When I make my dogs beds, I’m often left with leftover fleece.  I save it, of course, not really knowing what to use it for… until today.

I’m watching a dog for some friends this week.  Actually he’s a 4-month-old puppy named Pippin.  And, oh man, is he adorable.  And super smart, attentive, crate-trained and a great cuddler.  But he’s also a puppy.  Did I just mention that?

I’ve raised two dogs from 7-weeks-old and I truly have forgotten how time consuming puppies can be.  I know, intellectually, that puppies demand a lot of attention, but, emotionally, I had forgotten.  Don’t get me wrong – he’s a blast and we’re having a lot of fun.  I’m just having to recall all my puppy training techniques.

He has endless energy – something my dogs are bewildered by.  Ellie keeps looking at me as if to say, “will he ever stop?”  Woody’s having flashbacks of when Ellie was a puppy and Mindy’s great at playing with Pippin.  I’m still learning about Mindy and this is my first experience with her and a puppy.  She’s incredibly calm with him, loves to play chase and rolls on the floor with him.  When we go on walks, I link him to her to help him understand how to walk calmly.  So far he’s more interested in riding Mindy like a horse.  She’s not sure how she feels about this.

Pippin’s been here for a couple of days and today he decided to use Ellie’s tail as a chew toy.  Not the best of plans, so I went to Pinterest to find something to make for him.  I found an excellent tutorial using old t-shirts and then I remembered my fleece.  Fleece is incredibly durable material and I have A LOT of it.

I started by cutting some of the longer pieces into 1/2″ strips.  Taking 9 of the strips, I tied a humongous knot at one end and then started braiding the 3 groups of 3 strips together.  When I reached about 6″ from the end, I tied another humongous knot and trimmed the ends.

Needless to say, Pippin LOVES his toy and the rest of the dogs are relieved that he’s not using their tails as toys.  And I must thank Pippin for helping me to work towards one of my Quest46 items – #22.

With multiple dogs, I always remove toys after we’ve had our play time because the toys can sometimes become objects of resource guarding.  And it’s important to never let a puppy play with anything alone.  They are in a massive learning stage and put everything in their mouths.  It doesn’t take long for them to swallow something or chew open a yellow highlighter (well done Ellie).

Have you ever raised a puppy?

This is taking me back to that time when Ellie used to jump up and grab my collar with her mouth and just swing.  I’m telling you, it’s the stuff of nightmares, man!