Puppy gets a name

My name is Kahuna Ke'o Li'i.  But you can call me Ke'o for short.

Ke'o continually surprises us with how smart (and manipulative) he can be.  He's learned to climb stairs, but we're still working on going down stairs.  He can go down two or three stairs, at the most, without one of us having to help or carry him.  Ke'o seems to have found his "voice" also and surprised both himself and me when he barked for the first time this week.  Fortunately, he uses his voice fairly judiciously in play or to alert us that he's p-o'd about something.  He hasn't barked at anything else, like the front door opening or at people walking by or at cars driving on the road.  That alone makes me feel that he's a pretty special dog.

 

Puppy's first play date

Yesterday we went to our friends' house for a puppy play date with this guy:

Now, the very idea of my 2.2 lb, 11 week old puppy playing with a 75+ lb, 2 year old German Shepherd did give me some cause for concern for a minute or two, but Blitz (the German Shepherd) is such a well behaved dog.  He's probably the most calm and gentle 2 y/o large breed I've seen and that speaks volumes about how well his people, Dan and Karin, have trained him.  In fact, they're two of my biggest role models in how to raise Puppy right. 

Introducing dogs, especially ones that are so mis-matched like these two, can be over-stimulating for both dogs.  Puppy was shaking and clingy for the first few minutes while Blitz checked him out and settled down from all the excitement.  But once he got down on the floor, Puppy held his own and played well with the big dog, even egging on Blitz to annoyance.  3 hours later and this is what I got...

He slept this way the entire ride home, completely oblivious to the world.  When we got home, he stumbled out of his crate, went straight to his bed and fell right back to sleep.

And he wasn't the only one.

It was SO nice to have a quiet house for a few hours!

The first 48 hours

Hi!  You will love me.  Resistance is futile. 

We're now on day 3 with our newest family member (name to be determined this weekend).  So far, I feel more and more confident that I chose the right dog.  I did a lot of research, bordering on obsession, on which breed would be best for our lifestyle and energy level, as well as how to choose the right puppy. 

After a series of temperment tests, I chose this puppy out of a litter of 4.  He showed little to no signs of dominance, no signs of resource guarding, no mouthiness, and accepted my leadership and corrections immediately.  He was also the biggest of his litter, so I'm hoping he'll be bigger than the standard 4-6 lb Pomeranian.  He seemed naturally curious and confident, but looked to me for approval.  Too good to be true?  Maybe. 

A lot of people complain that Poms are hyper, yappy, and neurotic.  What people forget is that when we get dogs as puppies, they're a blank slate and so any bad behaviors they exhibit should have been corrected by their humans early on.  Dogs aren't bad or neurotic by nature.  We humans make them that way by letting them get away with naughty or dominating behavior and lack of proper socialization.  It's easier to make these mistakes with smaller breeds because we think their mannerisms are cute.  But the same mannerisms, such as jumping or excessive barking, from a larger dog would be corrected.   I'll get down from my soap box now.

Thursday night, aka the first night with puppy, was a challenge for all of us.  He had no problem going into his crate, which I placed outside of our bedroom door.  Thinking that we'd be close enough for him to smell us or sense our presence, it would be comforting to him.  It wasn't.  He woke up 4 or 5 times during the night and cried for about 15 minutes each time before falling asleep again. 

Have you heard a puppy cry?  It's really heartbreaking. 

Now I know why Ferberizing kids can be so difficult.  It was a challenge to not only go out there to comfort the little guy, but to also try to fall asleep while he was crying.  Thankfully, we all made it through the night. 

I took him to work with me on Friday and he behaved beautifully.  Played quietly on his bed, sat on my lap or at my feet and napped for most of the day.  Maybe an exhausting night wasn't such a bad thing after all... for puppy, anyway. 

We came home and puppy napped on his bed or next to us on the couch until it was time for bed.  At bed time, he climbed right into his crate without needing a treat or a bully stick to entice him.  I moved the crate in our bedroom and placed it near enough so he could hear, see and smell us.  Hopefully, he would feel more comfort by being closer to his new pack.  I guess it worked because he didn't cry once!  either that or I slept so heavily he didn't wake me up.

Today, we're going to visit our friends, the Schwalbe-LaBelles, and have a puppy play date with their dog, Blitz.  It should be interesting to see how both dogs react to one another, considering Blitz is a 2 yo German Shepherd and is about 150 times bigger than puppy.

24 hours and counting

After a couple months of careful research and a little over a week of negotiating, I'm excited to announce that we're adding a new member to our household! Pictures of my new guy to be posted tomorrow.