Bigger and Fuzzier, but no less puppy

Zeus is growing fast... and I do mean FAST. We will need to get another picture of him tomorrow on the park bench so we can have a record of his growth... WEED! He's Part WEED!

We have become less attached to the "no accidents in the house" as he ages.. of course, we are also not having as many... and a missed "half hour" no longer results in an automatic puddle. Zeus is also becoming more communicative about needing to go out.

One negative is that he's becoming a "nipper"... we're going to have to figure out how to stop that behavior before it becomes ingrained!

He is learning how to cuddle on the couch... I'm not sure that's a good thing.

18 Pounds of Puppy Perfection

 

image from http://www.bestbullysticks.com/

 Zeus is officially 18 lbs at 12 weeks of age. The vet is quite pleased with his growth, weight, features, etc. He is, to all observation, in perfect health.

This is very good news, and as he's had his 2nd booster shots and his kennel cough vaccination he will soon be able to meet with other healthy dogs without as much concern!

Of course, I look forward to not havi monthly vet visits... is a lot of $$$ on a very small budget.

Maybe I've been doing the walk wrong!

image from http://www.training-puppies.net/

Over the last couple weeks I've been walking Zeus, he's become more and more resistant to "the walk", especially since the snow when we can't give him easy roaming. We've also had to be very cautious on our walks not to let him sniff or nose areas other dogs have used, especially pooped, because his immune system is not yet up to snuff. This has led me to make our walks more "marches" than "fun explorations" together, and Zeus is beginning to resist having any tension on his leash out of habit. (he may want to go out and pee, but if I pull on the leash he will automatically plant his paws and resist)

So, what to do? I want walks to be fun and enjoyable for both of us while still enforcing that I am the pack leader. Today I decided to bring a crumbled dog treat with me and every time Zeus dug in his heels, I turned his attention to doing tricks (sit, down, up, etc.) and rewarded him with a treat for doing them. This distracted him from "resisting the walk" and we'd get another 50-100 feet before he remembered "no, I don't WANT to go where you want to go!" We repeated this pattern, going way past where we normally got without any need to drag him.

I did end up dragging him the last 50 feet or so because the end of the road had two houses with barking dogs that kept Zeus from focusing... but beyond that, the whole walk went without a "drag". YAY!

Puppy in Snow!

But of course we'd have 5-6 inches of snow within the first week of our bringing Zeus... still not having "the walk" down, nor house training completed, we must suddenly face weather that confuses and beguiles the puppy. Yay, Universe! Thy sense of humor is most sadistic!

Actually, Zeus has done fairly well... the hardest part of the snow walking and pottying is that the kids playing outside are screaming and distracting and the people driving are scary as hell (very few people in South Carolina can manage intelligent driving on snow and ice). We cleared an area to the left of the driveway where he normally pees per the suggestion of our friend Lori, and Zeus has used that spot all day.

Walks are somewhat out of the question... it was never over 29 degrees F today, and the poor little guy ended up shivvering any time we went for a walk. (it is a very wet snow, and been sleeting all day)

Poodle Parent Paranoia Ping Pong

On Tuesday, Sherri had her poodle parent freakout -- fearing she won't love the puppy and she will not have the patience to deal with him. She moved past that. Wednesday I had my poodle parent freakout when the puppy decided to start doing dominance play with me.

Three days and he's decided I'm not Alpha?!? What have I done wrong? Why am I considered weak? Fret. Worry. Panick.

Naturally, I've also moved past that... and I've spent my day analyzing how I walk with the puppy, how I play with the puppy, etc. and have made adjustments to my behavior. It seems to be working.

To make certain nothing happens to the Zeus due to our fears and concerns and moments of frustration or fear, Sherri and I have agreed we will alternate whom is freaking out so that one of us is stable at all times :D
I am happy to report that he doesn't appear to have "separation anxiety". We seem to be doing all the right things to prevent that :)

Welcome Zeus!

January 02, 2011, Zeus, our standard poodle puppy, came home with us. He was the result of a most unusual combination of nature and nurture. Our breeder, Bev, of Calisun Starndard Poodles, mated her dam Sunny with Aris sire London to produce a litter of 11 puppies. All black, all beautiful, and way too much for one dam to produce milk for. Bev's younger dam, Lilly, was mated at nearly the same time and had her litter the same weekend as Sunny, but had only four surviving puppies. Two of the puppies from Sunny's litter were transfered to Lilly for rearing. Our Zeus, known as "Big Green Boy" at the time, was one of the Sunny/London puppies raised by Lilly.

Bev has been a loving, dedicated, professional, (if possibly over cautious) breeder and I believe our puppy could not have been welped and reared by a better one. She worked hard to match the temperament of the puppy to our lifestyle.

We are determined to do our best to raise the perfect, balanced dog. As such, we have prepared his space near our bedroom, made sure the cats have their spaces preserved, and have plenty of time available to us for the next few weeks to make it through these beginning days of puppy needs.

Thus far we have learned that he does try to tell us he needs to go out... and if we don't listen we get a piddle. We only understand his warnings half the time. Still, for a 9 week old poodle puppy to already be working to tell us "I need potty now" is quite amazing to me.

In the past 24 hours he's had 4 accidents which we could have prevented had we paid attention. His first night was fairly successful... we tired him out with walks and play before going to bed, and took up his water about 2 hours before bed. This allowed him to make it through the night for 7 hours before needing to go potty.

His primary challenge is the stairs. Our staircase is very steep and long. I took him several trips partially carried up the stairs before he was confident enough to climb them himself. He is willing to go down short flights of stairs, but the full staircase is too intimidating at present.

All in all, he's been a calm, attentive, curious puppy with no inclination to chase the cats. This bodes well!