Introducing..... Womble!

[Nettle]

On the 6 weeks home change - when I were a young 'un (cue violins) pups normally changed homes at 6 weeks. If I was getting a pup in as opposed to breeding it, I'd want it at 6 weeks as long as it was ready to go. Avatar lady was by my stud dog but someone else owned the b itch, and she came home on her 6 week birthday. But, like Emms, I could choose to work from home, knew what the puppy needed, and knew what to expect. 6 weeks old is way too young for first-time puppy owners or anyone who has to be out for a significant part of the day. All day every day revolves around the puppy. Avatar lady had 2 accidents in the house, and they were both on her first night. Her daughter had 6 wees but 4 were due to OH not seeing the signs My stud dog never had one accident in the house at all except for the first time he learned to lift his leg and thought it might be okay indoors. He was rapidly appraised of the fact that it wasn't and never did it indoors again.

When I was breeding, my pups were well ready to leave home at 7 weeks, and could have made the change at 6 weeks to the right homes. Same with the little circle of breeders I mix with (we help each other out with whelping etc). The common denominators are raw feeding and raw-fed b itches, which really does bring pups on (they start to wean themselves from 2 weeks old straight onto raw) and very 'natural' types of dog - hounds and terriers.

[emmabeth]

Yeah, we were introducing him to my sister wearing a bike helmet - he thought it was fun that she had a window over her face! And also to the sound of the bike, fine with it running on tick over, slightly concerned about it being revved but he bounced back fast and wasn't concerned the second time nor when she zoomed off on it. We will do that again in a few days/weeks time I think

He also met a little girl with her Grandma who came and said hello and saw some cats which were apparently not interesting at all, some people on bicycles whizzing around, and some kids bouncing a football - so pretty good going for today!

He does have MEGA issues about being in our car - I sat in the boot with the tailgate up and he threw a strop about that whether he was sat in the boot, sat on my lap in the boot or sat on OH's lap. Not interested in cheese, just yelling his head off until allowed out. Next time we go somewhere in the car I'm going to sit on the back seat with him I think. Id like to spend more time just sat in the car doing nothing but theres NO shade to park our car in and its too hot with the doors shut and windows partly open (and windows fully open mean he would launch himself out I reckon!).

[DianeLDL]

Thanks for the explanation.

I had visions of packing the dog on the back of the motorcycle.

Diane

[emmabeth]

LOL! He did have a cuddle sat in front of my sister on the fuel tank for a bit!

[emmabeth]

For those who wish to see the terrible biting piranha puppy...





(OH took these hence the angles that make him look weird, he is really in rather nice proportion for his age!) Look at the knees and feet on him!



Puzzle solving pupper!

[DianeLDL]

Emmabeth,

I dont know what you mean, OH did a great job with the photos. Kudos!

Womble is so precious looking. One would never know his piraña tendencies, he looks so fun and beautiful. I can see how you fell in love with him.

And already working a puzzle. Being your puppy, with your experience, I wouldn't have expected anything else


Kind if makes we wish we had started with a puppy. But, as my OH reminds me, we have the dog we have.

Diane

[emmabeth]

Sometimes I wish he was a grown up already! Today he has given me a couple of what WOULD be considered level 3 bites (Ian Dunbars bite assessment scale), were he an adult dog. Of course needle sharp puppy teeth pierce puny human skin very easily but he bites SO hard, and repeatedly, snarling and diving at you (he got me on my eyebrow this morning!). I can very easily see that had he gone to an inexperienced home, they would be scared that he was really aggressive or that there was something wrong with him!

He is a super fast learner, though most puppies are at this age (possibly not QUITE as quick as him!) - he mastered going up stairs two days ago. Today, he mastered coming DOWN stairs as well.

In my experience, most puppies don't figure out coming back down for a good month or two after they figured out going up, because coming down requires a great deal more balance and sure footed-ness (downhill is all wrong for the rear-wheel-drive quadruped, particularly given a pups centre of gravity changes almost daily. The weight is all at the front with a large head that puppies have making balance harder, and the drive comes from the back, its a recipe for going A over T!)

[Nettle]

Oh MAN, the size of those knuckles

I hope for the sake of the other puppies you have the only bitey one. We didn't call Avatar lady 'the Kraken' for nothing!

[Suzette]

Such a handsome boy! I especially love the first of the three recent pics. You can see that perfect mix of intelligence, curiosity and mischief in his expression.

[emmabeth]

Today, Womble has done some clicker training Mainly focusing on being nice (not biting!) and calm (not snatching and grabbing at stuff).

Tried out the back seat in the car so he is on the seat rather than my lap (meaning I have to sit in the back with him, yuck!) - marginally better on the enraged yelling, down to a pathetic whinge. Not any better on the puke front though. Ok to my dads, sicked between dads and pub, ok back to dads, sicked between dads and home (twice).

So, PUB.... been in the pub (not on the floor though, too many feet and I have no idea when that carpet was last cleaned!). Sat outside the pub - on the floor because at least the rain washes that, unlike the carpet inside! He slept under our table very peaceably for a while, met some folk, was sniffed by two rather rambunctious sprocker puppies (brothers, 14 weeks old, huge chunks they were!), he wasn't keen but wasn't overly concerned either. Watched them play like wild things from the safety of between our feet, slept some more!


The last two days he has discovered actual playing with Kelda and Errol, as opposed to chasing unwilling adults and biting them and then being told to sod off. This has meant Errol has been marginally nicer to him and they seem to have developed a decent set of rules about play wrestling between them (lots of breaks to check the other still wants to play).

[Sanna]

Oh. My. God. Toooooo cute!! Those feet!

Precious got hubby's 'man parts' a few times too Now that he's bigger he tends to head butt him in the balls as opposed to chomp on them..

[minkee]

Womble is amazing. And I LOVE his name I've been quiet round here lately, but lurking and reading avidly. More updates! More pics!!

[gwd]

And I LOVE his name

I totally didn't 'get' the name until I googled it..........

he is such a little cutie..........quick, tell me a horror story because i'm getting the puppy hungrys .

[wvvdiup1]

Wow, what a gorgeous puppy! I'm glad to hear things are going well -well most of the time anyway- but in due time, you'll have a good, well-behaved puppy! As for the cats, I'd watch him to make sure they don't scratch him in the eyes. Cats can be nasty that way!

[emmabeth]

Ahh, he needs to meet Miss B the cat again, shes so ancient she couldn't scratch the skin off a rice pudding!

So - 9 days since the last update!

He's been doing some furious growing, the face has lengthened, the legs have definitely gone upwards too.

He has MUCH fewer furious biting fits, though he did have one tonight, he got REALLY annoyed about something, a crumb down a sofa cushion or something silly like that, then he was stuck upside down, then we rescued him and he got stuck head first down the back of the sofa cushions with just his bum sticking out and these SERIOUSLY peed off growling sounds coming out of the sofa....

When I rescued him the ungrateful little git clamped down on my arm and went GRRRRRRRRRR GRRRRRRRRR GRRRRRRRR with a totally demented look in his eyes - I can so see how this would freak out some folk, but hes just frustrated. OH had to unclamp him from my arm!

He has survived his first nail clipping AND nail filing session - easy peasey, I just did it when he was mainly asleep He now can't remove chunks of flesh with his claws, only with his teeths!

Bit slack on the socialisation front this week as I've been a bit under the weather, but we have done a fair bit of clicker training which he LOVES, and hes been eating two meals a day otu of the back of the car (he hates the car) - we are being a bit devious and putting the bowl in the car where he can see it, he knows whats IN it... but hes too little to jump in the car so he gets annoyed and he really REALLY wants IN the car... so then when he gets it hes really chuffed and happy about being in the car and we take him out the second he finishes so he has no chance to go 'urgh, car HATE CAR'... bwahaha.

I found him a new toy that he likes, rubber (but not the yucky tasting kind) Orka brand (or maybe thats the name of the toy I don't know) its see thru blue rubber with a rope through it and its really got just the right amount of give to satisfy his BITE IT urges most of the time.

He has also learned to play tuggy with Errol! I think this is amazing and much better than the all in wrestling they were doign - haven't managed to photograph that yet. Did capture a donkey-dog having a sneaky test of puppy toys though!

Onto some pics of play!

Some of these look a bit EEK! but Kelda was actually being super gentle and careful not to really properly squash him. There was a LOT of pausing on her behalf (not nearly so much on his!) to double check he was still into the game.













And here's a Kelda caught playing with the baby's toys!