Hershey has really been growing fast; so many people have commented on it. She seems to get bigger every day. It’s all happening much sooner than I’d expected, which has left me hoping my little pup isn’t going to turn into a big moose. I really wanted a smaller lab, which is why we were sure to check out the size of her parents. Mama was around 60 pounds and daddy was 65, so Hershey should be in that range, too.
At first, we thought Hershey was maybe small for her age. But she’s making up for lost time. I swear, Hershey was a little peanut of a dog for all of four minutes. She definitely is growing in ‘dog year’ time. She was hardly my little baby at all! But turns out, we recently learned there might be a logical explanation for the rapid growth spurt: we’re idiots, that what.
My husband has dog duty when he comes home from work at 5:30 am. He lets her out and lets her scamper around a bit before getting her back in the crate to sleep a little while longer. He usually goes for a run or a swim (yes, after 12 hours of work, god bless the man.) Then he comes back home to get the kids ready for school. Hey, I’d do it myself, but he really enjoys the time with the kids, and that’s the routine we had when I was working outside the home.
Hershey goes wild in her crate around 7am when the kids get up for school. Once Pat comes upstairs to get the kids ready, I go downstairs to let her out, and take care of her and the cat. Food! Water! Potty break! Ear rubs! Potty break again! That in itself is a twenty minute affair—and having taken care of both the kids and the pets by myself one morning, I figured Pat could use the help with our furry children, at least.
So first I let Hershey out, and then feed her right when we get inside. She’s always ravenous. That dog finishes her food in under a minute, no exaggeration. (I read somewhere not to leave food out for your puppy for longer than an hour. I laughed for about an hour at that very idea. No morsel of food would last in that dog dish for an hour.) But her early morning appetite is understandable, I guess. She hasn’t eaten since 4:30 the day before. (We feed her twice a day.) And maybe now that she’s getting bigger, she needs more food, so she’s even hungrier, right?
So, this morning Pat’s getting the kids ready, and I’m feeding the dog. She slurps it up in 30 seconds and slops some of the water on the ground. When my husband comes downstairs, he steps in it, and frowns. “Is this pee?”
“No, it’s from her food. I just fed her.”
He stops and looks at me. “What do you mean you just fed her? I fed her before I came up to get the kids.”
My jaw dropped. “But I always feed her at like, 7:15 when I come downstairs. You feed her before you come up?”
“She’s practically eating my leg by that time. You think she’d let me leave the room without feeding her?”
“But she’s always in the crate when I come downstairs,” I said, dumbfounded at this news. “I figure she’s been in there since you came home and let her out.”
“No, I let her out after I get home from swimming, then I lock her up after she eats so the kids can eat breakfast without her mooching around.”
“Wait.” I shook my head to make the point settle in. “So, we’ve been feeding her twice every morning.’
“Evidently so.”
Hershey waiting for a second feeding!
“But she’s always starving when I come downstairs like she hasn’t eaten in days!”
He shrugged. “That’s a lab for you. They’ll eat till they burst.”
I looked down at Hershey and her bulging tummy. That might also explain why she needs so many trips outside and why she’s been pooping like we’re paying her for it.
Oh, puppyhood is just like parenthood, it seems. So many things to learn, so many mistakes to be made. I wonder what we’ll screw up next? Every day’s an adventure, I guess.
I also wonder if her growth rate will slow down, now that we’re on the same page. But I know one thing for sure; she’s going to be one disappointed pooch tomorrow morning when she looks for her second serving of breakfast. Sorry kid, the kitchen’s closed.
—————–
Have you missed any of the articles in this series?
If so, you can find them at:
The Bringing Up Puppy Series page.
Related posts:
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Dog Whisperer
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Two Weeks Later
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Crazies
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Lost
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – A Big Oops
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