Helga: 10 weeks

It's been 2 weeks since I brought Helga home.  I am not going to lie, its been a little crazy.  It's been so long since we have been through the puppy stage that I totally forgot what it's like.  Sometimes I feel like we have a 3rd kid now. But gosh, we sure love her!

9 weeks old

The first night home, I was exhausted from my 24 hour adventure across the country and back. Once we got the kids in bed, I told Cody I needed to eat, shower and sleep....and I put him on Dog Duty for the night. Her crate was in our room.  I drifted off to sleep with her barking in her crate then I was out like a light the rest of the night. When Cody woke me up in the morning, I was totally unaware of how the night went. At 6am sharp, he walked into our room and told me I had to take over because he needed some sleep.  He said Helga didn't stop barking so he tried sleeping on the floor next to her crate for a couple hours. When that didn't work, he ended up downstairs on the couch with her on the floor at his feet, both of them going in and out of sleep all night. At 4am, she was up and at it. The darn dog was on East Coast time.

The second night, he put me on Dog Duty.  We moved her crate downstairs so he could get some sleep for work. I set my alarm for every 2 hours so I could get up to let her out to potty.  At both the 11pm and 1am shift, she pooped in her crate. So. Not. Cool. Helga. I didn't get any sleep and again, she was up for the day at 4am.

The 3rd night, we decided we decided to team up.  I took the 11pm and 4am shift and Cody took the 1am shift. That seemed to work much better.

We did that the whole first week, slowly pushing the 1am shift to 1:30am, then 2am. Then we were able to drop the 11pm shift and later drop the 2am shift. She's still getting up early but at least she's sleeping through the night now.

I wouldn't say that she likes her crate by any means but we have her down to a pretty good bedtime routine now. She stopped barking after the first week and when its time for bed, she won't try to escape while your closing the door.  Heck, you can leave the door open and she will just lay down and go to sleep.

We are still working on house training her but she's pretty smart and is picking it up pretty quickly. She's definitely still a Florida girl. She's not a fan of the rain so it takes a bit on convincing to get her to go potty out in the rain. On the nice days, she's a total champ. I can let her out back on her own to do her thing and she might run a couple puppy laps around the backyard while she's at it.

One benefit of me being home is she gets lots of exercise. The boys and I take her on a walk every morning and everyday after nap.  Then, I take her on a 3rd walk after we put the boys down for bed. Rain or shine, she gets her walks in.  It's good for all of us.

We usually end our walks checking on the neighborhood horses.

She also goes everywhere with us.  I have been driving the truck lately so she can tag along with the boys and I during the day.

Portland Pup

Today she had her 10 week check up.  She's 18.5 lbs and as healthy as can be. She did so good at her appointment, our vet absolutely loved her.  He said he hadn't seen her breed before but said she's a wonderful mix! He said Newfoundlands have a short lifespan and hip issues due to their size and rapid growth but are overall really healthy dogs. He said mixing in the poodle breed will reduce her size and increase her lifespan. Plus the little to no shedding is a nice added benefit. 

10 weeks old

The boys love her and they keep her plenty busy.  Henrik's a little rough with her sometime but she's pretty good about putting up with him.  Hanley's really sweet with her...up until she takes one of his "babies". If that dog runs off with Alligator, it's game on.