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Synopsis of the first month: Elf put on nearly three pounds in under a month, learned the words "in", "out", "potty", "crate" and "kitchen". Elf took daily lessons in that ever so important process of putting one's hindquarters down pronto: "Sit!" In addition to the continuing process of pottying in the proper place.

Although not perfect, she gained rapidly in accompanying a big, heavy power chair on her dainty leash without getting a paw run over. Spent much of her indoor time tethered to me or the leg of a table nearby so she would not get run over when I wasn’t thinking about her, in order to minimize potty problems and to save the poor furniture from a puppy’s inner shark. Outdoors she could chew on all kinds of things, to her endless joy. After two weeks of working over sticks, apples, plums, official chew toys, grass, weeds and dead leaves, she was ready for a study of newly appearing lepidoptera -- in other words, was observed chasing butterflies around.


July 5, 2010: Typical enough day to give you an idea of how things go. Up at 5 a.m. and out back with her before the sun is up. She does her business promptly. Obviously scent is the thing this morning -- she pushes her way around the driveway, around some trees, across the lawn, around the wading pool with head low, nose to the ground, moving deliberately. So deliberately that I suspect I’ll be dozing off again momentarily unless something is done. “In, Elf!” She races me to the doorway and bounces down the hallway, long ears flopping, round rump bobbing up and down. Whizzes through the front rooms to make sure her toys are where she left them last night (they aren't, and must be reorganized), then face first into her bowl of breakfast kibble. At last she sprawls on the tile floor long enough to let me finish cereal and coffee. She stares unblinkingly at me to see if there is some OTHER interesting thing I am about to do with her. Gosh, pup, give the coffee time to work!

Soon her eyes are closing and she’s asleep. Time for me to do yard chores, say prayers and catch up on email. Ah, peace, so lovely to have a little while to ....

Boing!!!!!! “I’m ready!!!!!!!!” So out we go to the back again, where I have all the usual watering waiting. Elf is the faithful assistant who waits till my eyes are on the hose so it doesn't blow dirt out of the pots, then pops up exactly where she knows the spray will go over the edges of big pots and sprinkle her. Oh, well. Watering done, we have a game of chase the little, hard green apples. I throw, she charges after them with a maniacal gleam in her eye, bringing them back to her favorite spot. Usually that’s a low area in the middle of the lawn or in shade under a ponderosa. At last she wears down a bit from galloping back and forth, so we practice “Sit” for a few minutes. She gets a bit of kibble for each proper response.

Time for more apple tossing. Today, though, she decides to add a twist -- mud and water. That is -- bury a hard green fruit in the mud by the pool, then toss it into the shallow water, spring after it, toss it out... Around and around. Good with that for ten minutes, then time to pull low hanging apple branches down enough to grab more apples off them. To do this she leaps high enough to grasp a small branch between her front paws. It takes a lot of tries to get THAT part right. When this gets frustrating she switches to teeth mode, leaping and snapping. More often she comes away with part of a leaf, but once in a while she hits the jackpot, running off to gnaw on her green prize till there’s no skin left. After gleaning three apples and a dozen leaves, she's off to zoom through two hollow cottonwood logs off in a corner of the yard.

At length she decides she's too warm, leaps into the by-now muddy pool, and rolls over in it several times. Then -- is there more water down below this thing? -- determines she needs to dig a super deep hole through the bottom of the pool to find out. Now, that activity takes a few minutes of vigorous exercise before she gives it up, exits the pool and proudly digs her hole in the muck alongside the blue plastic...

An emergency bath in the kitchen sink follows. I have just towel dried her and put her lunch kibble down when the vet’s office calls to say that last week’s fecal sample indicates that Elf has giardia! Oh, could get nasty! So into her crate she goes, giving her time to finish drying and me time to drive to the vet’s for her medicine.

What a soft, reddish furball she is when I return. She eats two small squares of cheese into which the tiny quarter of a wee pill is put, neatly leaving the white medicine. Finally I wise up and hold the thing in my hand on more cheese and she gets it down. Of course by then it’s time for another round out back... After the “Go potty!” and “Good girl!” phases... whizz! She’s off! Charge, you corgi, charge! To the mud! To the mud! ...

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July 24, 2010

The 16 week puppy visit to the vet the other day established that Elf put on over three pounds in three weeks! No wonder it’s getting tougher to lift her small red self.

By now she generally sleeps serenely in her crate till the sun is up, for which I am grateful even if 3:45 a.m. whimpers did get me outside with her at 4 a.m. today... The shots didn’t affect her much the day she had them, but yesterday there was a lump on her back right thigh, she had trouble walking at first, slept much of the day and later had a couple of rounds of soft poops. By evening: cannonballing around the yard as usual.

She enjoys clicker training, perks up the moment she hears the sound of me “charging” it up to start a session. She’s got “Sit” fairly solid, “Crate” 50-50 and we’re working on “Come.” We’re also working on front door manners.