My Early Life

The first night I whined in my crate (Chad's bedroom). Mom slept with me. After I stopped whining, Mom took me out and we had a good snuggle on the bed till I was tired again (and sent back to crate).

Mom took two weeks off work to get the household settled in the new routine (around me; I'm the center of the family now).

Every morning, I played the chase game. I grabbed a sock and ran around the living room and kitchen. Chad and Corinne chased me. Mom insisted I don't touch socks or any other human article and I only play with my toys. They were kept in a toy box in the front of the living room.

After I got my next round of shots, Mom introduced me to the leash. I was 9 weeks old. Pretty quickly I was OK on the flexi leash without jerking. I learned how far I could go before I reached the end of the leash.

At this point, even off leash, I followed Mom and kids around.

Ready to go places: Family took me to Lake Geneva or other hiking trail every day. We all learned how to walk together. Lake Geneva is very crowded in the summer. I got a lot of attention. A lot of people wanted to watch a rambunctious puppy or pet me. After awhile, I made a sad face if no one came over to pet me!

On every walk, when we were far away from the road, I was let off leash as long as I stayed with the family. Mom taught me to come, and would give me a treat each time I came when called.

Potty training was going very well. I made few mistakes. Whenever it was time to go out, I went with my human, but without a leash to my "spot", called the puppy garden (my personal area surrounded by hedges. I always got a treat when successful.

In a nutshell, I was on my way to becoming the perfect puppy. In those days, every one was happy with me and thought having a puppy was a breeze. Those were the days before I became the nickname "Mr. Menace" or "Milo Diablo" (to be continued in a later blog).