Jake has had a dog go for him and scratch his nose and is quite wary and submissive with other dogs. As a new dog owner, I am very unsure of doggy body language and rally have no clue how friendly any approaching dog will be. It's a minefield.
oh no.. that is scary! I have to say, our older dog, Pierre , has only barked, growled and snapped, no actual biting. Little Jaks has no fear of him, when Pierre barks, he barks back. Every now and then he will scamper back then run around the house with the puppy zoomies like crazy... then go back for more. Jaks actually has a couple scars on the inside of one of his ears from an aggressive litter mate, which leads me to believe he is pretty fearless.
The assistance retriever that my friend has taught Jake to bark. We had had no barking up to that point, then the retriever was being very vocal, probably because my friend had only been out of hospital for a few weeks (she spent 11 weeks in hospital after an emergency admittance). We will have a play date this weekend hopefully (earlier one got cancelled because of partner's health issues (also emergency admittance). The lab loves puppies. Will see if the retriever barks much this time. They gave us the most amazing puppy welcome box of goodies - better than a baby shower any day. I have to say, the choc lab is a medical detection dog and alerts to Addison's crisis. He is mentioned in Ben Fogle's book on Labradors and is amazing. But is also just a goofy choc lab.
Interesting about the two dogs. Our older dog was trained as a guide dog for the blind but didn't make the final cut, they are very strict, so they tried to re-service him as a diabetic alert dog and one day he just stopped alerting. We were at the right place at the right time and were able to adopt him at two years old. He has never been real tolerant for puppies, so we knew there would be an adjustment period, just wasn't aware it would be this difficult. Jaks has spent time around some other dogs that love and tolerate puppies, plus classes have been great. If Jake is doing well with the training you are providing and you are able get him socialized with other dogs then I wouldn't worry about the puppy class.
One question.. do you work outside the home? I can work from home full time if I want to, however I do have an office and I am trying to at least do half days there to let Jaks get used to being alone and have some down time.. PLUS it is letting me socialize a little bit !!
I work part time in a library 5 mins from home. So 23 hours a week. Full day Wednesday but can come home for lunch. Plus alternate Mondays all day. Teens are home by 3.45pm and husband works varying shifts (he's a train driver)
And we booked holiday to make sure Jake had someone around the first couple of months. He will start having to spend the odd period of 3.5 hours alone after half term. He is good in his crate and loves Kongs.
We had two dogs, who had very firmly bonded. Casper a rescue, and Benson now just over 2 and a half. It was certainly a challenge introducing young 8 week old Bramble, mainly for us making sure our older dog Casper was OK, and had enough time with Benson, who our pup adores. We use the crate a lot with Bramble and this helps. Incidentally, I have organised a massage for Casper, who has both hip and back problems. The conversation with my husband and Casper tonight went like this: Me: Casper, I have a booked a very SPECIAL massage for you next week! Husband and Casper raise their eyebrows.... Me: Sigh.....no not that sort of massage....!!!! So the moral of the story is to make sure you spend some quality time with your older dog Pierre...
In relation to using a crate, Harley never took to it, especially at night. We were happy to have her up in the bedroom with us so wasn't a problem. When I was at work she stayed in the kitchen with the door shut. After a few months she was in the living room. By 9 months she had the run of the house. I had an app on my phone where I could watch her when I was out.
I have had many moments in these weeks/months of having Duncan (now about 17.5-18 weeks old) where I have been like why did I do this??! Someone wrote about a particular instance of their puppy biting the tender underside of their arm... yep! Happened to me a couple weeks ago and boy did that hurt! Someone also wrote about how they feel like they are putting all their energy into the puppy and giving them everything and then getting nonstop bit by a crocopup in return! Yep! I have felt the same many times - Duncan had a UTI for 4 weeks, recently had diarrhea for a few days in which we had to spend hours making him gourmet chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, etc. and those are the hardest days when you are exhausted and giving them everything they need - they are fed better than you are at that moment and then the little buggers bite you! But it does get better every week with the biting and other issues... in exchange for other issues haha! The biting is getting increasingly better I will say, especially in the past week or so (he still has his very bitey moments/a couple hours of the day that he is crazy) but before he was literally trying to bite me nonstop every single day every single moment, so at least it is not like that any longer.... now we have a real issue with him learning "OFF", but he starts 12 weeks of puppy training tonight! Can't wait to have him exhausted from training and playing with other pups every Tuesday night so that the husband and I can get some time alone to remember that we aren't just puppy parents Here is my little biter last week waiting for an ice cube to fall from the fridge
Yes, I remember a light-bulb moment when I realised that my entire existence had been reduced to being a toilet attendant for a small ungrateful canine.
HAHA yes! We have had to remind ourselves a lot in the past couple weeks that we cannot constantly be talking about or fussing with Duncan and need some time to ourselves even if it is an hour long walk just the 2 of us or an hour or two in the crate for Duncan while we go out for dinner! The constant puppy playtimes, walks, potty breaks, vet visits, etc. had us literally spending all our time and energy on him and we had to start reminding ourselves we need time alone too!
