Three Months with Pepper – Peanut Butter Fingers
Ryan and I would be the first to say we by no means thought we’d have a tiny canine, particularly after loving super-athletic and loopy Sadie a lot, however there’s one thing particular a couple of teeny peanut pet, too. We waited 1.5 years after Sadie handed away to deliver one other canine into our lives and having Pepper be part of our household solely served to remind me simply how a lot we LOVE having a canine in our residence. Canine are simply the freaking greatest and Pepper provides humor, love, craziness, snuggles and a lot love into our lives.
Pepper + The Boys
Pepper is probably the most tolerant, wonderful canine round our boys which is saying a LOT as a result of she’s showered with tons of consideration and affection from our dude crew all day lengthy.
Not solely does she appear to deal with their consideration nicely however she appears to genuinely get pleasure from it most occasions and all the time likes to be in the midst of their video games and playtime. She seeks them out to bathe them with kisses (now we have to inform Ryder and Rhett to CLOSE THEIR MOUTHS as a result of this could get gross) and can fortunately cuddle up of their laps or towards their legs for chill time on the sofa. (Ryder stated he likes to “make her a ‘b’” together with his legs as a result of the little ‘b’ form of his leg is the place she likes to cuddle up and sleep probably the most.)
Pepper doesn’t thoughts being held or carried by the boys (we’ve coached them on easy methods to carry her safely) they usually additionally know that if Pepper does her little growly noise they should respect her boundaries and provides her house. (This doesn’t occur actually because she is a few sort of super-patient pet angel.) Pepper loves sprinting into the boys’ bedrooms within the morning and doing her little bunny hops at their legs till they bend over for kisses. Rhett loves saying, “Peppy miss me!” when she comes flying into his room and meets him at his crib for some love within the morning or after his nap. All of the boys insist on Pepper kisses earlier than they fall asleep each night time.
(Ryder + Pepper + The “Pepper” he made)
It’s additionally been actually cool to see how Pepper goes to every of the boys for various issues. She appears to know who’s there to play and run round at prime pace along with her (Chase), who’s all the time down for cuddles and kisses (Ryder) and who’s tiny sufficient to have toys and remnants of snacks out there for her at eye-level (Rhett).
Large Canine vs. Little Canine + Potty Coaching
We’ve had lots of people ask us the way it feels to go from a much bigger canine to somewhat canine and my first response is it has felt WAY simpler… we’re speaking night time and day completely different. I’m certain a whole lot of this has to do with the breed of canine we had earlier than however pet Sadie was 10/10 insane so pet Pepper has felt like a breeze for us.
Vizslas are extraordinarily high-energy canine that require a whole lot of train. We needed to majorly prioritize miles of walks/runs or journeys to the canine park for Sadie for years to really feel like we had been taking good care of her train wants. I’ll always remember assembly a pair with an older vizsla on the canine park when Sadie was round 2 years outdated. We requested them when their vizsla began to decelerate and relax a bit they usually laughed and stated, “Oh, round 10 years outdated.” They weren’t unsuitable. We’d like to get one other vizsla ultimately (if you happen to ever see one out there to rescue within the Southeast U.S., please let me know) however proper now Pepper is a good match for us for a myriad of causes.
One of many trickier features of proudly owning somewhat canine, and one thing I didn’t know earlier than we acquired Pepper, is that they’re notoriously tougher to potty practice. This has actually confirmed true for us, as Sadie was very easy to potty practice and Pepper continues to be engaged on it. She’s come a good distance within the three months we’ve had her however we undoubtedly must be on prime of letting her out each 2-3(ish) hours or she could have an accident. Fortunately she will be able to make it via the night time with no potty break now! On the plus aspect, an accident from Pepper seems to be like little poo-Skittles and is very easy to scrub up so it’s not as large of a problem if an accident occurs.
Crate Coaching Replace
We acquired Pepper from a rescue group when she was (we predict) round 6 months outdated. The rescue had her crate educated which sounded nice to us, as we failed miserably at crate coaching Sadie. (Word: Crate coaching is not the identical factor as potty coaching — one other factor I discovered after we acquired Pepper. Haha!) I absolutely imagine crate coaching canine could be such a optimistic factor for them and since we knew we’d be transferring shortly after Pepper joined our household, we wished to maintain up with crate coaching so she’d have some consistency in her life after so many transitions.
After two tough nights in her crate in our rental home (and one horrible night time in our mattress), she adjusted nicely and would sleep via the night time with out making a peep. I don’t know what occurred however after we moved, she freaked out in her crate at nighttime. It was terrible and we couldn’t deal with the barking and whining. We tried all of the issues (conserving my hand in her crate, conserving her crate subsequent to us, transferring her crate away from us, giving her treats, optimistic reinforcement, and many others.) however she simply appeared so, so sad at nighttime.
It was proper round this time that I believed I used to be within the strategy of losing another pregnancy and I advised Ryan I simply wished Pepper in our mattress with us at night time. (An enormous a part of our motivation to crate practice Pepper at night time was pondering we’d be sharing our room with a new child child in the summertime.) Sadie all the time slept with us and curling up in our mattress at night time with Sadie and a e-book was one of the vital great, peaceable occasions of my day each day. I missed a heat, fluffy little pal by my aspect at night time and from the primary night time we let Pepper sleep in our mattress with us in our new home, we haven’t seemed again. She’s joyful. We’re joyful and we’re okay with this choice.
Pepper nonetheless goes in her crate within the day if we depart and appears content material to do that with a deal with and her toys. (Sure, I crazily arrange a digicam on her and watched her after we left the primary few occasions. She often simply naps in her crate after we’re gone.) Pepper additionally makes use of her crate to cover her toys and treasures from the boys. We’ve discovered all the things from the boys’ stuffed animals to marker caps in there. She’s a sneaky little factor!
Teething
Pepper is 9(ish) months outdated which implies she continues to be very a lot a pet and teething up a storm. Fortunately little Pepper enamel aren’t loopy damaging (crate coaching within the day additionally helps with this!) however we’ve all discovered that something left on the bottom is honest recreation for curious Pepper to run off with and destroy. She actually appears to like chewing on the boys’ little plastic toys and has ruined her justifiable share of issues however fortunately nothing too treasured.
One cool factor is that we truly discovered two of Pepper’s pet enamel after they fell out! The boys wrote a be aware to the tooth fairy asking to maintain Pepper’s child enamel so that they’re nonetheless round our home someplace.
Journey Pepper
It didn’t take me lengthy to Google whether or not or not you may run with a chihuahua or terrier (the breeds we assume Pepper could be) and I used to be pleasantly stunned to search out that even little canine love operating and lengthy walks. Ryan joked that he entered “part two” of his relationship with Pepper when he realized she might simply deal with longer walks. Strolling with Sadie was one in every of our favourite issues to do on the planet so having somewhat furry pal be part of us on our household walks once more merely feels proper. The longest walks Pepper has been on thus far with us are 4-mile walks round our neighborhood and he or she handles them like a champ!
Pepper has additionally been on a couple of hikes with our household thus far and loves exploring exterior! She is an adventurous, energetic little lady and we’re excited to have somewhat canine to deliver alongside on our outside adventures once more.
Largest Problem
Our largest problem with Pepper in the intervening time is her infatuation with different canine. Pepper is severely social and goes loopy when she sees one other canine… particularly a BIG one. (She calms down as soon as she has the possibility to fulfill the canine however goes loopy if she can’t meet them.) The rescue the place we acquired Pepper truly advised us this about her and stated she would fly out of her crate and had no concern approaching pit bulls and different large canine on the rescue.
This persona trait has actually continued and it’s a little bit of a problem after we’re strolling her and he or she begins pulling and barking up a storm making an attempt to recover from to any canine she sees. (She’s truly in no way barky in any other case so it’s somewhat jarring!) It’s getting higher nevertheless it’s nonetheless irritating and I welcome any ideas you guys may need for serving to practice her on this space. Fortunately she’s tiny and simple to manage however I do know it seemingly makes different canine homeowners and their canine uncomfortable, particularly if their canine will not be social and don’t need something to do with Pepper. I’d like to see her behave extra calmly within the presence of different canine and simply seemed into native canine parks so we are able to socialize Pepper extra incessantly as nicely. (She does nicely on the canine park round little canine however REALLY appears to need to go into the massive canine space. She’s obsessed!) I hope extra frequent socialization and staying agency on our coaching (saying “no” and strolling the opposite means after we see a canine on our walks) will assist her enhance on this space. Once more, please give me alllll the ideas if you happen to’ve been on this place with a pup earlier than! Sadie couldn’t have cared much less about different canine and would simply give them the stink eye and preserve strolling on her merry means so that is uncharted territory for us.
Embracing and Loving One other Canine
Should you’ve been studying this weblog for the reason that “Sadie days” you understand how a lot Ryan and I adored Sadie. I by no means grew up with a canine and Sadie was the primary canine I ever owned. I really had no concept how a lot she would wiggle her means into my coronary heart and the way her velcro-dog persona that didn’t imagine in private house would impression my life. It could sound dramatic however having Sadie by my aspect each day actually impacted my coronary heart for the higher each day. She jogged my memory to search out pleasure within the easy issues — cuddles, nature, hikes, household, operating at top-speed, a particular deal with, a heat mattress. I rapidly realized how folks might develop into so obsessive about their canine as a result of I turned a type of “loopy canine folks.” Ryan did, too.
When Sadie died, a part of me nervous one other canine might by no means and would by no means come near changing Sadie in our hearts. That is true. Sadie is Sadie however Pepper is Pepper and that could be a great, lovely factor. As soon as our hearts felt prepared for one more canine, we had been looking out for a brand new companion and an exquisite furry pal to welcome into our household whereas nonetheless recognizing Sadie would all the time have a agency, irreplaceable place in our coronary heart. (Should you knew Sadie you’d know that is precisely how she’d need it. She’d by no means need us to “transfer on” from her and certain rolled her eyes at us from heaven after we acquired Pepper. We wish to assume Pepper is slowly profitable Sadie over by proving to be extra of an outdoorsy, adventurous canine than we anticipated.)
Pepper is her personal little 6-pound ball of affection and fluff and excellent pet sweetness. We love her and incessantly say she’s a ten/10 canine. In some way we discovered ourselves one other velcro canine and that makes my coronary heart so, so joyful. There’s one thing so comforting about Pepper’s presence and the best way she loves to curve her tiny physique up on my chest once I lounge on the sofa. She all the time appears to search out her means into my lap once I’m on the ground enjoying with the boys and isn’t removed from my heels once I’m strolling round our home.
Within the three months we’ve had Pepper, she’s added a lot to our lives. I knew we’d love Pepper from the second we met her however I by no means might’ve anticipated the best way our boys have fully fallen for her. They all the time need Pepper round and search her out for playtime, cuddles and kisses. They crack up with large stomach laughs when she bunny hops after her toys, hunts for our toes beneath our blankets, falls asleep the other way up or will get a severe case of the zoomies. She’s rapidly develop into an integral a part of our lives and our household and we’re so grateful we discovered our little Fuzzy Pepperoni!