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The holidays were/are pretty busy for me, especially with Axel under our toes and requiring a constant eye.  I managed to get all of my christmas shopping done in 1 day and from the comfort of my couch.  Now that is the kind of shopping I most truly love.  Only 1 thing didn’t arrive because of back order and it was a pair of "Pink" sweatpants and top for my daughter.  Otherwise everything came in on time, even some Ebay items did.  Curtis got a Flowmaster exhaust system for his pick up truck, custom sub-woofer box for the truck and some cologne and clothes and Guitar Hero II/III.  Jess got clothes, clothes and more clothes plus $300 in gift cards.  She also got the 7 season set of "Gilmore Girls". lol she loves that show.  She was so happy. haha She’s so easy.  :)  I got Gary "Scene it" for xbox, that is loads of fun. I kick ass everytime. heh and some slippers.  I got a new wedding set and a martini set with a chocolatini glass and a bottle of Godiva Chocolate Liquor. MMMM my new favorite drink!  ;)  The new wedding set is to replace the wedding set from my mother that had to be cut off after I had surgery in 2005.  My husband wanted me to look married again and decided that Christmas was as good a time as any.  I got to pick it out, it is a sapphire and diamond set.  Just beautiful.  I love it.  We had a great Christmas.  Unfortunately, Curtis had to work from 7am Christmas eve till 7am Christmas morning, but that’s ok.  He came home and opened gifts. He never managed to get to bed that day, cause after opening gifts he went outside to start putting on his exhaust system. lol  I cooked Christmas breakfast and then began dinner.  We finally ate dinner at 5:30.  I was hoping more for 4pm, but the turkey wasn’t cooking fast enough.

Initially I was not going to put up the Christmas tree because of the puppy.  He was chewing everything when we brought him home.  After about a week, he was doing better and I thought, let me at least try and see what happens, worst case, I have to put the tree (fake) up on a table or just not have one this year.  I was amazed that he only sniffed it, licked a branch and left it alone.  He was under my feet while I was putting it up but he did amazingly well.  Because our house is so small, we decided on a small tree, 4′.  It works out great, but my son’s gift was larger than the tree, but that’s ok.

Axel seems to go through phases of being perfect to being a terror.  Training starts on Jan 5.  We have been trying to work with him on things like sit, stay, down, off, in, out, "NO", paw.  He does 4 of those commands well. lol

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Well, as of this coming Saturday, we will have had Axel with us for two weeks and he will be 16 weeks old. He is adjusting well, but I can’t wait for the chewing phase to end. From the first week we got him to last Saturday, he gained 4 pounds and 2 inches in height. He seems even taller since then, so I am eager to see how tall he is when we weigh and measure him this saturday. We are going to try to keep a diary of his growth and behaviors. My husband has started a blog for Axel, so please go and visit it at http://www.tomkinson.org/axel/

Axel seems to be a momma’s boy more so than a daddy’s boy. He follows me around everywhere. He always wants to know what I am doing and where I am going, kind of like how I hover over him to ensure he doesn’t have accidents on the floor.

One thing he does that is annoying, more so to Gary and Jess is the biting and pulling on pants legs and shoes. (He tore Gary’s dress pants last night) He only botherss me with it a little bit, like he might do it once when he first sees me after work, but he immediately stops when I make a loud screetch sound and push him away. For my husband and daughter it is constant. They try to make him stop by giving him a chew toy instead, but he is very persistent. Hopefully this will stop over time. Jess gets pretty frustrated with it and I don’t want her to dislike the puppy.

The only other hard-headedness he has going on so far is stopping him from jumping up onto the couch. He is determined to make the couch him own.

His potty training is going pretty well, though I would think by now he would know to go to the door and let us know when he needs to go potty, instead of letting us guess. He did piddle on the kitchen floor last night right before I took him outside, though I didn’t know he did this until I came back in with him because he wouldn’t pee out side. We do try to praise him on all the good things, but sometimes you forget or your mind gets clouded with the naughty behaviors instead. He will be starting puppy training on Jan 5, which I am looking forward to. I’m sure it will help US understand him better.

Well so far for day two, puppy 2, human 6… meaning that Axel managed to pee on the floor twice today (thank god he chose the kitchen floor), we managed to get him out in time, 6 times.  He did better yesterday, but then a lot of that is just bad timing on our part, I think. 

All in all, he has done better with the chewing and biting of things, furniture included.  Maybe it is because he is starting to understand that NO means NO! Don’t get me wrong, he is still pretty persistent, but just not as persistent as he was yesterday. lol

We took him out to Petco this afternoon.  He did fantastically.  When we were looking at things on the shelf, he would just sit down and wait.  He woudl walk up to people wagging his little tail wanting to be patted and he was given the attention he was seeking.  Everyone loved him and I could tell he was proud.  I was extremly impressed with his behavior there.  We will make this a normal task.  The socializing with all kinds folks, young and old is very important.  I can’t wait to get him interacting with other dogs.

At the moment, he put himself into his kennel (crate) and he is snoring peacefully.

Well, we decided after looking at websites about names that we would spell his name AXEL instead of after the car part. So we went to petco and made a new tag for him.  Monday he has an appointment with the vet to check on the lump on his hind leg and have his overall health evaluation.

He did great all night long.  No whining at all.  I woke at 7:30 this morning and remembered that he was there and needed to go out for a pee.  After that he had some breakfast, played with his toys and went out for a #2.  (knock on wood, he’s doing well, 1 accident so far)… After we were dressed, we decided to take him for a car ride. So we went over to Brittney’s home (Curtis’ girlfriend) and let him socialize with her, her mom and their dogs.  However, the dogs there were not happy.  Probably best to let them socialize on neutral territory.  Her dogs are Maltese and a cockapoo (I think).  Axel enjoyed them and wanted to play.  After we left there, I needed to drop off mail at the fire house, so we took him there for a change of scenery. We let him walk around there for a few minutes.  He does great in the back of the Explorer.  He lays down and sleeps.  We are taking him out every day, so that he isn’t only going out in the vehicle for vet appointments.

He has had to spend some time in "Time-out".  He is biting too much and not listening. Of course, he’s a puppy and that is what they do.  I forgot how awful this part is.  Scolding them does little to nothing to avert the behavior, only makes him do it more.  Gary’s suggestion is to hold him close and firmly, letting him know that he is in control, not pup.  When all else fails, time out in the crate is necessary.  I tend to get a little too frustrated and I lose patience.  Pretty damn fast.  He is doing better this evening, he is laying at my feet, sleeping and snoring.

Tomorrow starts day 2.  I’m terrified of putting up the Christmas tree, I know he is going to eat it and everything on it.  We might have to wait for a while before we decorate.  At least till we can get some control of his eating everything in sight.  lol  But he’s so cute.