Poochy lessons

Hi all!

I have been pretty preoccupied since Poochy, my little pup joined my family. She got sick recently and I had to bring her to see a vet and when I saw the nurse wrote her name as Poochy Liaw, it just dawned on me that she is legally part of my family now! (And that my hubby is probably gonna ask me why I didn't use his surname. If you are reading this, sorry. I thought the nurse wanted my surname so she can call me into the vet's office but it turned out she called out Poochy). 

Ever since I have Poochy around the house, there has not been a dull day but it is definitely tiring at times. She is like this hyperactive little furball that looks like a mouse, a beaver and a rabbit sometimes (that's what I call value for money). Having her around also made me realise a few life lessons, example...

#1 If you are cute, you'd probably be able to get away with most things. Even public urination!

'I am a walking poo poo and pee pee machine!' 

She is so cute but she has yet to be properly toilet trained so I had to clean up her poo poo and pee pee. 

Some more, she was sick last few days and she suffered diarrhea and vomit so it was very tedious to clean up. But while she was sick, I realised how much she had wedged herself into my heart that I couldn't bear to have her die. 

#2 But even if you are cute, there is one thing that you'd probably couldn't get away with (apart from murder, I think) like whining and complaining.

'Hold me please'

For the first few days, she kept whining every time I leave her alone to sleep. She was so good at it that she could get it going for 3 hours straight. *headache and heartache* Honestly, I couldn't much tolerate it even though she could be so cute when she does it. So, I am training her to be alone by herself with her toys at the moment. Now, when she wants me to hold her, she sits down right infront of me and give me THAT face. I don't think anyone could resist that look. Much improvement! 

#3 How to encourage good behavior!

So I enrolled her in puppy pre-school last week and I really felt that it was very beneficial for both of us. The main lesson that I learnt and I think can be brought forward to many aspects of our lives (mainly motherhood) would be how to encourage good behaviors. I guess coming from a strict asian family, my parents (mostly dad, anyway) have always resorted to punishing bad behaviors while good behaviors are often ignored (maybe a nod of approval but definitely no nice spicy chicken wings as reward). But during this class, I learnt that in order to encourage good behavior, always use the reward system. When the puppy is misbehaving, break eye contact to indicate disapproval and turn around to ignore. When the puppy does something good, make eye contact, compliment, and reward it. Puppy is such an attention seeker that sooner or later they will catch on to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. 

Using this method, I will tend to notice when she is behaving correctly to reward her and honestly that feels much better than trying to find out when she is misbehaving and then punishing her. It is a more positive experience and helps bring us together. 

Ok, that is all from Poochy and me. Looking forward to Xmas! 

Take care and wish you score all the good xmas deals you dream of!