Irie update

Irie's favorite place - on my lap.

Come on now, isn't she adorable?

Check out these ears!

Today is Friday and marks the end of my first work week with Irie. All in all, it's really been very good. And it calmed down significantly after Monday's antics.

Wednesday, I took Irie to the vet first thing in the morning and found out she has a couple of minor problems, though all are very fixable. She has a slight infection where she has stitches, a touch of kennel cough and a slight skin infection. So, she's on some nice antibiotics, but is otherwise nice and healthy. She goes back in a few weeks for her final shots and a general check-up on the other items.

Since I had the vet appt that morning and kickball that night, I decided to take Irie to work with me. I was a little apprehensive and came prepared with Resolve carpet cleaner, a baby gate and lots of other paraphernalia . But, she was a perfect angel all day. No accidents, no barking. She pretty much curled up at my feet and slept all day except when my co-workers stopped by to play with her. I'm so lucky to work at an office that's happy to have puppies in!

She loved all the attention she got at kickball that night and all the other dog-friends that were around. (We regularly have several dogs at our games.) It also became pretty clear she's already very attached to me and is not a huge fan of being separated. I think that will ease over time though. (I hope!)

Then last night I had people over to watch the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. Irie got lots of loving and, well, so did everyone else. Again she behaved very well. So far she's been a little bit of a territorial barker, but not bad at all. Hopefully all the coming and going I do and living in a noisy apartment building will keep her from being overly-sensitive to outside noises or people coming in and out. Only time will tell.

Maverick and Irie are adjusting pretty well. Maverick will still occasionally hiss and Irie will still occasionally yip at him. But all in all, they seem to be getting along better. And Maverick's back to eating and laying on the back of the couch without as much concern about where the puppy is.

So far the only problem I'm having with Irie is when I get home from work in the evening and let Irie out of her crate to take her outside, she pees a little. It's not an all-out pee, but more of a little excited piddle. My vet says that will probably stop overtime - when she's more used to the schedule and used to me and therefore less excited to see me. We'll see. She's been very good at not going during the night and hasn't had anymore accidents when she's out and about. I haven't figured out her "tell" yet though. Right now I'm just taking her out every couple of hours. Maybe I'll test it out a little more this weekend.

We've been working on the "sit" command this week and she's gotten pretty good at it. I think she recognizes the hand signal more than the word, but that's how it starts I think.

Meanwhile, I'm working on not feeling guilty for leaving her and trying to remind myself I still need to balance going out with staying in. I appreciate the words of support I've gotten from friends this weekend. I'll need to keep hearing them and being reminded that I'm not a bad owner just because I go out once in awhile and crate her during the day. It's not easy, but I'm working on it!

Anyway, that's the Irie update. :-)