Ooops! Went to Darby's 1st puppy training class yesterday
The 1st one was without the puppies & going through stuff like collars, leads, toys, treats, training methods etc... Whilst there we heard about a 14.5 week old golden boy who was back with his breeder after being savaged by one of the cats at his 1st home.
We went to see him & the rest was inevitable! Poor mite has a bald patch with teeth marks just behind his collar where the cat made a mess of him
. It seems the owner has 2 cats & decided that dogs aren't her bag.
We brought him home last night. We're calling him Dexter. He & Darby are getting on well now. After initlal intros & not being sure they chased each other round for an hour then slept together in the crate. Didn't hear a peep out of them all night.
Mindy just sits watching them as if she's thinking they're bonkers!
Every so often she'll join in for a while then go back to the settee to watch again.
We now have more than double the work. He's not been very well socialised & was quite defensive at 1st - probably thought Mindy & Darby were going to have a go at him. Hard work - yes. Rewarding & worth every minute - definately! He's already coming around really well & cottoned on to 'sit' within a couple of goes (with a treat of course)
I do need a bit of advice - he's guarding food & toys a little (just little growls if Darby goes near). I can understand why - feeling scared, insecure, worried someone's going to take them away or hurt him etc... Obviously, we want to sort this straight away. At the moment were doing swaps with the toys. Is this the right way to do it?
Secondly, his 2nd vaccination was only on Friday after he'd gone back to the breeder & was 6.5 weeks after his 1st. Is this OK or too long a gap? We'll be phoning our vet when they open at 11am to get him registered & checked over.
Finally, he keeps (pardon the expression) humping our legs!
Is this normal for a pup of his age? We keep saying 'off' and removing him from the leg & he is starting to get the message.