The puppy is getting big!

The sleeping through the night continues! We had one lapse where I caved and gave Ryan water right before bed. Big mistake and it will not be repeated! Other than that, he sleeps from around 9:30-6:00 every night, and then lies in his crate and chews on a bone from 6:00-7:00, when I've been getting up.

This week was full of lots more socialization, and we've still got plenty to do. We went to the pet store a few times, and to the university campus. Abby's agility class was this week and there is flyball tomorrow. We also went to an agility trial all afternoon.We have to work on meeting lots of other dogs since Ryan is still nervous of them. He growled at a lab puppy that we met today (that was very in his face, but no excuses for 10 week old Ryan!) so he definitely needs to meet/play with some pups his own age! We also need to work on resource guarding prevention every night, I think, since he tried to guard a chicken back from me last night. Also toenail trimming and grooming, since he'll probably have a rough coat and will have to get used to being brushed.

This morning we went for a really nice walk/hike. Abby ran the entire time - she was so full of energy! Ryan didn't have to or want to be carried at all. He walked for the whole hour and only flopped down for a couple of breaks (one of which happened to be into a gopher hole!).

I'll have to measure him again. He must have gained at least 3 lbs - he feels really heavy when I carry him! I'm not sure whether I can say he's better about being restrained on his back. He still puts up a huge fight, but I think I can probably get about 10 seconds of quiet not compared to none before. He really isn't very cuddly but I'm hoping that has to do with how hot it is out...I want him to learn to love cuddling! This week he learned 'leave it', 'out' and 'touch' (the palm of my hand). Abby is working on touching a target to improve her agility contacts. I'd better get on that tonight - it's my homework for Tuesday!

So Tired!

Phew, having a puppy is hard work! Things are settling down a bit now that I've got a schedule for Ryan. A couple of nights last week he was waking up at midnight (I was going to bed around 10:30), 4 and 6 am. The last two nights he slept from about 10:30 right until 6 - progress! I took him to the vet to be weighed yesterday and he's at 9.5 lbs at 8.5 weeks. I need to measure his height too - I swear I can see him growing! He is almost tall enough for Abby to hump now :D She keeps trying, but he's just too short.

The two of them play all the time now. Abby sometimes gets a little rough with the paw slaps, but Ryan seems to take it and can almost hold his own. He does circuits of the living room with stops under the table and the desk where he knows Abby can't jump on him. Then, when she isn't looking, he runs up to her, yaps in her face and runs off again. What a little brat! He's going to be trouble, that's for sure!

Did I say he hadn't cried yet in my last post? HA! This puppy is LOUD. He can make more noise than Abby! He yaps and howls and screams and cries when he isn't getting what he wants. He hates being held upside down, or restrained in any way really. We're working on that all the time, and I think he's made a little bit of progress. He yaps in his crate in the car for the first 5 minutes of the ride, but then quiets down. He definitely has a mind of his own and is pretty independent - he already goes off and explores parts of the yard where he can't see me.

He learned 'sit' and 'down' this week, and also what the clicker means. He catches on fast, but his attention span is about 2 seconds long! He can also go up and down the stairs in front by himself. He's had a few accidents inside when I wasn't watching carefully - just pee though. In general he pees as soon as he's standing on grass, and I don't think it will take too long for him to get the idea of house training. We're working on bite inhibition and I think he's starting to understand that when I shriek he has to tone down the biting. Abby is helping with that too - when he gets too wild she either grumbles at him or leaps up and walks away.

We've gone lots of places for socialization this week - the park every morning (although it's usually empty), the pet store, a doggy daycare (where he'll go when he's 3 months, and where puppy classes start next week), a busy coffee shop, a skateboard park and a kid's playground. I'm working really hard at this, so hopefully he'll be used to lots and lots of strangers and dogs and the noisy city. So far he seems a little wary of bigger dogs, but I'm sure he'll get over that when he's a bit bigger himself, and when he starts class/daycare. He is also scared of people holding objects when they try to pet him (ie. little boy holding bike helmet). I'll have to carry more strange objects around the house and practice calling him, and then get strangers to do the same thing. He'll approach anything for a piece of liver, so that makes things easier.

His schedule during the work week is a walk from 7:00-7:45 (off leash at the school field with Abby) and then running around the house and a bit of training from 7:45-8:05 while I get ready for work. He's in his xpen with stuffed toys, a potty box, his crate, kongs and a treat dispensing toy from 8:05-12:00. He gets about a quarter of his meal stuffed in kongs and the other toy. I come home for lunch for an hour and we play in the yard and the living room, then I'm gone again from 1-4:45 or so. He gets another quarter of his meal in the toys for the afternoon. When I get home we go out right away to meet people/dogs in a new place. Abby comes in the car and we usually stop to play fetch on the way home. They both get their dinner at around 6:00, and I haven't let Ryan have any water the past few nights past about 8:00. I've also kept him up after a short nap right up until bedtime, and that seems to have done the trick for getting him to sleep all night.

Tomorrow the annual CAPPDT conference is being held nearby so I'm going to go over there and check out the marketplace. I'm still waiting to hear whether dogs are allowed inside and I'll definitely bring Ryan in if they are. Abby starts agility next week so that will also be a good socialization opportunity.

Off to enjoy the sweet, cuddly, sleeping puppy!

A Very Big Update

My original plan was to get a puppy in May...then, I decided to get an adult and I got impatient and started fostering in February. Well...I guess I caught puppy fever, because look who arrived today:



Ryan, as I've named him, is one of a litter of 5 male puppies that came into TDBCR. There is another tri, a split face, a black and white, and a dark brown pup. I think they also had a red and white sister who was sold before the puppies came into rescue.

Ryan was put on a flight this morning at around 7:00 am and I picked him up at 12:15 pm (hour time difference, though, so he was in transit for about 4 hours I think). When I picked him up, he was lying in his crate happily chewing on a bone, and when I opened the door he came right out and bounced/rolled around on the grass outside.

I am completely in love with my little Ryan and he's only been here for 9 hours! Come to think of it, that might be why I'm completely in love with him :P So far he hasn't had a chance to do anything wrong - no accidents (lots off pees and poops outside and lots of praise for that!), no chewing anything but his toys, and no crying. I'm sure the crying will start tonight when he realizes he isn't with his brothers anymore.

Abby isn't sure what she thinks of him yet. She'd really like to play rough with him, but he is too little to play like that so I think Abby is pretty frustrated. She keeps getting really excited and racing full speed around the yard and taking flying leaps over him, while he lies on his stomach chewing a toy and wagging his tail. She keeps pawing him in the face, but he doesn't seem to mind that. She hasn't corrected him for anything yet - she just warned him to stay away from her bone and ball. She did roll him once while trying to play and then she looked completely shocked when he screamed.

Ryan is next to me passed out right now...oh the cuteness! He's got so many freckles all over his nose and the tiniest ears in the world. He weighs about 7 lbs and is between 7 and 8 weeks old.

We went to the school field tonight and Ryan flopped around with a stuffed toy while Abby played ball. A family came to the playground with a Golden and 2 girls on bikes, so Ryan got to meet them. He seems to be nice and outgoing and runs right up to everyone. On the way home we met a girl with her cat on a leash, so Ryan met the cat too. It was a perfect cat to introduce a puppy to - he was nonchalant about a puppy sniffing him. Ryan was a bit unsure of the cat but some liver treats took care of that.

I'm going to have to work really hard to bring him everywhere for socialization since there are way less dogs and people around here than there are at home (and I'll be here for Ryan's whole critical socialization period). I contacted someone about puppy classes who is supposed to be really good. I'm also planning on taking him (and Abby) to lots of agility trials and maybe flyball trials to meet other dogs and dog people. We live right by the university, and I can bring him to work sometimes so that will be good for meeting people.

I just took a break and played with the dogs, then took Ryan out for a pee before bed. He is now screaming his head off in the ex-pen. This will be interesting - my first puppy :D