Yesterday we went to visit a puppy that needed a home. Now, I'll admit, this one wasn't ideal. I have been hoping to find a female, one to two years old, bully breed, fully vetted and started on obedience training, preferably any color but black. However, I saw this face and I had to check it out.
This was a five month old puppy, lab mixed with wire haired pointer, housebroken, good with kids, cats, and dogs, current on shots, and male. He looked just like Nadia in the photo in the ad.
He was exuberant to say the least. He immediately knocked #3 to the ground, jumped all over her, pulled her hair and tugged at her clothes, not letting her up for several minutes. But all the while she was giggling and laughing. The pup them turned his attention to #4 who ran squealing through their yard as the puppy chased her, jumping at her, biting her clothes and knocking her over. She too met this with smiles and laughter, even after puppy knocked her down hard enough to leave a bloody scrape on her elbow and tore her dress. I saw smiles and excitement from #1 and #2, though #5 was more interested in a tricycle he found in their yard.
I knew this pup would be a handful, and I'd need to put a lot of time and work into training since he'd be starting from scratch. But I saw my children adoring this dog and he looks just like our beloved Nadia... I paid the woman $40 and brought the pup home yesterday.
His first day home was controlled chaos. He bounced all over the living room, using the couch as a springboard. We realized that Nadia never played with toys, so we were ill equipped to engage this pup. The kids found an old rope bone toy and we discovered that he loves the crunch of an empty plastic bottle. Nobody explained to #5 just how to interact with such a wild creature, so he would wait until the puppy no longer wanted to fetch the tossed rope bone. He would then retrieve it himself, and gift it back to the puppy. Too cute! The puppy maintained his potty training, going to the door when he needed to go out and we were prompt about letting him out. He played hard all evening before finally settling down.
Further inquiry exposed that the previous owner never took him to the vet and never got vaccination records. He will be coming along this week for Floki's second vet visit to get him set up with proper vaccinations. We will need to set up neuter surgery too.
i gave him a bath (which he fought against) and a dose of Frontline Plus (he is covered in ticks of all sizes). To prevent him from getting in to trouble overnight, and to give the cats a break from his presence (they hate him), we let him sleep in our bedroom, on the floor (Due to ticks and freshly applied Frontline). I'll admit I didn't get much sleep. Every time he would twitch, scratch, or wag his tail, I'd wake up with a start wondering what he might be getting in to.
Today we brought him to my parents' house to meet the rest of the family (and their dogs). He did well, though my brother's dogs would like to eat him (kind of expected). He didn't beg and he asked to go outside when he needed to. We discovered that he loves to run full speed, tail tucked, head down and mouth open through puddles. He also has a good recall (comes when called).
In just 24-hours he has kept to his potty training, and learned to sit at the door when he needs to go out to wait for his leash to be hooked to his collar.
I borrowed a kennel from my parents' house, thinking that if we kennel him tonight, we might get more sleep. I was wrong. He hates the kennel. I suspect he has some separation anxiety. He cried and whined after we all went to bed. After several minutes I was concerned our neighbors might call in a noise complaint, so I took him outside to potty one more time and let him into the bedroom. He did a once around to check everything out, but as soon as I was back in bed, he layed down on the floor and fell asleep.
We are still debating on a name for him. The kids really want to call him "Doctor" but I've still got a short list of names that might work. So far none that everyone agrees on.
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