TORNADO

Elle, aka the "tornado" struck the other day. Within a 30 minute - 1 hour-ish time frame she had destroyed the condo. She grabbed my purse, pulled it off the couch across the room and emptied EVERYTHING onto the floor. She stole the couch pillows, chased Sophie and ripped her hair out. Found my pajama pants and pranced all over the place as I chased her through the house. And, as you can see, found the toilet paper roll. Talk about extra fun. I re-rolled it four times and the last time she found it, it was history. It was strung all down the hall, through the den - I tried to be mad but she was just so proud of her discovery. Well, needless to say, the toilet paper is now sitting on the counter and not on the roll. And she hears a very loud noise (rolled up magazine) whenever she gets near where the toilet paper is supposed to be.

 

The remenance

Sneaky...

She knew she was in trouble - just look at that face. It's the "don't beat me momma" face. (Don't you worry - this dog is far from being beaten. I feel guilty for even popping her on her nose.)

I am so excited to have more visitors! Mom, Dad, my sister and her kiddos are coming on Tuesday!!! We can't wait!

UPDATE FOR ELLE'S GRANDMAMA

Gods gift to puppy owners, rawhide bones.

Today I worked from 8a-2p and Pat was at the hospital at 5am. Elle was alone in her room for most of the day, except for her visit from Brandy, the dog walker. Yes, she has a dog walker. Spoiled, I know. I just can't leave her alone for too long yet! She's just a baby...

Elle didn't have any accidents in her kennel but is ridiculously hyper now. We're headed to the park for the afternoon.

PRODUCTIVE DAY

Our visitors left this morning, and Pat got home from CICU call at around 9am. He's sleeping now, so is the monster. Since she's knocked out, I have been super productive! I ran to the grocery real fast, hoping she would sleep for about an hour and not wake Patrick up barking, and when I got back, she was still snoozing. 2 1/2 hours later, still quite in her "room". Perfect. SO - I have made chicken salad, cleaned blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, boiled some eggs, cleaned out the fridge, swept, cleaned up around this place, done some laundry and now I'm giving Mophie some love. 

Thought you might enjoy this

This is a picture of Elle and Winston, her new 10 month old friend...he's HUUUUGGGEE. I swear he could've just stuck his head up a little and could've licked my face. But he was so sweet, he layed down on the ground so Elle could visit with him. I love Winston!

LONELY, RAINY SATURDAY

A picture for Auntie Courtney

We have visitors in town - Yoder, Laura Catherine, and Ryan all came on Thursday night and will be leaving tomorrow. They are out and about doing fun things in St Louis, I am here with the monster, and Pat is at work. It's his first call in the Cardiac ICU...  :/

He left at 6:30 this morning and comes home tomorrow morning - I know he'll do great, but those kids are really sick. I just hope its a good 24 hours for him!

A rainy day with a hyper dog is always extra fun - we are cooped up inside today. Yesterday was Miss Mophie's FOURTH birthday! I have such a new appreciation for my self sufficient, independent cat. Happy Birthday Mophie!

I am making boiled peanuts!!! Thanks to Mom B!  She sent us some peanuts with Michael - they are smelling good! I didn't realize they had to cook for so dang long. I'll get to eat them in about 2 more hours and can't wait! I finally found a jug of sweet tea at the grocery. I am missing the south today and my friends and family :(

INTERVENTION

We had to loosen her collar today! She's already getting to be a big girl!

Elle is obsessed with Sophie. If you know Sophie, you know this is a real bad thing. She is very moody and likes her space. Well, as you can see Elle was not giving her space, I intervened and got a nice bite from Sophie on my arm. It was totally meant for Elle, and I really wish she would've gotten her - then maybe she'd leave her alone and know Sophie means business!

Here's the puppy in her "room". Sounds so much better than cage, right?

Elle was trying to help carry out trash...I think. She grabbed this bag and carried it around the house, so proud of herself for her discovery!

Highlight of the week:

Sophie likes to sit in peoples laps and kneed their bellies. Since she has been deprived of attention she had to resort to this plastic bag. It's real hard to see, but you can hear the bag rustling. Pat and I realized what the noise was, and couldn't stop laughing!

PROGRESS?

I am not sure if we've made progress or not??

Last night Patrick and I put Elle in the crate in our room. If one of us sits/lays near her while she is in the crate, there is minimal crying and barking. She usually falls asleep while you're there, then you can sneak into bed. This happened every 2 1/2 hours last night. Super fun. BUT - a plus - no pooping in the crate! Since Pat has a busy month coming up (cardiac ICU) I had doggy duties last night. I want to make sure he is well rested before the fun beings. I hope this means she'll start getting used to being locked in her "home". I am leaving for work soon, and she'll be alone in the crate for 4+ hours until Pat comes home. Cross your fingers that it goes okay!

We went to the park after waking up this morning in hopes she would get worn out and sleep while I was gone. She LOVED the water. I knew Golden Retriever's were known for loving water, but you just never know. She just plopped her little self down right in the middle and I had to pull her out to get her to leave.

THE RESULT OF CRATE TRAINING

Yes, you are seeing this correctly. This is the result of our "crate training" attempt. Poor Elle. She gets herself SO worked up in that crate - then she has episodes of IBS and craps all over the place, including herself. She got a bath at 3 am last night. Pat and I were so discouraged! We had visitors in the guest room (right next to her 'room') - Michael (Pat's brother) and his friend were here for the weekend. We didn't want her to keep barking and keep them up all night, we didn't want to keep cleaning up all of her diarrhea, so here she is. In the bed. This little punk slept for FIVE HOURS straight. Unheard of since we got her. She was in heaven in that bed with us. Tonight she gets crated again - this time in the same room as us. I hope we don't lose our minds!