sleep through the whole thing. She’s getting MUCH more adventurous, mischievous and independent.

She’s now registered with the shire and walking around with her name tag AND her shire tag on her little collar. They hang almost to the floor. She’s mastered sit (if you can get her attention) and we are now working on stay. Also feeding her more now, and started to take her on her lead. She’ll keep growing, and I’ll keep updating… Once we get internet again, anyway.