A Monster Named Atlas

It's hard to believe that when I last wrote we were anticipating the arrival of our puppy, Atlas. Well, Atlas certainly arrived and has left no moment since untouched.

The super clumsy, timid "little" (I use the word little loosely... he was 17 pounds at 7 weeks) puppy we brought home nearly two weeks ago is now a 20+ pound 9 week old... with an attitude. In the words of Lady Gaga, he's our little monster. Of course, we have probably set him up to be that way. In fact, I know we have. On the second night, the poor fella wailed and tried so frantically to get out of his kennel that he ripped a staple in his ear. I pulled him out to examine him further and set him on the bed, where he promptly curled up with Nathan and fell asleep. Nathan looked at me and said, "Just let him stay." So stay I let him, and he slept through the night. A welcomed instant relief to sleep-deprivation. Sadly, in the nights to follow we found ourselves so spoiled by the instantaneous fix to a shrieking dog (seriously. He shrieks. There's no other word to describe it.) in a kennel that we allowed him to stay on the bed. In reality it wasn't the best idea. Now that he's grown so much and is basically as long as a small human - i.e., me - it doesn't make for comfortable sleeping arrangement. Add in the fact that he's become more restless at night and is constantly trying to figure out a way to leap out of the old elevated bed we have, and we're back to square one with a loss of sleep.

Nathan and I began compiling a list of ways we could break him of his kennel-crying. We do kennel him during the day when we're both at work, but neither of us are here to hear the commotion. A friend told Nay that she literally had to sleep in the floor with the dog in the kennel. So, the other night when we decided Atlas could no longer sleep in the bed with us, Nathan moved to the floor. Voila. No more crying. Could it really have been that easy? Apparently so. While it was only three nights ago that we tempted fate with this little trick he has gone in his kennel willingly and with the exception of a small whimper or two, has gone straight to bed without yelling at us. Hooray!

Although I will say that being in such close proximity to him while he slept allowed me to learn a few adorable quirks about him. For instance, he dreams all the time and he literally runs. He sleeps with his eyes half open, and when he was first with us, he would start suckling in his sleep.

So since we have, at this time, conquered the kennel, our next step is house training. Good luck with that one, right?

Our other dog, Gisele, couldn't have made us more proud with her acceptance of Atlas into our family. Gisele has always been a little leery of new dogs, and has been an "only child" for over six years. Nathan and I were both very apprehensive of their first meeting, but it went exceptionally well, and has gone that way since. For the most part. Gisele lets Atlas eat her food with her, pounce all over her when they're playing, and lets him have all of her toys. She does not tolerate him, however, when he bites her ears or her tail and quickly paw-slaps him into place, though he usually attempts it again immediately after crying.

Nathan and I are both very excited about Atlas and love having him in our family. We can't wait to watch him as he grows into his HUGE bear paws. I'll probably rave/rant about him in future posts, but I promise to try to not make him the center of every one. :)