Purebred vs. Mongrel

I'm not having much luck housebreaking the new puppy. One thing I've noticed though, is the difference in intellect between the lab and the chihuahua/terrier mix. I don't know how much of it is due to the breeds or due to the fact that the lab is purebred and the chihuahua is a mix (is the correct term mongrel?).

Our yellow lab who passed away earlier this year would have been smarter than this puppy but not as smart as the purebred lab, which makes me wonder that it's the breeding that makes all the difference.

If I was going to put these dogs on a scale of 1-10 in terms of smarts, the black lab (purebred) would be a 10, the yellow lab would have been about a 7, and this poor chihuahua puppy tops out at about a 4.

The puppy watches my hands, watches my feet, the lab watches my eyes and my face. I just can't even begin to describe the difference. The lab, during training, would pick up on things very quickly, even if she didn't follow all your rules, you could tell she knew the rules and was just deciding to disobey them. This puppy isn't getting the message though at all. In terms of housebreaking, or chewing things or stealing food out of the lab's mouth, whatever the case may be, the repetition that I have to go through to get him to learn something is incredibly tedious.

We're bonding, but I think from now on, any future puppies, I'm only going to allow purebreds in this house.

Got a new puppy

I am having no luck with baked fries. I've followed recipes to a T, and the fries will stick to the cookie sheet or foil and rip in half when I try to pick them up, every time. I've used parchment paper, no-stick cooking spray, foil, coated the fries in oil, whatever the recipe calls for, I've tried it all, and cannot get them to not stick to the sheet. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

We got a chihuahua/terrier mix a little over a week ago. A puppy we rescued from the SPCA. He still isn't housebroken, although we are making good progress. He was a birthday gift to Kristin. We've been wanting to get a new dog ever since our yellow lab passed away last February. We went to the equestrian show and the SPCA had a booth there with some dogs in a cage. That got us to swing by the SPCA on our way home to look at more dogs. Kristin fell in love with a few, but this little puppy was the one that was actually available for adoption. When all the dogs in the pound would go haywire, jumping and barking, he didn't really react to that or add to the barking. Toney really liked that aspect, our black lab is hyper enough, we need a more sedate dog to accompany her. I think he's pretty calm for a chihuahua mix, although he does the typical puppy behavior of darting everywhere and chewing everything. The two dogs have taken to each other already and spend all their time together.