The day after we came home from our Honeymoon, we kind of became parents....to a German Shepherd. Kip had been wanting a German Shepherd for a LONG time, and since his parents are keeping Beau, his black lab, we decided we needed a pet....I just didn't know it would be that soon!
After church we went to Kip's parent's house to eat lunch. He had been looking on Gadsden Times' Classifieds for and German Shepherd pups that weren't an outrageous price. He was wanting a tan and black male. He sees an ad for German Shepherds and calls the number. The lady he talked to said all she had left was a black female. A family was suppose to get her for the son, but the mom just had a baby and didn't think they could handle a new baby and a puppy! She sent us a few pictures of her and I fell in love!
7 weeks old!!
How can you NOT fall in love with that face?? So we asked if we could come see her that afternoon. I told Kip that if I saw her we would have to take her home. There were no questions about it! So on our way to the house, we starting thinking about names. Bella and Kallie were our 2 favorites. We decided on Kallie since Bella is such a popular name. We wanted to see if she looked like a Kallie to us when we saw her....and of course she did!! She was so soft and sweet and just laid in my arms for 3o minutes while we were there!
We agreed to take her, but we wanted to wait until Monday to get her so we could get some food, puppy pads, a crate, toys, etc. We headed to PetCo and bought her a bed, a few toys, chew sticks, puppy pads, a food and water bowl, food, and treats. We called a friend of ours who we knew had a crate for her dogs to see if she was still using it. She had an extra one and has let us borrow it for a while. That helped out so much!
Monday morning, Kip went to pick up Miss Kallie. He brought her to my work for me to see her! School was out that day and it was just me and Chad (the daycare manager) and the daycare workers and kids. I took an extra long lunch to go with Kip to his parent's house to show his mom. We let Kallie play outside and run around. She was having so much fun! We tried to get her to go walking, but she just wiggled right out of her collar and sat down. So...I had to carry her...all 10 pounds of puppy...all the way around the block! Lazy dog! I was exhausted and sweating when we finally made it back to Kip's house!
We left and I went back to work for a little while, but went home pretty early that day. Kip put the crate together, but she hated it. We played outside for a little while then went in and she snoozed most of the afternoon and evening. We went to my parent's house to eat and let them meet Kallie. She hadn't used the bathroon inside all day until we got to my parent's house! She pooped on their white rug by the front door! We later realized that she must have been somewhat puppy-pad trained and she thought that white rug was a puppy pad!
When we went to bed that night, we let her sleep with us. She did really well until about 3 am. She started whining so Kip carried her outside and she pottied. We put her in the crate after that, because she wanted to play but we didn't! She cried the rest of the morning, until I got up to get ready for work!
Kip was "laid off" (stupid seasonal employment) for the month of February, so he stayed home with Kallie most of the time. She did really good about pottying! She only peed in the house a few times, mostly on the puppy pad or a rug that was light colored. We moved her crate into the laundry room, so if she cried at night, it wouldn't keep us up ALL night.
The next night, we put her in the crate at bedtime. She cried for a while, but eventually got quiet. I set my alarm for 3 am, so I could let her out to potty. She was asleep when I went to get her, but I knew she needed to potty at some point and I was already up so I got her up and we went outside.
She pottied, then went back in her crate...crying! :( I felt so bad!
I got up that morning and let her out. She went out to potty, came in and ate. Kip stayed home with her most of that day as well.
Wednesday morning, her other ear FINALLY came up!
She LOVES sleeping on the couch!
She was doing really good about going out to potty until that next Wednesday! We have a bell that is on the back door that we are trying to teach her to ring when she needs out. She was doing very good about not pottying in the house, until that next Wednesday.
Kip was gone most of the day and I was at work, so she was in her crate the majority of the day. That night, I had to go back to work for a meeting. I did not get home until almost 9:00pm. Kip had security at our church, so he was gone until about 9:30pm. Kallie had been in her crate ALL DAY LONG!
On Thursday, she started just peeing wherever she was...not even thinking twice about it and not even using a puppy pad! GROSS!! She still had not pooped inside and rang the bell to go out to poop, just not pee.
Thursday night, we went to Kip's grandparents' house to eat and play Dominos and didn't get home until about 9:15pm, so she was in her crate all day and night then too.
She finally got better on Monday of that next week. We had been home with her the majority of the weekend, so we were able to work with her more!
Our friends, Brandon and Haniah Carr, came to the house on Sunday afternoon and brought their new puppy, Brady! He is a golden retriever and just a week younger than Kallie. They live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so they wanted Brady to be able to run and play outside. Him and Kallie had a good ol time, until Brady started to get a little violent. Kallie was a little bigger than him and she was doing good to play with him without biting and being rough. Poor Brady got so mad! :(
We had a nice little puppy date...too bad I don't have any pics! :(
Kallie had her first vet appointment March 6th. She got her 9 week shots, a dewormer, and some flea treatment. She had 1 flee on her and she had worms! :((( But she was excellent in the Vet's office! Dr. Bailey at Southside Pet Clinic was awesome! She gave us some great tips on German Shepherds! Kallie weighed 18.9 pounds at the vet that day! BIG GIRL!!!
Home from the vet!!
Our poor baby got SO sick from the dewormer! She vomited EVERYWHERE for about an hour that night. It was awful and I wanted to cry...because it smelled so bad and because I felt so bad for her!!
She was fine after that hour and just slept most of the time. The next morning she was her normal self and has been ever since!
She is so FULL of life! I love this pup!! She knows now when we say "Bedtime" that she has to get in her crate! She hasn't pottied in the house very much since her little regression! She is now ringing the bell to potty! She only potties on her puppy pad in the crate every now and then at night. She has gotten to where she gets really excited and potties a little in the floor, but we know it is an accident and she doesn't mean to do it!
She started that when Kip's grandmother and cousin came to visit about 2 weeks ago! She got so excited when they came in that she peed a little in the floor when they were petting her! She does it sometimes when Kip comes home in the afternoon now too! She is just so excited to see us!
Since Kip has gotten a new job (blog post coming soon!) we have been letting her stay outside in the backyard during the day, and she loves it much more than being locked up in her crate, but she LOVES when we get home and let her in! She just jumps on us and licks us...its precious!
We are trying to break her of biting us...she does it playing, but we don't want her to bite. We make sure we give her toys she can chew on. So far, she hasn't chewed up anything she wasn't suppose to except on of my flip flops that have a few teeth marks on them...until the other day. We were getting ready for work the other morning, and she was in our bedroom. In a matter of 2 minutes, she has chewed almost completely through my cell phone charger. Luckily, it still works.
She really is the perfect addition to our little family! We love her so much and I could not even begin to imagine what I would do if something ever happened to her!
Crying at the door when Kip left for a meeting one night!
We love our Kallie girl so very much! We are going back to the vet the first of April, and I CANNOT wait to see how much she weighs! I'm gonna go with about 25-30 pounds!
Until Next Time,
.JPG)
