First, we changed our puppy's call name. His "official" name is still Diego el Bandito (Diego the Bandit), but we are calling him Bandit now (Edit: The "Diego" part has since been dropped altogether and our full name for him is El Bandito del Ephraim). I thought Diego would sound distinct enough from Dean if we put emphasis one the "e" sound, but Dean disagreed. He was starting to turn away, looking stressed, when we said his name. Ooops!!
Aside from that, when Ben came home the first weekend, he said, "maybe he is a bandit!" He does look like he's wearing a mask!
So, his call name is now Bandit!
He is settling in very well. The first week was crazy. When out of the crate, he moved nonstop and he put everything he could find in his mouth! I realized that I didn't quite puppy-proof in the right way and I spent a lot of time picking up little pieces of fuzz and stuff off the floor!
But he also took to toy play like a pro! By the end of the first week he was adept at tugging and now he can retrieve, although not quite to hand, his hollee roller!
By this week, he is much more settled in. He still has puppy energy, but he is more selective about what he puts his mouth on (whew!) and he generally does stick with his toys.
Things are also going well with Dean and Tessa. At first they did not like the presence of this tiny, biting, interloper! Tessa spent a lot of time laying around with her eyes closed, as if to say, "this is NOT happening!" She was a lot like that when she first came to live with us! Dean started to come around first. Around the middle of last week, the puppy was capering around Dean and Dean put his entire muzzle over the puppy's snout and he gave a deep long snark. Somehow, after that, his demeanor toward Bandit changed. It was as if he had communicated something that needed to be said and now they could start to get to know each other. I wouldn't say they are friends yet, but they are getting closer to being on the way to that. Tessa is going to take even more time, but she is starting to come around, too.
At first I had thought that the puppy would change Dean and Tessa and liven them up a bit. Now I see that they are teaching the puppy how to act appropriately in their world. It makes sense and it's working out well.
I started just a little bit of training with our new boy. I've never trained a puppy before and it is really interesting. I went into his x-pen with him after he had eaten a bit and I used some of what was left of his food. I lured a sit and he sat. I lured a stand and he stood. I lured another sit and he sat. I lured a down and he got up and started chewing on the carpet!! Puppy brain!! Not much in the way of attention span!!
So far we have really only done that, plus a few hand touches, and a bit of doggie zen. In real life he has learned a lot. He responds to his name when you call him. He is learning to release his toy on "give". He knows to keep his feet on the floor while I am preparing his meal. He is just kind of "getting" most of that!
We are starting training class on May 30!!!! It is going to be crazy taking such a young puppy to class, but I'm eager to get started. There will almost never have been a time when we weren't training together!
This is a puppy-growing crate. Every time he sleeps in here,
he comes out just a bit bigger . . . !!!
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