A week of ups and downs

So this week has been challenging, to put it plainly. As Lance and Jackson continue to grow and acclimate themselves into our home, we learn more and more about their individual personalities. A lot of what we thought about each of them initially has changed.

Jackson still seems to the be the alpha- he is usually the one that will end up with the toy after a game of chase or tug-of-war. Jackson is better in the car, and more mellow in general. Lance is more needy. He cries when one of us leaves the room- which has got to stop quickly. I blame that on us being around way too much, due to all of the crazy snow that has forced us to be at home so much. Lance still seems more curious, more happy-go-lucky, but also more likely to counter-surf. However, Lance is much better through the night. That little guy can hold his bladder all night and sleep through Jackson barking and whining to let him out every three hours. He hasn't had an accident in his crate at all- which is what we would fully expect. Jackson has had quite a few accidents this week. He will bark to let us know that he needs to be let out to pee in the middle of the night, but if we don't make it quickly enough, he will go in his crate. We've tried a couple of things, like getting up every few hours (which sucks) whether he barks or not to let him out. We're hoping that as his bladder matures, he will grow out of this. He barely has any room in his crate (which is recommended) so I'm very shocked that he has peed in there more than once.

The boys have also been chewing on everything. We have puppy-proofed the kitchen as much as possible, but they have chewed the edges off of the windowsills and the crown molding in one corner. We've tried two different "anti-chew" sprays, but nothing seems to last.

These are things that we can not wait for them to grow out of. Greg and I have been a little frustrated- it's a combination of lack of sleep, being stuck inside, and trying to have as much patience as possible with the puppies. We keep telling ourselves that spring is right around the corner, and the pups will be bigger, better trained, and have better bladder control. We know that all of this hard work will pay off in the end.
There is still no doubt in either of our minds that we made the right choice bringing these two boys into our lives. They bring us so much joy and laughter, and it's hard to remember life before they were here. We continue to walk them each day, which gets easier as the snow continues to melt. We drove down to Berryville to stock up at The Midas Touch, since they were having a 10% off everything sale this weekend. Since dog food is so expensive, 10% definitely makes a difference. While we were there, we picked up two gentle leader collars, because the boys (especially Lance) tend to tug and pull a lot while on the leash. Neither of them liked the collar- and Jackson would not keep it on. He actually got pretty hostile, so we just tried it on Lance. Apparently it takes some time to get used to wearing them, but pretty soon they will let us put the leaders on easily and walk with them with no problem. I hope so- I hate tugging at their little necks! I say again, March 11th can not come soon enough- that's when we start puppy kindergarten!