Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

I am so tired and so wiped out — Saturday night the puppy alarm went off at 12:30am, and at 3am, and at 5:40am — each time I carried the 16#’er out to the side yard. Each time he did his business as I repeated my signal, “Get Busy”

DH informed me on Monday that that signal isn’t a good one. He reminded me that we used that signal before kids but now with kids we tell them “Get Busy” often. Opps. We aren’t changing the signal.

Sunday I was just a little bit bushed but it was the males of the house who complained of being tired out on Sunday. Hmm, they didn’t get up, walk down the stairs, walk around outside, carry the 16#’er back inside, and place him into his crate. Nope, they were only bothered by puppy cries —- but of course they are the ones that are all tired out.
Early in the morning we threw around puppy names. In the lead was Roscoe, Leo, Oberon, Maximillian, Sherlock, Bear, Ben — too close to our Great Dane’s name of Benson–, Ajax, Obi-Wan, Wookie….on and on it went. Finally SK and MK agreed upon Roscoe.

By the evening I called time-out, and asked for the boys to consider a new name for our puppy. MiltaryKid has an accent that sounds similar to a British accent, so every time he said Roscoe it sounded just like Oscar. Oscar was our previous dog, a German Shepherd with a mind of his own. No, that’s being kind. He was stubborn, assertive, determined and positive that rules could be changed and that he could become the Alpha dog any moment. I needed our puppy to have a different name.

I consulted with my TX sis who suggested Tex, along with a few others. Bruno, Rufus, Romulus, Caesar, … nothing seemed to fit. Suddenly it hit me though, my Ohio State Buckeyes would be playing football this Monday night for their National Championship….. Brutus the Buckeye is their Mascot and Brutus would make a fine name for this puppy. SK was on board right away, and soon MK was on board too.

Brutus the Buckeye.

Sunday evening I was in bed and asleep by 9:30 with the promise from SK that he would take the first shift and take Brutus outside. Before DH went to bed at 11pm he took Brutus outside, put him into his crate and went into the bathroom. Unfortunately he didn’t tell me that he had done that so when I heard Brutus crying I got up and took him outside. Brutus is not thrilled with his crate yet so he cries a bit for the first couple minutes he enters it. UGH, if I had only known. I was up again at 3:30 to tell SK to take his turn, and the alarm got me up at 5:30. It was raining hard, all night too. Brutus somehow was well rested and wanted to play from 6 to 9:30.

ScienceKid — he was sound asleep on the sofa while MK and I played with the puppy.

We worked on making the crate a fun place today by placing a few biscuits in there, broken up so the pup would have some fun seeking them. At night the crate is besides MK’s bed and it really takes only a few minutes for Brutus to accept being in there. He’s adjusting and I know it is the safest place for him at night. Maybe tonight he won’t cry when we put him in it for the night.

We also placed a bell on our outside door today. Everytime we take Brutus outside we ring the bell. We’re hoping to train him to ring the bell when he has to go outside to do his business. Well, by the late afternoon Brutus was ringing the bell !!!!
Oh, and as far as school work, the kids got a few things done but it was far from a really productive day. We also visited the vet; Brutus has gained 7# in 12 days. Hmm, he’s gaining weight almost as fast I gain weight, but he is supposed to be gaining weight.

Tonight, well Brutus is asleep and I’m watching my Buckeyes get trounced by Florida. They aren’t even giving them a run for the money. UGH is a common sound being heard around here. I should get to bed instead of staying up to watch thi trounce cause I know Brutus will be asking to go out a few times during the night and I’ll be the one walking out into the cold.