The Puppies at 16 Weeks

Somehow we have already had the puppies for nearly a month, and August 12th was the one month anniversary of our move into our first house. And we’re nearly one month out of the wedding. This summer has evaporated from under me faster that I thought it could, even with everything that’s going on.

This week the puppies have crashed through a lot of benchmarks – Mal attended his first socialization class on Sunday and is attending his second this weekend, the boys learned how to go up and down our big flight of stairs, they visited the big dogs at my mom’s house for the third time, and the hard edges of Ash’s personality has continued to mellow under our calm (and dominant) regime…and with the help of his brother for company

The first month with puppies has been a huge adjustment, and adjusting while we’ve been trying to figure out living in this new space has been an extra hurdle in the process. I have pulled my hair out over them, worried, laughed, been kissed within an inch of my life.

When we first got Ash he was extremely possessive of ‘his’ things, if he was playing he would really growl if I tried to take his toy away, and he would strike at me when I tried to brush him. We tried lots of things – giving him treats while we brushed him to make it a ‘positive’ experience, making sure he got to smell and see everything we used before touching him with it, using the other side of the brush to mimic the brushing experience… he was just very possessive of himself and his things, and nothing calmed him. For the first week I was quietly devastated, if his personality continued down this road – especially at such a young age – wrestling him out of this mindset was going to be all consuming.

I started reaching out to the family and friends I had who were good animal handlers and they all pointed me in the direction of The Dog Listener for a step by step guide to help Ash see both my fiance and I as leaders of the house, and towards watching Dog Whisperer on TV for a visual reference of corrections and body language. I learned that it wasn’t possible that Ash was being stubborn, because Ash wasn’t able to rationalize – he doesn’t know what he’s meant to be doing and then act against that, he just didn’t see me as the leader of the house who is naturally listened to.

It was hard, but I learned that being my lower energy easy going self with him was going to be a recipe for disaster.

After a lot of reading and watching, I stepped up my game. I was raised with horses and am a good handler – so I just asked myself “Would I let an adult dog do this?” as well as “would I let a horse do this?” and if the answer was no I would correct him like I would a horse – fast and stern touch, if he keep challenging me I would turn full to face him, pump myself up to full size and back him up a number of steps. Then just stand my ground. Be still as much as is possible. Be non-verbal, remember dogs don’t speak English and if I give a slew of commands they don’t understand I sound like a yappy, insecure dog. Then let him try again.

And, of course, we added Mal into the equation after a week and a half.

I walked them more than I had been walking them – 8 km a day (and blew out my knee in the process!), I decided to have more energy around them, to hold myself differently, to be calm but also dominant, I set rules and followed them all the time, and we set their daily schedule in stone – including on the weekends. Our little guys have blossomed, but so have I – I’m calmer and happier than I’ve been in months.

Being able to have a puppy who at 15 weeks old walks beside you instead of hauling at the end of his leash is a huge accomplishment, and knowing that we’re doing everything we can to have them be the best, most even tempered and happy dogs they can be makes me even happier that they’re so happy. When we have set backs I just grab The Dog Listener and go back to basics, and remember that in time this will all pay off….and in the mean time they’re really sweet.

Mal at 15 weeks

Ash at 15 weeks

I feel like a good mom. To really, really hairy babies.