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.

Zeus Has His First "Bad Boy" Moment

It's partly my fault, this incident, but I was still surprised. I gave Zeus his lunch without standing over him -- I went about 8 feet away to do a little work while he inhaled his food. Just as he finished eating, our two male cats wandered by and -- zoom! -- Zeus was bounding around trying to play with them. Ben took off and got away, but Cal was trapped in a corner near the pet gate. I went after Zeus, and in the split second the puppy's attention was turned, Cal took off down stairs. I wasn't within grabbing range when Zeus took off after him. The stairs USED to be an impediment so I didn't think to close the pet gate.

So, I get to chase one excited puppy down the stairs and into the kitchen. Once there, I clapped my hands together sharply and said "Bad Boy!" Amazingly enough, Zeus took off back UP the stairs. I emphasized with some more claps (remember, puppy attention spans are all of 10 seconds long), but he was no longer impressed by the time I caught up with him and began scouting all over the upstairs room. I finally grabbed him and put him in his crate (stairs are no easy feat for me!) so I could recover.

I know these weeks will be full of tests, but I like to think the loud clap and "Bad Boy" might make some sort of impression our our pig headed poodle.

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!

Paper means Pee!

Zeus is doing fairly well. He still gets whiny when one of us (mostly Jay) leaves him in his crate or pen, even if the other (mostly me) is still in the room. If we are both there, all is peace. However, Jay has to go back to work and that means I'm on puppy duty.

Today, we went for a quick potty run out front, he squatted and then got interested in ice and a dog down the street. I needed to work upstairs, so upstairs we went. Our washer and dryer are upstairs just after the stair landing, and a paper towel had drifted there quite innocently. Well, Zeus was raised to piddle on shredded paper, so he sauntered over to the paper towel and -- produced more pee! I corrected him (without shouting or kicking or being mean) and out we went again, where he -- yes -- PEED again.

Our puppy is made of pee, curls, and dog biscuits.

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 :)