The Beast

Good morning bloggies!

So if you missed it we got a dog about four weeks ago, maybe it was five.  Anyways, her name is Apple.  She is a basset hound and beagle mix.  She's super cute and growing like crazy.  So what is the downside???  She's a wild beast!!  Seriously!  She is wreaking havoc on our house and the kids.  Someone I work with got a puppy a while back and I heard she would say she had to go home to release the kraken, when she was talking about the pup.  I laughed at the time and thought "It's just a puppy."  Now I find myself thinking...."RELEASE THE KRAKEN!"

So maybe you aren't familiar with a kraken, so here's a description I found on monsters.com. (Yeah there is a website called monsters.com...no I have never visited it prior to this.)

"Probably no legendary creature was as horrifying as the Kraken, a giant sea monster. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature looked like an island when motionless and could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast with its arms deployed. 
When the Kraken attacked a ship, it wrapped its arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. Kraken were mostly noticed  in the seas of Scandinavia. Fishermen said that huge amounts of fishs gravitate around Kraken and the boat that succeeds to fish around the monster without awaking it will take more than possible to carry aboard."

So maybe it's a bit dramatic to say that Apple is horrifying because I can still pick her up. Though, it does seem possible that she could bring a whole ship down.  No...maybe not.  Ok maybe she is just a puppy.  Her biting and wild tenancies will  eventually calm down.  I mean she is a good portion basset hounds.  Basset hounds usually don't have too much pep to their step.  And it would probably help if my kids didn't turn themselves in to walking chew toys by running and screeching at the dog.  She just can't help but try to chew on them then.  She also spends a lot of time barking at Waffles, our rabbit.  It's not in a, I want to eat you kind of way.  It's more of a please come play with me type bark.  Eventually Apple will learn that Waffles does not want under any circumstances want to play with her or anyone else for that matter.  He just wants to eat and hop around and chew on things. 

Any suggestions??  This is the first dog I have owned on my own and needed to train.  I have several books on training dogs and have been reading online, but I just can't figure out the best plan of attack.  I know several of you have dogs.  How did you do it?  Is this just normal?

Down the Rabbit Hole

 You may or may not know that we have a house rabbit. His name is Waffles Nicholas. He's cool and big and possibly the softest thing I have ever felt. We rescued Waffles from the animal shelter in April. (rescued sounds way more noble than just adopted) It was a way spur of the moment deal. But what a great choice. He is litterbox trained, so he just runs around the house and let's us pet him...sometimes. He does a lot of hiding under the dining room table. That is his little or not so little rabbit hole.  Once the kids are in bed he comes out and runs around and rubs against our legs.  The kids are a little scary to him I think.  Especially Lincoln, he swings his arms around a lot and runs at him.

Here is what I have learned about rabbits since we got him:

1. Rabbits teeth constantly grow, so they have to chew to wear them down.
2. He likes to appear really vicious.
3. Rabbits shed every 3 or 4 months, every other time is like a huge loss of hair. (I read about one rabbit that gets almost naked.)
4. A rabbit cleaning its ears is incredibly cute.
5. I am very concerned about how Sharp a rabbits teeth actually are.
6. A rabbit will find and eat or chew up anything and everything.
7. Rabbits are super fun to watch.

I just wanted to share because Waffles is beginning to shed...his second shedding since got him. This time I won't stress he is dying and that somehow we killed him. Now I know better.
Also we just got a puppy. She is a bassett hound and beagle mix. Her name is Apple Sally. Arabelle like to pick out middle names. She is also awesome! We are now a family of 6.
Have a nice weekend bloggies!