Zen is teething. Big time.
For the past 4 days, the view I often get of my puppy is THIS:

But usually I’m on the other side of the bars and those teeth are trying to sink into ME. Those blue eyes make her look even more fierce. And she IS pretty fierce. We’ve been feeding her from kongs and giving her plenty of chewing devices, but she is a confident puppy and has decided that we make good chew toys too.

It’s making our training regimen pretty difficult and we have to interrupt often to either stop and ignore.. or make a correction. The kids have the hardest time with this and no amount of telling them to “stop and be trees” quells the instinct inside when a 15 pound snapping inferno is charging at them.

This photo makes it look like we never let her out of that pen.. and i’m sure she’s putting that face on just to make me feel guilty.

We keep the kids and Zen separated until zen is calm. When she is, i have maiwenn work with her.. running her through her training poses and petting her. Teaching bite inhibition is going to be the biggest challenge for this inexperienced crew.. and i’m already kicking myself.. wondering what we did to encourage it. Honestly though, i think huge part is just normal puppy behavior and teething.

We are prescribing to THIS METHOD of bite inhibition training but I think it’s a lot harder than it sounds in the article. Especially when you have little kids who are not consistent and the puppy already thinks she can dominate them. I’d be really worried except we are starting puppy class next week and I plan to get help from the trainer and see what her take on Zen’s “fierceness.” Still, we’ll get it. She’s already doing better with me and Maiwenn was able to sit in Zen’s pen without getting mauled today and play with the puppy’s feet. A good sign!

Today Zen got her first bath.

It was a little weird but she was great.

Time to dry!

Shake it off!

More Play. This time with a Stick.

Today was her first vet visit and she’s clocking in on the smaller side. She only weighs 9.5 pounds at 9 weeks. I guess Zen PIXIE is aptly named! The vet wants to up her food a bit. He wants to see her again on the 5th and we’ll do a urine analysis then to see if how her urinary track is fairing.

Other than that it was a full day of activities. We went to parvo safe environments. First our friend’s house to meet some of maiwenn’s friends.

Maiwenn had swim class so she got to nap in the travel crate during our lunch.

Then she had her lunch in the back of the Outback.

Some more play.

And finally some more napping.

I have to say, those eyes make her look more calculating and observing. I really like them, but we are already getting funny comments from people. “Weird” or “haunting” or “striking”…

Brian’s dad epitomizes it in this little video he took on the way back from the breeder.

Off on Southwest he went. We got the largest carrier possible and we were worried it wouldn’t fit under the seat. But it does! He took some pictures as they were taxing on the runway. It fits! But man, it looks cramped. I am already starting to worry..

Next time I see this, a pair of blue eyes will be staring back at me.

Until I get a little Zen in my life.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy. Besides two jobs, kids and other bits of busiesss… I’ve been cleaning up loose ends to get ready for being a dog owner.  We have a new vet.  Dr. Atton of Felton Veterinary hospital. Brian interviewed him on Monday and he seems perfect. Zen will go for her first check up with him the Thursday after she arrives.

We got pet insurance. I did quite a bit of research of companies but decided to go on the recommendation of our breeder. We went with PetFirst Healthcare. There is some interesting debate about whether or not pet insurance is driving the costs of pet health care up … in the same the way human insurance companies are.  Many breeders are against it for this reason, and recommend instead.. that you put away the same amount of money you would use for premiums into a savings account. But I read some horror stories of puppy owners who were waiting for their pending insurance to go into affect and then discovered some big congenital health problem. I don’t expect that with Zen, but it did scare me enough to want to have some protection.

And we signed up for Puppy Classes. Our first session will start July 9th when she is 10.5 weeks old. We decided to go to Sirius in Los Gatos. It was more expensive than our friend’s school Living with Dogs in Santa Cruz.. but we chose it because they allow kids as young as three to attend, where the santa cruz school required that kids be as old as six. We’re excited about it and signed up for their complete puppy program. Six weeks starting at 10.5 weeks, with a two month break in between… and then we’ll start up again for another 6 weeks in October. Sirius mainly subscribes to the Ian Dunbar guide of off leash/lure reward system. (It is his school after all..) They give homework, charts to make sure you keep track with socialization, and a manual for easy reference.

Here’s a little Ian for ya.

Sit Zen, Sit. Good girl.

Meet our new pup. Blue eyed Zen. A different kind of Swissy, for a different kind of family. Our breeder describes her as a really confident pup, who would do well as a single dog.. but very sweet and easy to handle.

We have decided to name her Zen Pixie. Zen for most everything, only adding the Pixie when she’s being naughty.

Can’t wait to meet you little girl.