9 Weeks Old

Roxy turned 9 weeks old this week. She's really fitting in very well with our family. Our golden, Calvin, gets along with her and they love to play together. Sometimes though, he gets in his "older dog" mood and just doesn't want to play. Then he'll have to nip at her in that way that says "hey, leave me alone..."

My husband says that Roxy is an "overly dramatic female". When Calvin does have to be a little rough with her to get her to stop chewing on his face she gets SO upset. She cries and cries and cries. Or if he's running in the yard and comes too close to her (doesn't even touch her!) she'll scream. Really puppy? I KNOW you didn't get hurt. Our vet says that GSDs are known for being very vocal.

That brings me to another point. She had her first vet visit with our Dr. Gorr this week. She was a very good girl! No accidents and she even sat on the scale very nice. She weighs 14lbs! She's going to be a big girl. She got to sniff lots of new smells including kittens, other dogs, and some ferrets. Once we were in the exam room though, she cried almost the whole time. Not really crying, but just whining. That's when Dr. Gorr said that it's very normal for GSDs to be vocal all the time. I'm going to keep making an effort to take her out all the time to get her used to all sorts of new experiences.

The potty training has been going very well. She'll have maybe one accident a day (usually while my husband is in charge....) But the past few days she's actually been going to the back door and whining when she has to go out. It's usually when she has to poop (probably because she can tell it's coming) but I still have to be on her like  hawk to make sure she doesn't pee in the house. She goes out just once during the night now, then right away in the morning, right after breakfast, after playing with Calvin, and then every hour or so other than that.

The crate training is going.... okay. I still put her in when she's tired, and I still fill her Kong with some peanut butter stuff, I still turn on the "Dog-Ease" music on my iPod (hey it worked for Calvin!) and she still cries for about 5-10 minutes. There's been a few times where she doesn't cry at all, but 8 times out of 10 she cries. I was concerned at first because it really only took Calvin 3 days to be crate trained. And now he LOVES the crate (only now he gave it up for Roxy).

Update: I just put Roxy in her crate because she was falling asleep after playing with Calvin... and not a peep!! *Knock on wood* Some days are better than others... it seems like the more tired she is the more she appreciates having quiet time in her crate.

Overall, Roxy has been a great addition to our family. She's extremely gentle with our 22 month old daughter, she plays so nicely with our golden, and she seems to be very smart and submissive. She's a great girl. I'm hooked on german shepherds! :)

Oh! I wanted to write about Roxy's "thing." 90% of the time when she's drinking out of the water dish, she has to put one of her feet in it. What a goof. Once it warms up (what the heck, it's almost June and it's like 50 degrees out...) I want to fill a little doggy pool and see what she thinks of it. Her big brother Calvin LOVES to swim, it'd be great if she does too!

*Another update: Roxy had her second bath earlier this week and she did MUCH better. She didn't cry at all and most of the time she sat very nicely so I could get her nice and clean again. :)