"We've had nothing but mean dogs today, and the only nice dogs we've seen all day were the two pitbulls!"

Bonnie and Clyde had their first vet appointment today. They had no idea what they were in for, and we had no idea how they would handle it. I've seen big dogs freak out at the vet. Our cats always hated the vet, and subsequently associated riding in the car with going to the vet, thus hating the car too. We decided to take them to the vet that Mom always used for her cats, which meant driving some distance. They handled the car ride well, and once we got there, they were very curious. When we went into the office, there were two very large dogs sitting with their people waiting for their appointments. The puppies immediately wanted to play. The other dogs didn't seem particularly friendly, so we let them smell the bigger dogs a little but left it at that. I'm not sure what kind of dogs they were, but they were very large and hairy. Bonnie got excited and peed a little on the vet's floor, so we wiped it up and kept our distance from the big dogs. The assistant had us sit in the smaller room off of the main waiting area because the bigger dogs were getting too loud. In the smaller room, one of the assistants had her full grown pitbull in a crate keeping her company at work. She had rescued her a couple of years ago, when she found her badly injured. She still had scars around her ears and face- most likely from some moron making her fight.
When Bonnie and Clyde saw the vet, they behaved very well. They gave the vet tech lots of kisses and only squirmed a little when they got their shots. The vet and the vet tech said that they had had mean dogs all day long, and that the only nice dogs they had seen were the two pitbulls. Score 1 for Bonnie and Clyde! We were so proud of them.
An important thing we learned from the vet was that when you are taking puppies to the vet before they have had their full round of shots, you shouldn't let them walk on the ground or smell around. He told us that a lot of sick dogs come to the vet and that some of the illnesses were highly contagious. Puppies are more susceptible and should be kept off of grass and walkways and not allowed to smell around where other dogs might have relieved themselves.
After going to the vet, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house to say hi. They remembered Grandma and Grandpa. They follwed Grandma around wherever she went (she gave them eggs on their last visit). They were able to use their puppy Jedi mind tricks to convince her that they needed eggs again.
Bonnie is totally convinced that she needs to be friends with their cat, but the cat disagrees. He's a Maine Coon cat and is bigger than Bonnie is. The first time they met, he tapped her on the head with his paw. So now, she is very cautious but really, really wants to play with him. They showed off their cute puppy skills and even sat for Grandma when she was about to give them their eggs. After running around the living room, playing with each other and getting petted by everyone, they fell asleep on the floor by us and took their afternoon nap.
Overall, it was a very productive day. They got their first round of puppy shots and spread more pitbull good will. The vet tech thought they were so cute that she even took their picture. They were representin' pitbulls every where today.

An important thing we've learned about pitbull puppies is that they need a lot of attention and affection. They want to be around us all of the time, which is kind of nice. They follow us when we leave the room and if we are in separate rooms, they stay in the room with one of us for a while and then go to the next room to check on the other one of us. We are usually only in separate rooms when Mom is cooking. So of course like the supportive puppies that they are, they supervise the cooking efforts very attentively so that they are sure to not miss any food that might find its way onto the floor. In the winter, this may be very helpful since they keep the mat in front of the stove nice and warm.

Lately Bonnie and Clyde have been growing. They aren't as scared of their leashes anymore. The first time we tried walking them around the yard on a leash, they freaked out a little bit. They weren't used to a leash and didn't know what to think of us pulling them around. We quickly abandonned the pulling and dragging method of leash training because it obviously wasn't working on our dogs. Instead, we've been easing them into using the leash at night so that we can keep track of them while they do their business.
We've gone through several chew toys and have decided that it's in our best interest to keep a variety of chew toys at hand so that only the toys get chewed.

They don't like to lay on the bare floor, so we made them some doggy pillows using the nice thick duck cloth that Mom uses to make bags and canvas buckets. The duck cloth is nice because it is sturdy enough to withstand puppies digging in the pillow and chewing on it a little. We made one for the living room and one for the dining room so that they have a comfy bed to nap on wherever we are. As soon as we put the pillows on the floor, they knew that the pillows were for them.