Puppies wake up VERY Early

So we tried the bigger crate last night, hoping he would feel a little more comfortable being alone, and it definitely was an improvement. He did, however, start crying at 3:00 in the morning. We chose to ignore it, thinking we want him to get used to waking up later and were afraid once he was up, we were screwed. Bad move. Majorly big dog poop. Poor guy, he was so annoyed by it too, you could tell. Puppies do not like to shit where they sleep (like the saying "don't shit where you eat), and I was reading up today, four hours is really all the more a puppy can be expected to hold it, they just don't have the control yet. And once I did get up with him, at 4:00, he went outside, did his business and went right back to sleep.

So our plan of action tonight is to try and catch him every four hours. I would have taken some pix of the very big poop, but it was 4 a.m. and I was tired. It was seriously bigger than the poor guy's head. He did sneak some of the cat's food, though....

On the cat front, things are progressing SO much better than I could have imagined. Fluffy doesn't love the new addition, but he's taking it like the champ he is. Rusty is still so small and timid that he isn't really threatening to the cat, and he's not the butt-sniffing type of dog (at least not yet). They've sniffed noses several times, and once, when Rusty was feeling frisky, he tried to do a little more, starting move a little closer. But the fluffster cut that off right quick -- he swatted him. BUT he didn't use his claws! It was more like a warning, "dude, keep your distance."

Then yesterday morning when I went out back to see the cat proudly displaying the dead mouse he killed to show us that he's cool too. I cooed and praised him and he strutted around for a bit. Cats are odd creatures.

And in my last cat-related adventure: last night, Rusty was sleeping on the floor beside the couch where I was laying, and the cat came over and sniffed him, and then jumped up on the couch in his usual position on my lap, not two feet from his nemesis! It was a true breakthrough! I almost got a little choked up. They may become friends yet! I'm not holding my breath, but at least they're not going to kill each other, and that's enough for me.