Goodbye Sleep! It's been fun....

Dakota enjoying his crate

My weekend started off with a trip to Bethel on Friday. I went out to dinner, went to the store, and then waited at the airport for my puppy, Dakota. His name was Diesel, and I liked that name and planed on keeping it the same. But then I kept accidentally calling him Dakota. I figured it was fate, especially since Dakota was such a random name. He came in a day earlier than I thought but oh so worth it.

When they first brought him out (which took forever - the TSA guy complained about my pacing....I told him it was right up there with his pencil tapping!), I was shocked. He's only two months old and still a baby....but this was the biggest two month old puppy I had ever seen. He's 25 pounds and he looks like he's older.

He didn't seem to into me at first. And I was hoping for a love at first sight moment. But after spending all day yesterday together, he now follows me around the house and whines when he can't see me....or if I'm in the other room....or if I'm cooking a meal....or petting the cats.....you get the idea.

I expected him to howl like crazy the first night. But he was so worn out from the flight and new home that he slept most of the night. I woke up early with him, played with him, and then put him back in his crate (just like a normal work day) and then he howled like crazy....but I knew it was a lesson he had to learn. And since it was 8 in the morning, I figured my neighbors wouldn't be thrilled, but it was manageable. Last nights session at 1 in the morning will probably not be as popular. He doesn't go on for very long, so that's good. He is just a baby and I tried to wear him out before we went to bed. He still woke me up at 5 this morning, but I did get to go back to bed.....for a bit anyways.

My days of sleeping until noon are over my friend.

As much as I would love to sleep, I am okay with having my life shaken up by my new little man. I liked him waking me up to get love and attention. It's better than waking up for other stuff.

He's not a cuddlier....I don't think he's been handled very much. He doesn't like to be picked up, held, or hugged. He didn't even lick me....but last night, we were playing ball and he plopped down beside me and rested his head on my leg....good enough for me! And this morning, I got kisses. He'll come around. And I had to realize, maybe it's okay that he doesn't become a lap dog...because he may grow to be 120 pounds....at which point, I can't cuddle with him like that.

He's super smart. I heard malamutes were very smart but I was shocked to see it in action. Paper training - done! (I'm sure there will be some accidents though) I think I gave him too much new food mixed in with his old, or the flight got to him, or he was stressed leaving his mom & litter mates....take your pick, but he got sick last night....and he used the training pads. He also stole my shirt that I threw on the floor while I was showering. I'm not quite sure what that was about....but it made me laugh.

I read you are not supposed to crate train and paper train, but I need him to stay in his crate while I'm gone and I can't take him outside just yet. He had his second parvo shot, but I'm waiting the 7-10 days to make sure it's effective. I heard that his breed is susceptible to parvo, so in truth he may never be fully protected. And I've heard that this village has parvo. Which is kinda weird because I never hear of puppies dying from it. (Don't get me started about the puppies here!) But he'll be going outside this week. I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but he needs to be outside & exercising. My tiny house isn't good for that.

Yes, I'm all about Dakota right now. But there is something else I started last week: I started running a drama club! Since I was a drama kid, I thought it would be a good place for young adults to express themselves and have fun. I had 6 girls the first time and we played an improve game, I went over the actor's tools (voice, body, gestures, etc), and we had fun. I had met with a drama coach for the state of Alaska and we put together a program that could segway into a drama class at a later date. And I started using the program, but I felt that it was too stiff. I think I'll still use his ideas but teach them as the kids are doing it. Like instead of lecturing, address the lesson as the kids experience it working on scenes. The kids want to do a play so I figure we'll work up to that. Start with some scenes, do a monologue (but as a whole group - that was the coach's idea), and play some drama games of course!

I'm feeling very blessed right now in my life. Getting a puppy who will grow up to be a giant dog is crazy....but again, every time I do something absolutely crazy, I feel content. Moving here was crazy, being so far away is crazy, bringing my cats (who are ignoring the puppy btw) here was crazy, but it's been an amazing journey. Getting Dakota feels so right!