Things are going great with Merlin so far! He can already sit, shake, down and we started learning speak last night. It is harder to socialize with people and places like I did with Goose due to Covid but so far I have taken Merlin into Lowes with me (mostly carried him since he has only had one set of shots) when I bought lightbulbs and today I brought him into my office at work.
He is so much different than Goose as a puppy. Very active and very food driven. So far the chewing has been about the same and we are in full blown puppy shark mode haha. But I know/hope this phase will pass soon.
We are actually raising Merlin with a 10 month old baby (call me crazy but we were committed to make it work) and so far that has been fine as well. The puppy is very good around the baby and if he gets into a chewing play frenzy we just separate the two into different rooms until he settles. Both still get plenty of one on one time and my husband and I take turns with each when necessary. They are NEVER near each other without supervision within arms reach.
Yesterday he spent his first day in the crate/pen combo with a puppy pad while we were at work but I felt so bad. Mid March I am starting a new job where I am home 100% of the time and I cannot wait. In the meantime I will be trying to do as much as I can to make these 4 weeks as comfortable as possible for him when I do have to leave.
