LuLu the Westie!!!

So aside from the facts that I live in a 32 foot bumper pull trailer and travel around the country with my husband working AND have 2 very fat, lazy, spoiled kitties, I was still unsatisfied. Why? Because from the time I was 19 and saw my first west highland terrier I have wanted one and haven’t been able to have one and since my best friend just recently added 2 mini Australian shepherds to her family–I felt the time had come to get my beloved westie dog. So I addressed the issue on the home-front. “I need a puppy. Don’t you want one?” I would say to my hubby. Finally, we had a serious discussion about it and that night I was shopping for a puppy. I was very careful not to buy from a puppy mill. I found Lulu in Choctaw,OK, only a couple of hours from our current residence. It was a family that had a litter for sale and since the parents weren’t champion “show dogs”, she was a little cheaper than the other dogs I found. The lady explained that she was the runt of the litter and wasn’t eating very much but that she was healthy and very sweet. For some reason, her being the runt made me want her even more.
I made arrangements to pick her up and as I made the drive to get her I began to imagine meeting her and her tail wagging and her little tongue licking me…but quickly told myself not to get my hopes up, I would be lucky if she wasn’t scared of me. When I arrived at the house and went inside, the lady quickly went and got Lulu. And I kid you not, her little tail began to wag the second she saw me and as soon as I held her she began licking me all over. If this wasn’t meant to be than what was?
I brought her home, and she stared at me the whole way, just eyeballing me. When we arrived at the trailer, I tried her on her leash. She wouldn’t budge. So I took my chances with her off the leash and sure enough she ran right beside me around the RV park. My only hestiation about getting a dog was that I had 2 cats, Lulu lit up when she saw the kitties and went and greeted them with kisses. They weren’t very receptive. Hubby came home from work and fell under her spell immediately. As we watched TV that night, she took turns sitting in our laps sleeping. That first night as I put her in her crate for bed, she never once cried or whimpered and let me know around 4:30am that she was ready to use the bathroom. I was so excited that morning to have her that I didn’t even go back to bed afterwards. All day she ran errands with me, we went to the park a few times, it felt great to finally have a dog.
I have had Lulu for about 6 days now and she is now walking on a leash, trying to eat everything in sight, like rocks, (yikes) and we are trying to potty train. She does good at night with the potty issue but during the day is a lot harder. Yesterday, a neighbor explained that she trained her dog to ring a bell when he had to potty and so we are trying that now. It must be clicking for her because as soon as I ring the bell to go outside, her little paws outstretch for the door as if to open it. Potty training a puppy is much harder than I remember though, we have several accidents through out the day but when she potties inside she now acts ashamed as if she knows she wasn’t suppose to go there. The cats are getting more use to her kisses and let her jump on them a few times before they scurry off, I guess that is ok?
The hardest part about raising a puppy so far is being stern. She is so small and sweet, I feel like a monster when she gets in trouble. I know that it is necessary though and although I do not raise my voice to her, I am getting more comfortable disciplining her. Right now she is sleeping beside my feet in a little ball. Yay for puppies!