But on this particular day, I could care less about the situation going on between the two Koreas. I bought a puppy!
Meet Kimchi!
Admittedly, buying Kimchi was one of the more spontaneous decisions of my life (aside from, say, moving to Korea). I had no idea when I woke up yesterday morning that I would be a puppy momma by the end of the day, but I have no regrets about the new addition to my life.
Let me provide some background. Dogs in Korea are tiny. Really, really small. I suppose it only makes sense, given that the majority of the population lives in fairly small apartments, so why wouldn't they sell pets sized appropriately for the living situations, right? I can't tell you the number of dogs I've seen in purses, with little outfits, and my personal favorite, dyed fur (Poor things! Can you imagine a poodle with a purple tail? How humiliating!). While I'd had my phase in high school of thinking I wanted a tiny ankle-biter of a dog, maybe a Pappillon or Poodle, I later realized that I wanted a bigger dog, more along the lines of a Collie or Sheepdog. Thus, I spent the past four months glancing past the tiny Korean puppies I met, knowing that I would wait and rescue one from a shelter in the States like any responsible, sensitive, patient person would do...
And then I met Kimchi. I was walking through Emart with Alex just looking for a bottle of wine. As we walked past the pet store in the front of the store, we couldn't help but notice a particularly cute little baby puppy in the window, tearing apart a toy stuffed Pooh. Having time to kill and nothing better to do, we walked into the store and started playing with her. She was so excited to see us, jumping up and down in her cage wanting us to hold her. We even made a little game out of it, jumping together. She was just so unreasonably adorable! She looked like a Kimchi.
We made our rounds in the store, looking at all the calmer puppies and imagining them in my life, but we kept coming back to the feisty baby Kimchi in the window. I contemplated buying her right then and there, and then we translated the price tag, and I decided to pass. I liked her a lot, but maybe not that much. As she watched us start to talk quieter and edge towards the door, she got offended and quiet and walked to the furthest corner of her cage and started ripping apart a flower pillow twice the size of her. We walked out empty handed.
We continued downstairs to the wine department. As we roamed around the store, debating between the Syrah and Pinot Noir, we kept thinking about the baby Kimchi upstairs and the ridiculousness of me getting a puppy in Korea. What would I do when I was at work? How would I train her? How would I get her back to the States? So many questions! We decided on a Syrah and headed back to my apartment.
But when I walked in my front door, my whole apartment seemed so empty. I haven't decorated it much, and have assumed for the past four months that that emptiness came from my lack of posters and Christmas lights. But I realized then that it was empty because of my lack of Kimchi. A little puppy trying to jump up my stairs, waddling around under my coffee table. The thought was just too irresistible. Kimchi and I were meant to be. I went straight back to the pet store and bought her.
She's a sweetheart, still in the exploratory phase of her new life in my apartment. She can't get up my stairs, she can't get up on my coffee table, she can't even jump on my mattress lying on the floor in my upstairs loft. It was the easiest apartment puppy-proofing process in the world, I swiffered the floor and made sure the internet cable was propped up 10 inches off the floor (She's definitely a chewer, and I would rather she not accidentally electrocute herself in my absence). She's so excited to have space and someone to play with for the first time in her life. Kimchi is feisty and hilariously tiny, but perfect for me.
So there you go. I am now the proud mama of a baby Yorkie, who I guess you could call my first real Korean souvenir. Who knows, next week I might start buying couple's outfits and wearing a visor. We'll see... I'm pretty overwhelmed with this one part of Korean culture for now, so I might wait a while for the rest...
- Christine -
ps. Puppy advice would be GREATLY appreciated :)
Hey Christine! It's Errin! I have some puppy advice!
ReplyDeleteBuy a pee tray for her. I've attached a link to a picture that demonstrates its use - he he
When Martin and I looked after 2 puppies for 4 months we had to use pee mats because we worked 10 hours a day and even with the walk we'd give them in our lunch break, it wouldn't be unfair to expect 5 month puppies to hold it in. Like Kimchi they liked to rip up toys and cushions, so during the first couple of weeks of having them we'd come home 3 or 4 times a week to find that they'd ripped up their pee mat (often after it had been peed on!) This caused more mess to clean up then if we'd simply left them to pee on the floor. We found the pee tray to be a great solution. We still opted to fill it with the pee mats that you buy from the store, as it seemed a better option then emptying it down the toilet (wouldn't want splash back). It's also much better when they do a number two, as it sits on top and is easy to flush down the loo. Considering that we have to pay for expensive trash bags and you do have to get rid of the tissue and mats daily cos they smell, getting a tray would save you a lot of cash.
Daiso sell a lot of pet stuff. Their apple spray for cleaning up after dog pee smells gorgeous and is great at getting rid of pee smells - if you don't use a good floor spray the dog will smells it's pee and continue going in that place instead of their mat.
I know dogs are super cute and you want to give them treats to reward their cuteness, but in order to train them you should hold off on the nice snacks and just buy the basic training snacks and only give them to her during training. If you spoil her too early she will be harder to train and will only do stuff for the really fancy treats which will end up costing you a shit ton.
Create a time out zone for when she's been bad. Put her in this place and ignore her. One of the steps in your apartment would be good considering her size. We had a little pen for Buzz and Woody. If they have an accident it's a good place to put them when you clean up or they get in your way.
You can only punish a dog if you catch it in the act. There's no point coming home and yelling at her for peeing on your carpet or eating your favorite shoes if she did it hours ago - she won't understand. You have to yell at them and give them a small whack on the bum or nose when they are being bad so that they can properly associate what they did with getting a punishment.
I'm super jealous that you have a dog. We can't get one as England has a 6 month quarantine period that would cost us about $8,000. If you ever need a sitter or someone to walk her, both Martin and I love dogs and need exercise :-)
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.californiadogfence.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/wiz_dog_example.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.californiadogfence.com/pet-supplies/wizdog-indoor-dog-potty/&usg=__waD__R7IpFb54ZFoVTMgD6Sgkes=&h=317&w=280&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=K9GCVSrc_o981M:&tbnh=162&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpee%2Bmat%2Btrays%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1190%26bih%3D652%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=745&vpy=247&dur=2699&hovh=239&hovw=211&tx=104&ty=117&ei=0dHzTPCjG8Gqcdj28PcJ&oei=0dHzTPCjG8Gqcdj28PcJ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0
Hey Christine! It's Errin! I have some puppy advice!
ReplyDeleteBuy a pee tray for her. I've attached a link to a picture that demonstrates its use - he he
When Martin and I looked after 2 puppies for 4 months we had to use pee mats because we worked 10 hours a day and even with the walk we'd give them in our lunch break, it wouldn't be unfair to expect 5 month puppies to hold it in. Like Kimchi they liked to rip up toys and cushions, so during the first couple of weeks of having them we'd come home 3 or 4 times a week to find that they'd ripped up their pee mat (often after it had been peed on!) This caused more mess to clean up then if we'd simply left them to pee on the floor. We found the pee tray to be a great solution. We still opted to fill it with the pee mats that you buy from the store, as it seemed a better option then emptying it down the toilet (wouldn't want splash back). It's also much better when they do a number two, as it sits on top and is easy to flush down the loo. Considering that we have to pay for expensive trash bags and you do have to get rid of the tissue and mats daily cos they smell, getting a tray would save you a lot of cash.
Daiso sell a lot of pet stuff. Their apple spray for cleaning up after dog pee smells gorgeous and is great at getting rid of pee smells - if you don't use a good floor spray the dog will smells it's pee and continue going in that place instead of their mat.
I know dogs are super cute and you want to give them treats to reward their cuteness, but in order to train them you should hold off on the nice snacks and just buy the basic training snacks and only give them to her during training. If you spoil her too early she will be harder to train and will only do stuff for the really fancy treats which will end up costing you a shit ton.
Create a time out zone for when she's been bad. Put her in this place and ignore her. One of the steps in your apartment would be good considering her size. We had a little pen for Buzz and Woody. If they have an accident it's a good place to put them when you clean up or they get in your way.
You can only punish a dog if you catch it in the act. There's no point coming home and yelling at her for peeing on your carpet or eating your favorite shoes if she did it hours ago - she won't understand. You have to yell at them and give them a small whack on the bum or nose when they are being bad so that they can properly associate what they did with getting a punishment.
I'm super jealous that you have a dog. We can't get one as England has a 6 month quarantine period that would cost us about $8,000. If you ever need a sitter or someone to walk her, both Martin and I love dogs and need exercise :-)
Hi Chrissy, your friend gave some great advise. We crate trained Bessie and Charlie. They were in a safe place when we had to work because both were horrible chewers. I would have to drag Bessie to her crate when she was bad (no treats at all) but she learned. We also used Bitter Apple to help them chew less on us and the furniture. It also works with ferrets and cats. I have also heard of some people litter box training their small dogs. They claim it works, but since my dogs were bigger than a bead box, I never tried it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, she is adorable.
Aunt Judy