Garfunkel

It's official - Garfunkel is home!! We picked him up on Friday afternoon at the Pet Food Express in San Jose. We filled out the final paperwork, sat through one last (hour long) presentation on potty training, crate training, the puppies' medical histories, etc., and then we drove him home! His birthday is January 21st so he'll be 8-weeks this Wednesday and BOY is he a handful! It's been a loooooong time since I've had a dog and I've never really had a "puppy" puppy so it's been an eye-opening experience. Obviously, Robert and I knew that it would be a lot of hard work and short nights, blah blah blah, but knowing it in your head and then actually having to do it are two entirely different things. :o)

Needless to say, the past couple days have been quite busy. And sleepless. Of course, Garfunkel has never been alone so far in his life so we expected him to be skittish about being left alone... but MAN does he hate to be alone! Yowza. He loves to sit on your feet, in your lap, between your legs, under your chair - he's always underfoot! And he does not like being in his crate or exercise pen at all, even when we hang out with him. The whole crate training thing is not going nearly as smoothly as Robert anticipated and it's making him a gigantenormous stress ball. Seriously. You know how Robert is; he's always so well-read and prepared, as he was with this. However, as my dad jokingly pointed out,the puppy clearly hasn't read the book and, well, things just aren't going according to plan.

The nights are getting better, though. Garfunkel howled his little brains out all Friday night, only part of Saturday night and last night he was pretty darn quiet. Now we just have to get the alone-time and potty training under control and maybe Robert will feel a little more reassured. :o) That being said, Garfunkel is a huge love bug. He just loves to be near us, even if it's just a finger in his cage, and give kisses and get belly rubs. He's sort of recognizing his name a bit and he definitely knows Robert's and my voices and looks for us when we're not around. He's a big ol' gangly puppy, though, constantly tripping over his own feet and not quite sure how to maneuver around certain things. He's just so darn cute I can hardly stand it!!

Unfortunately, the phones are bonkers today so I don't have much time to gush. Not to worry, though - I'm sure I'll more than make up for it over the next few days.