Vladimir Loki

My weight this morning was 239.5 ... that is the FIRST time that I have seen anything lower than 240 so I am really happy with it.  At least now I know that I CAN get below 240 so I just have to work hard and keep it below 240 between now and the official weigh-in on Monday.  With the pup I'll likely be climbing the stairs four or five times a day though it's been about 12 hours and we've yet to have an accident *crosses fingers*.  I took him out last night and he went number 1 and 2 the instant he saw the grass, then wobbled back over to me wagging his tail knowing that he'd just done something good so I praised and loved on him and gave him a treat.  Could I really be that lucky?  An eight week old puppy who, so far, has only chewed on cat toys (with the exception of a brief interest in a pair of undies), slept almost through the night without waking me up, and potties outside?!  NO WAY!

Here comes the fun part!  We named him Vladimir Loki but call him Vladdy for short.  Vladimir, as you probably know, is the infamous war lord from Romania and is often associated with vampirism due to his nickname Vlad the Impaler.  Loki is a god from Norse mythology and he was a giant so we thought "big huge doberman pinscher, it's perfect"!  He has a very people-loving personality, follows us all over the house, and ran up to our neighbor's kids last night with his tail wagging ... clearly LOVES kids.

He was awesome with the cats which is wonderful.  Sniffed Casper and gave Codee a play bow but Codee puffed up and hissed at him so he kept his distance and gave the little kitten his space.  I can't believe how smart he is ... so far there hasn't been a single major problem except he whimpers a lot but I think he's having growing pains; I know they're common in big dogs at this age. 

After Supper Update: Ok ... I counted my chickens before they hatched.  There was an afternoon piddle when Snackers got home from work but I think that's because Snackers woke him up to play after a 2 hour nap and didn't think to take him out before he riled him up.  We took him and the kitten to the vet tonight for their shots and clean bills of health and at this very moment Snackers is giving him his very first bath.  He's really smart though!  If he decides to try chewing on something he shouldn't I say "NO!" very firmly and he stops right away.  Then I give him one of the MANY cat/chew toys that we've accumulated over the last two years and he takes it away to munch on instead.  He's tried to sample a few things that he shouldn't but no damage has been done yet *knock on wood* and he never goes back to try and chew on something that I've already told him not to chew on.  He's heavy though!  Only 13 weeks old and weighs 20.5 lbs.  That's more than Casper and Piper combined and only 1 lb shy of Casper, Piper, and Codee combined!!!  He's still not good at walking on a leash so I've carried him a lot today (up and down the stairs mostly, and into/around the vets office.  Then I came home and made supper and I am EXHAUSTED!!!



Food:
7 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 chicken veggie wrap
1 bowl seafood soup
2 slices garlic/herb toast
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,152





Activity:
4 flights of stairs (carrying a big ass puppy, no less)
Jogged around in the grass with the puppy after dinner and worked on teaching him how to play ball.
Took Piper and Vladdy for a walk with Snackers around the block right before bed to get him tired.  Jogged one full side of the block without stopping!  WoooHooo!