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NIGHTMARE SCENES  Nightmare scenes by Rachel Thompson 0 – 8 weeks First 6 weeks of when the puppies were born was the usual conversation … should we or shouldn’t we get another dog!! Afterhusband warring me down to get one we went to see the litter and Maliki chose us (as dogs do), but when we got there I fell in love with a beautiful little girl… and that’s how we ended up with two!! I would not be without either one of my dogs now but lets just say they can be a bit mischievous at times. 8 weeks Brought puppies home and introduced them to their new pack, Samson (Chihuahuas) and Chaos (Older Staffy). Found out within hours that you need eyes in your backside, running round after the puppies to make sure they don’t get into any trouble or harm themselves, but they are clever so early on and one went in one direction and one went in the other!! Within seconds Maliki was in the pond!!!!!!! Out straight away, bathed and kept warm for the night…. But a few more grey hairs for me!! 9wks – 12 weeks Increasing in knowledge Athena and Maliki are learning their names (usually followed by the word NO). So to counteract this NO Athena has started standing on the puppy training pads as she knows this is where she gets told she is a good girl! Garden activity has increased and any garden flowers which are hanging over our 3 & 4 foot troughs are now being pulled out by the puppies! 12wks – 4mths Christmas! With no doors downstairs the puppies are put in the kitchen for their naps with a three foot bit of wood blocking the entrance. Up went the Christmas tree and both showed no interested in the tree.. or so we thought! Went out to drop off presents and put the puppies away in the kitchen but on arriving back home were greeted by Maliki and Athena in the hall…. Along with all the tinsel and decorations in small pieces and not just the hall, the stairs, landing and kitchen! Convinced Chaos had got the puppies out the kitchen we went in search for a stairgate to go across the front room, so put the puppies away in the kitchen, redecorated the tree and took Chaos with us, only to be greeted once again by Athena and Maliki and the Christmas decorations!! Puppies can climb! 4mths – 5mths Chewing Season? Puppies have now learnt to get out the dog flap on their own! More eyes needed now. Splosh… in the pond went Athena, scooped her out and gave her a bath and a few more grey hairs for me!! Both dogs now stay clear of the pond and why play near the pond when they can now get into the troughs…..dig the flowers up and scatter them all round the house.. this is more fun!!!! So up went a fence at the back of the garden to keep the dogs off the flowers… well the one flower left anyway! With no flowers to dig up the dogs have turned their attention on chewing… trainers first, that was fun till we learnt to put them away in the cupboard! Hmmm what next, oh look a door left open upstairs… the spare bedroom… hours of fun must have been had by eating the mattress and leaving horrible brown hairy bits of it all round the house… and not learning by this mistake I’ve forgotten to shut it again and an entire bag of beenies were destroyed! But I do feel the puppies favourite pass time must have been eating the stairway carpet…. As they did it twice!! 6mths Not as destructive as I have learnt to redirect their chewing needs with a toy or chew. This works very well until they start to run out and its time to visit the pet store again. I can tell when I’ve left it too late…..as the carpet is ripped up … AGAIN! 
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