One Month with Stola – Oh My Dog!

One month ago, we picked up this pretty pittie.

Stola Malarkey Marton.

If this tells you anything about life with a 7-month-old puppy: I’ve been trying to write this post since Monday. It is now Thursday Friday one week later, and it’s still not finished!

She is seriously cute. She looks like she’s always worried with her wrinkly forehead and big, brown eyes. She isn’t a worrier, though. Instead, I think she’s always plotting something…

One thing about adolescent puppy dogs that I forgot: the boundless energy that is seemingly inexhaustible, and when I do manage to exhaust it, I am completely wiped out, too!

And the chewing. I totally forgot about the chewing.

Incidentally, I looked back at blog posts from when Cooper was this age, and in this post, I wrote:

Cooper: If you stop chewing up our furniture, rugs, baseboards, clothes, sheets, and anything else that’s ours and not yours, I will take you to the pet store and let you pick out your own toys. Seriously. For the love, please stop. Oh, and don’t eat grass or mulch. You know how your stomach gets upset every couple of days? You’re doing it to yourself, buddy. Knock it off.

So, you know. At least Stola’s typical.

Beyond the chewing–two seatbelts in my minivan (girlie only rides crated now), Barbies, a library book, and so on–she’s an aggressively sweet pup. She will dive bomb into your lap, flip over, and look up into your face as she snuggles in deeply. She pushes her way under the covers and onto my legs when I’m reading in bed at night. She tries to use Astrid as a pillow, though Astrid’s not having it. I think she’s holding a grudge over the Barbies.

She’s a super smarty pants, learning new things so quickly that I can tell it’s going to be a fun challenge for me to keep her challenged!

We’re currently in the Beginner Obedience class at a local dog training facility, and Stola is sailing right through. I look forward to moving up to a more difficult class with her and am thinking about looking into some intro level dog sports because she is SO smart with SO much energy!

She loves to walk and to go on hikes. Unfortunately, she arrived to us with some bad timing weather-wise. In the past month, we’ve had a snowstorm, a polar vortex, and whatever the heck is going on right now where the highs have been around 15 (F) for several days in a row. It’s simply not safe to be out much right now, which is tough for a rambunctious pup. And for me. I miss the sun.

We are having a few struggles.

One is brand new and so annoying, so if anyone has advice, I’m all ears! Stola has started chewing shoes. Typical puppy business… except she only wants to chew shoes when they’re on someone’s feet. It’s turned the morning scramble to get ready for school into a bit of a nightmare unless we put Stola in her crate. Same thing with putting on or taking off or changing your shoes. The second you sit down, she launches up and starts biting your shod foot. Then it turns into a fun game for her as you try to yank your foot away.

The second is with the cats, and it’s a little bit their problem and a little bit hers. She is far more interested in them than they prefer, but we can redirect Stola pretty easily or she settles herself… unless they run. Then she thinks it’s time to chase. We can’t very well teach the cats not to run when they’re scared, so we’re focusing our efforts on lots of short sessions where they stay calm around each other with lots of cheese. (Check out this reel.) We’ve also added more gates in strategic spots so when the cats do run, Stola can’t chase them very far, just through one room before they have a gate to get behind.

The third is a Penny issue. If we’re connected on Instagram, or if you’ve read her adoption posts, you’ll know this already but a quick backstory: Penny hoards her things. She stuffs toys into the edges of her bolster bed. She hides bones and chews and treats in couch cushions and behind my pillow. She collects cat toys from their basket and moves them under a blanket on the bean bag chair in the living room. She has always done this. Well, turns out, she also guards her hoard. So, we’ve had to make sure we remove everything from every nook and cranny and cushion–while she witnesses it happening–or else she guards these stashes from Stola with growls and snaps. This one’s on us to be vigilant until Penny feels secure.

BTW, I am absolutely open to advice and ideas on any of the above! Please leave a comment with your suggestions!

Of course, it’s only been a month. Stola isn’t fully settled in yet. (Remember the 3-3-3 rule?)

I’m adjusting to having a herd that isn’t adjusted to each other yet. After nearly 20 years of a settled “pack,” this is like we pressed a giant reset button.

Overall, things are going very well. Stola is settling in nicely. Sure, there are kinks. But… when in life aren’t there?!

I’m working on a post right now with our “puppy survival kit” so that’ll be coming soon. In the meantime, hope you and yours are doing well! I leave you with this sweet pic.

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