Weekend of Fun and Progress

Coco had a weekend full of fun and excitement. Her "weekend" began on Thursday with another of her puppy kindergarten classes. This time she did really well and actually started to socialize more with the other puppies. Instead of instantly running to a human for attention and affection she also started to feel out the other puppies. She started to sniff at the other puppies and start following them around. She did much better at this class with the socialization with other puppies.

On Friday she met several new human friends. They all thought she was adorable and she lapped up the attention. She enjoyed the smells of BBQ and ran around to each person asking for more affection.



On Saturday she met a chihuahua, Bee. The chihuahua and her actually did quite well together (it probably helped that they were the same size.) Coco kept sniffing at Bee and wanting to play with him. When we put her in her crate she'd whine because she wanted to explore more of Bee. When the two of them were put in the crate together they'd take opposite corners of one another and alternate between smelling one another and pretending the other didn't exist. She did very well with him and kept trying to get him to play with her.
Coco and Bee Photos



Sunday was her best day. She met another Maltese, Sadie, and the two of them did really well together. They were like two peas in a pod. They'd constantly follow one another and had a ball. They played just like the bigger dogs do, constantly running around and playing together. They had a terrific morning/afternoon together and were sad one the play date had to end. Even though they'd never met prior to today, they bonded instantly. We left the two of them together when we went out to get lunch and I don't think they missed us at all.
Coco and Sadie Photos

Coco is currently passed out due to all the activity she had today. She ran around more today than she has ever run before. Tomorrow, after a good night's rest, she'll be back to her normal high energy level.

Random July Photos

More random photos that we took of Coco because she just looked too cute

Puppy Kindergarten

Yes. There is a such thing as puppy kindergarten and yes, Coco is enrolled in one. Today was the first day of her class. The main goal is to teach the puppy correct socialization habits. The class was split up into small breeds and large breed dogs. In the small breeds section Coco was able to play with 2 havaneses, a maltipoo, and a chihuahua. It turns out she became very timid around all the other dogs and didn't want to play with any of them. :( She became my shadow and followed me around everywhere I went. She'd also seek out affection from any of the other owners but didn't have any interest in playing with the other puppies. *sigh*

Hopefully next week she'll progress a bit further and want to start interacting more with the other dogs. It looks like we'll have to arrange some puppy play dates with our friends who have dogs to help her get used to the fact that there are other dogs out there in the world and that she's got to learn to play with them.

She came back from the class happy and tired, making bath time really easy this time.

As I write this post she is completely passed out and could easily sleep through the night.

Chewing on Pee Pad

Coco has picked up a nasty habit of chewing on her pee pad. In the beginning she'd just move it around in her pen. Now she has realized that she can chew on it and send all of the stuffing (which would soak up her pee) flying all over the place. The past two days I've come home from work only to see her covered completely in white stuffing and bits and pieces of the pee pad everywhere.

It was so hard to try to comb out all of the stuffing from her fur (some had even lodged itself into the fur on her face) that she got an impromptu bath to help get rid of all the pee pad remnants.

Since we don't want her to rip up her pee pad everyday, thereby not giving herself a place to pee when we aren't home we started to hunt for alternative solutions. We gave bitter apple a try and, surprise, surprise, it worked. The bitter apple has proven an effective deterent if sprayed on both sides of the pee pad. The first time I used it I only put it on the top side of the pee pad. Coco quickly realized that only one side of the pee pad tasted awful and proceeded to just tear up the back side of the pee pad (sans bitter apple.) The next time we used it we got smarter and put bitter apple on both sides of the pee pad. Presto. Ming came home today from lunch and saw the pee pad was still in tact. Coco didn't have any stuffing on her and she still had a place to pee. Hallelujah! I am forever indebted to the guy who invented this stuff.

No More Puppy Shots

This past weekend Coco finished receiving all of her puppy shots. She can now go out and conquer! Well, by conquer it means she can go out into the real world and take walks, etc. since she's been immunized against all of the deadly dog diseases.

She didn't take kindly to the shots (she never does) but held up like a trooper. For the first time she didn't squeal when the needle went in and she got plenty of dog treats to keep her happy.

Coco got plenty of love this weekend since we were home nearly the entire time and played with her as much as possible. She also got some backyard playtime, meaning she was able to freely run around on the lawn, her favorite thing to do.

Coco is becoming a bit of a chunky monkey. At the vet's office she weighed in at 3 lb 15 oz. She is 11 in long and 9 in tall.

4th of July

July 4th was a very boring day for Coco. We had a friend over and BBQed with him. Ming did work around the house and I prepared for the BBQ. Coco was left just watching us work and not having any time to play with her.

It was also 90+ degrees outside so it was very warm in the house. Here she is bored with nothing to do in the excruciating heat