Poppy is (mostly) a joy! I am so happy that we have her.

She will be 12 weeks old Sunday and is already house trained (accidents only once in a very great while), yipping to tell us she has to go out. She has also learned a few commands: sit, come, down, and is working on off and stay. She LOVES meeting people and dogs. She has learned that when people on the sidewalk say, "OOOHH!" she's in for a fussing over and she heads right for them.  What a ham! She is learning leash walking quite well and bites at the lead only once in a while. Of course, since everything is new to her, she wants to stop and sniff every 10 feet! And people stop us to see her every other 10 feet!

The only downside is that she is VERY mouthy and chewy. I know she's probably starting to teethe, but WOW! We have an assortment of chew toys for her of different textures and freeze wet washcloths tied into knots so that she can have cold on her gums. She gets into a "chew frenzy" at times and goes nutty chewing on her toys, bed mats, our pant legs, the leg of an ottoman, and our hands when we move her away from things she shouldn't be knowing on. I may be forgetting, but I don't remember Asta being that mouthy when she was that age. We tell her, "No!" in a sharp voice and she stops and looks at us. We give her some other command, which she complies with. We throw a toy, which she may or may not retrieve or we put a chewy toy in her mouth which she may or may not take. But then she goes right back to chewing. After a few times of this, we put her in a crate (different from her sleeping crate) until she settles down. Sometimes she falls asleep in there but others she scratches and whines to get out. We won't take her out until she has been quiet for at least 10 minutes, though. 30+ years of working with preschool kids has steeled my nerves to tantrums (haha). After her "time-out" or nap, she is usually good for awhile, but eventually she is back at it.

Any anti-chewing-on-forbidden-items tips are appreciated. Thanks!