Puppy surge

Stephen here: please join me in a happy 12 weeks old salute to Yogi!

We have had our first 24 hour period without a potty mishap which is really good news. I was wondering if we were going to have the dubious distinction of being the biggest customer for Lysol Wipes on planet earth.

There are a few issues related to having a puppy still to address after potty training. One is that he has started eating our house; literally. He mostly focuses on one of the pillars for the backyard lanai. I guess we are going to have to move the "Go Potty" area further away from the house.

The craziest thing is "puppy surge". It is kind of like the "power surge" women sometimes experience in menopause, (puppy paws? puppypause?), but with a puppy. We will be playing with him, or just cuddling him, when this strange demon possessed look appears in his eyes and he becomes destructo dog. He nips, he wiggles, he becomes impossible to deal with. I know they say never use your crate to discipline a dog and I agree. But we have to use it as a fallout shelter. We do not raise our voices, or strike him in any way, but the crate seems to be the only thing that works. We have tried the "leadership", (formerly known as dominance), method of holding his muzzle, but invariably as soon as we let him go, he is back on the warpath.

Oh well, we still love him, want him to be in our pack, but jeepers, I hope this is a phase.