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 convey one other canine into our lives and having Pepper be a part of our household solely served to remind me simply how a lot we LOVE having a canine in our house. Canines are simply the freaking finest and Pepper provides humor, love, craziness, snuggles and a lot love into our lives.
Pepper + The Boys
Pepper is essentially 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 course of their video games and playtime. She seeks them out to bathe them with kisses (we’ve to inform Ryder and Rhett to CLOSE THEIR MOUTHS as a result of this will get gross) and can fortunately cuddle up of their laps or in opposition to their legs for chill time on the sofa. (Ryder mentioned 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 essentially the most.)
Pepper doesn’t thoughts being held or carried by the boys (we’ve coached them on the way to carry her safely) and so they additionally know that if Pepper does her little growly noise they should respect her boundaries and provides her area. (This doesn’t occur actually because she is a few type 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 evening.
(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 high velocity together 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).
Massive 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 a bit canine and my first response is it has felt WAY simpler… we’re speaking evening and day totally different. I’m certain a variety 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 variety 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 previous. We requested them when their vizsla began to decelerate and sit back a bit and so they laughed and mentioned, “Oh, round 10 years previous.” They weren’t incorrect. We’d like to get one other vizsla ultimately (in case you ever see one out there to rescue within the Southeast U.S., please let me know) however proper now Pepper is a superb match for us for a myriad of causes.
One of many trickier points of proudly owning a bit canine, and one thing I didn’t know earlier than we obtained Pepper, is that they’re notoriously tougher to potty prepare. This has definitely confirmed true for us, as Sadie was very easy to potty prepare and Pepper continues to be engaged on it. She’s come a good distance within the three months we’ve had her however we positively should be on high of letting her out each 2-3(ish) hours or she could have an accident. Fortunately she will make it via the evening and not using a potty break now! On the plus facet, an accident from Pepper seems like little poo-Skittles and is very easy to wash up so it’s not as massive of a problem if an accident occurs.
Crate Coaching Replace
We obtained Pepper from a rescue group when she was (we expect) round 6 months previous. 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 realized after we obtained Pepper. Haha!) I absolutely imagine crate coaching canine will 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 evening in our mattress), she adjusted nicely and would sleep via the evening 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 (retaining my hand in her crate, retaining 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 means of losing another pregnancy and I informed Ryan I simply wished Pepper in our mattress with us at evening. (A giant a part of our motivation to crate prepare Pepper at evening was considering 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 evening with Sadie and a guide was probably the most fantastic, peaceable occasions of my day day-after-day. I missed a heat, fluffy little good friend by my facet at evening and from the primary evening we let Pepper sleep in our mattress with us in our new home, we haven’t regarded 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 go away and appears content material to do that with a deal with and her toys. (Sure, I crazily arrange a digital camera 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 every thing from the boys’ stuffed animals to marker caps in there. She’s a sneaky little factor!
Teething
Pepper is 9(ish) months previous which suggests she continues to be very a lot a pet and teething up a storm. Fortunately little Pepper enamel aren’t loopy harmful (crate coaching within the day additionally helps with this!) however we’ve all realized that something left on the bottom is honest sport 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 notice to the tooth fairy asking to maintain Pepper’s child enamel in order that they’re nonetheless round our home someplace.
Journey Pepper
It didn’t take me lengthy to Google whether or not or not you possibly can run with a chihuahua or terrier (the breeds we assume Pepper may be) and I used to be pleasantly shocked to seek out that even little canine love working 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 this planet so having a bit furry good friend be a 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 number of hikes with our household thus far and loves exploring exterior! She is an adventurous, energetic little woman and we’re excited to have a bit canine to convey alongside on our out of doors adventures once more.
Largest Problem
Our largest problem with Pepper in the mean 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 obtained Pepper truly informed us this about her and mentioned she would fly out of her crate and had no concern approaching massive canine on the rescue.
This persona trait has definitely 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 under no circumstances barky in any other case so it’s a bit jarring!) It’s getting higher however it’s nonetheless irritating and I welcome any suggestions you guys may need for serving to prepare her on this space. Fortunately she’s tiny and simple to manage however I do know it probably makes different canine house owners and their canine uncomfortable, particularly if their canine aren’t 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 regarded into native canine parks so we are able to socialize Pepper extra continuously 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 method after we see a canine on our walks) will assist her enhance on this space. Once more, please give me alllll the ideas in case you’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 hold strolling on her merry method so that is uncharted territory for us.
Embracing and Loving One other Canine
If you happen to’ve been studying this weblog because the “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 actually had no thought how a lot she would wiggle her method into my coronary heart and the way her velcro-dog persona that didn’t imagine in private area would impression my life. It could sound dramatic however having Sadie by my facet day-after-day actually impacted my coronary heart for the higher each day. She jogged my memory to seek out pleasure within the easy issues — cuddles, nature, hikes, household, working at top-speed, a particular deal with, a heat mattress. I rapidly realized how folks might change into so obsessive about their canine as a result of I turned a kind 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 fantastic, 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 good friend to welcome into our household whereas nonetheless recognizing Sadie would all the time have a agency, irreplaceable place in our coronary heart. (If you happen to 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 sure rolled her eyes at us from heaven after we obtained Pepper. We prefer to assume Pepper is slowly successful 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 continuously say she’s a ten/10 canine. By some means 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 after I lounge on the sofa. She all the time appears to seek out her method into my lap after I’m on the ground taking part in with the boys and is rarely removed from my heels after 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 massive stomach laughs when she bunny hops after her toys, hunts for our ft below our blankets, falls asleep the wrong way up or will get a critical case of the zoomies. She’s rapidly change into an integral a part of our lives and our household and we’re so grateful we discovered our little Fuzzy Pepperoni!
