Jackson

It has been a crazy few days. A puppy really is like a baby! No, more like a toddler because he can move around and get into everything. But really we feel lucky that he is such a good puppy. He has had very few accidents over all. He has even whined to go outside so he could go pee. He absolutely loves people. I mean, he can't be over 5 feet away from us at any time. And when we get up, he gets up to follow us. He loves to lick, but he doesn't chew anything but his bone and sticks in the backyard. He is afraid of the stairs, so we have to carry him down them if we're all in the basement. But he doesn't mind going up them with a little encouragement. The only time he has barked so far is if we go downstairs. Then he wants to be with us, but he's afraid to go down so he barks. He hasn't had an accident in his crate once since we brought him home. After one day of crate training, he doesn't whine at all. He doesn't exactly go in the crate willingly, but once he's in there, he's totally fine. He sleeps from about 9pm-7am straight (and the occasional 10 minute nap during the day). Yesterday he finally learned to play fetch and he is so good at it! He has this red squeaky ball that he loves. He sits with it and just kind of sticks his nose on it and rolls it around with his paws. So we throw it and he runs to get it and brings it right back. The first time he did it I was so happy! He's a little afraid of the lawn mower. He loves Paul's big green chair. Last night during dinner, we told him to get down and he did. Then as soon as we turned our back, he was back up there. It was so cute! He doesn't quite know how to walk in a straight line yet. He gets the leash wrapped around things easily and tangled up between our legs because he wants to sniff everything on both sides of the street. He really likes going through peoples' legs. I can't believe how quickly he has learned things and how good he is. We still have to watch him every second that he's not in his crate, but once he's potty trained we won't have to watch him as close.

Can you believe how much we've learned in two days? He is such an amazing puppy. It's awesome having a dog. It's like having someone always there to remind you that you're the best person in the whole wide world! It's also been pretty exhausting. Daniel and I have spent so much time focused on Jackson we haven't spent very much time really focused on each other. Though we've been physically together for two days, we're often preoccupied with other things. Daniel has been getting up early in the morning to let Jackson out so I could sleep in. I'm a little concerned about the 12 hour ride to Phoenix, but it'll be fine I'm sure. We'll make it work.