Couper and Godiva: One Month Or So Later

Sorry for the lack of posts. We have been exhausted. Couper/Godiva’s Mommy used to go to the puppy store and pine for all the puppies. Now she goes just to warn people to look past the cuteness and envision the hard work and lack of sleep. She is a week or two of sleepless nights away from standing outside the puppy store wearing a sandwich board that reads, “The End is Near!”

Godiva is getting better at sleeping. She does not wake up screaming every hour to hour and a half like she did the first week or two. Sometimes, if we wear her out enough, she even sleeps through the night. But usually there is screaming once, maybe twice, during the night. Not to mention the knack of wanting to get up a half hour before our alarms go off. We have tried a couple of things to get her to sleep. The biggest was having her sleep a soft kennel in the bedroom to make her feel more like part of the family. In actuality what this accomplished is moving her screaming closer to the rest of the family. This may not have been my best idea. As mentioned the only effective way to get her to sleep is to wear her out. Having her run around and not nap is the best option.

However…

When Godiva is sleeping, she is not biting. And when she is awake, all she does is bite. And getting bitten gets old very quickly. We understand she is teething. We have bought numerous toys, nylabones, and chew sticks to help her along. However, given the choice between, say, a rope, and the hand that gives her the rope, she wants to chew the hand every time. I guess I would too. Even though I know where my hand has been (and it isn’t good), I really have no interest in chewing a rope either. However, I seem to remember an old saying about biting the hand that feeds you. I think the saying advised against it. The strangest part is that the hands that feed her are the only human hands she seems to want to bite. She doesn’t bite the vet or the nurses at the vet. She doesn’t bite the kids who want to pet her when we go for walks (by the way, she is the Anti-Couper on walks, she loves attention while Couper goes crazy-go-nuts and has to be pulled away). She doesn’t nibble on guests to the house. Nope, she likes to eat her mommy and me. We have tried all the prescribed methods. Give her something she is allowed to chew; ignore her when she bites, act like it hurts and scream “Ow!!!” (Sometimes acting is not necessary, it really does hurt. Her little teeth are getting big). None of them have completely worked, but she is slowly getting a slightly better.

However…

Her favorite thing to chew is Couper. More than us. More than rugs. More than baskets. Certainly more than ropes. Needless to say, this is not Couper’s favorite thing. He is less tolerant of her biting than we are. This leads to epic battles. She runs up to him and nibbles. He growls, she persists. He nudges her, she persists. He pushes her down, she gets up and (you guessed it) persists. He pushes her down, holds her down, and nibbles back; she surrenders, thinks about it for two seconds, hops back up, charges at him, and nibbles away like nothing happened. She also has a maneuver we like to call the torpedo. Couper will be standing outside minding his own business. Godiva will get into a deep crouch about 10 yards away. All of a sudden she shoots up and sprints towards Couper, barreling into his side at full speed. It reminds me of the old Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom show:

Marlin Perkins: While Jim is out tracking the cheetah as it stalks, lies in wait, sprints, and attacks the wildebeest, I will be back at the camp having a martini and getting a massage from the girls from the local village.

The torpedo used to be cuter when she was littler, but now it makes a sound somewhat like a linebacker hitting a quarterback. Of course after the torpedo hit, wrestling ensues. We are not sure what to make of all of it. Sometimes we think the two of them are playing. Sometimes I think I am on the verge of sharing a cell with Michael Vick. Neither of them has hurt one another, yet. Somewhere between the biting and wrestling, there is a chase, Couper chasing her, or more fun, Godiva chasing him. We know Couper likes chase the puppy, so maybe this is all good. But all through their interactions, Couper is groaning and whining. He otherwise only does that when he sticks his toy somewhere and then can’t get it out. In that case, he is playing, but he also is annoyed.

However…

If he really wanted her to leave him alone he would bark at her. The one thing that Godiva is really afraid of is loud noise. If she is outside and a Harley rumbles by, she stops what she is doing, and bolts for the door. If Couper starts barking at the neighbors, she bolts to the door. Remember the Cosby Show when Rudy and her friends would make a big mess, the chubby kid would take off for the door? That’s Godiva, but on the outside wanting in. And a lot less chubby. Anyhow, if there is one thing that we know Couper can do, it is bark. There have been a couple of occasions when she has been in attack mode where he has gotten pissed off, barked at her, and she backed off. If he really wanted her to leave him alone more often, I can’t believe he has not learned that lesson. Even Couper/Godiva’s Mommy and I have learned to bark loudly at her if we want her to back off.

However…

Couper will bark at Godiva like he means it in two instances. The first is he is playing with a toy (and usually his Big Buddy) and she tries to get the toy. Playing is his number one passion, so this is not surprising. The second, amazingly, is when she tries to steal his food. Couper has always been pretty nonchalant about his food, even though he is fed like a king. He sometimes has gone a day without eating his regular food, though he will eat yummies and is not sick. Godiva on the other hand loves Couper’s food. And it isn’t like she is being fed gruel or worse yet, Krusty Brand Immitation Gruel. We did a lot of research at the dog food store to pick out a puppy food just for her. Because we know she likes Couper’s food, we mix in a couple of nuggets of that along with a tiny amount Couper’s Born to be Wild supplement. So at dinnertime, Couper gets his food first. Instead of dawdling, like he used to do, he digs right in, because Godiva is right there eyeing his bowl. To get her away, we put down her dinner around the corner of the kitchen island from where Couper is. She picks out his food, the Born to be Wild, and some of her food. As soon as she gets tired of what’s left, she decides it is time for more of Couper’s food, from his bowl. She will try to sneak the around the island from his front side, but he will growl her off. Undeterred, she then goes the back way around the island. Couper, being a sloppy eater, will usually have a kernel or two of his food on the ground next to his bowl. If we can’t stop her first (and we do try), she swoops in, picks up the kernel or two from the floor, and takes off to eat them in relative safety back at her bowl. She then tries for round two, but without the food on the ground, Couper will bark her away. In the end, Couper has learned to eat quickly and to guard his bowl, though when he is done and walks away, she swoops in to lick whatever crumbs may be left. At least we know what we will feed Godiva when she grows out of puppy food.

However…

We are still not sure where she will deposit it. Potty training is still a work in progress. Sometimes we think she gets it. She will wait by the door; go out, do business, then want to come in for yummies. Then thirty minutes later, she will pee on the carpet. No indications of wanting to go out. No hour between going. Squat and go. So between random potties and biting Couper, she will get gated off into the tiled kitchen, or the kitchen and the tiled hallway. Because Couper would rather not be bitten, he in effect gets gated off to the rest of the house. This was not exactly what we had in mind, and it confuses Couper and Godiva, but it helps keep our sanity when we cannot watch them both. If Godiva is a good girl, and has done all her potty, and both Couper/Godiva’s Mommy and I are there to even the numbers, we will let her in the living room to run around with Couper. When the biting begins it is back to the kitchen. If the potty signs emerge, we all go outside. It isn’t great, but it is the best that we have figured out so far.

However…

We’re hoping it will all work out. We would not trade Godiva for anything and we have a new appreciation for what a good boy Couper has become. We’ve come a long way since Couper started Kindergarten and even since Godiva joined us seven weeks ago. In time Godiva is going to realize what a good gig she has. And I am sure that in time we will look back on Godiva’s early puppyhood with fondness (that’s why we have the blog, to set the record straight).

However...

And on Daddy's/Big Buddy's Day we got a miracle. They were both good and good to each other. Godiva was a cuddle puppy and Couper was tolerant of his little sister. It was the greatest Daddy's/Big Buddy's day present ever (though the iTunes card and the Dachshund stuff was great). One would hope it would last forever. It lasted until Monday. Miracles are fleeting.

Update:
Since this was written, one of Couper/Godiva's Mommy's friend and collegaue saw Couper and Godiva in action. Owning two dachshunds herself, she assured us that their behavior was normal, that they were just playing, and it was all good. We're going to take her word on it. We almost have to.