It was the end of May when I convinced my husband that we NEEDED another puppy. Or it is more accurate that I bugged him until he caved on my requests to rescue said puppy. He begrudgingly agreed on one condition, he got to name the dog. Chili.
Chili. We have Athena the Goddess and...Chili. In our short time frame, our little Chili Willy could not suit her name better. She is one of the goofiest dogs I have ever met, springing and pouncing straight in the air out of excitement and then proceeding to flop.
Her legs move faster than she can, but this never seems to stop her from trying. Chili finds the oddest sleeping positions, and her ears can't decide to be up or down.
The first couple of weeks having Chili couldn't have been more stressful. I reiterate again for those who think children and dogs are not similar (again similar, not identical), I beg to differ. Not sure if she would make it, it was nerve wracking. The vet was probably tired of hearing from me.
At first, I was concerned because she has a pretty severe overbite. I tried EVERYTHING to get this puppy to eat. I pulled out all the tricks: baby food, pumpkin puree, boiled rice, yogurt, wet food, water on her kibble, three or four different kibbles. Boiled shredded chicken. That is the only thing this puppy would even attempt to eat. Then her liquid diarrhea started up. It wasn't even slightly solid. I truly worried she maybe had Parvo. She wasn't gaining weight, and her protruding bones at her sides showed. I coaxed her to drink water with chicken broth added. She would whine at all hours of the night to avoid a messy kennel, and she was scared of humans for the first week.
Two weeks. I even followed her around with a plastic sandwich bag to catch a stool sample to take to the vet! Her activity level was extremely low, only playing for 5-10 minutes and then hours of napping. Granted, this could be normal early puppy behavior, but it was really problematic with the disinterest in food.
One morning she miraculously ate her bowl of kibble (I tried almost every day to get her to eat kibble). BOOM. Puppy energy through the roof and quite a terror at that. Shoes beware, the trash better be locked away, and poor Athena was being pounced on 24/7 with a "please make it stop, mom" look. Her energy has been nonstop since that day. Her diarrhea ceased, and she began to gobble kibble as if her life depended on it. We can't wait to share the adventures of taking on the world with two GSDs. Welcome to the family Miss Chili.
Stay tuned,
The Pawsitive Writer
#gsdpuppy #middlechild #fursiblings #bigsister #expandingfamily #furfamily #blogger #dogblog #dogadventures
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