Barkley is HOME :) Third Night Update on page 6

[Alli and Barkley]

OMD no one told me how quickly I would fall head over heals for my new puppy.  We love him like crazy :)  He did amazing on the hour car ride home- slept half the time, whined a tiny bit, gazed happily out the window.  Once getting home he went potty outside, then explored the house.  Within fifteen minutes we gave him some food, and he ate about half.   Played a little, back outside, potty again (WAHOO), repeat.  

 

He is already going up and down stairs (three steps off our porch)- should I be worried?  He seems so young to do that.  He was hesitant when we went outside, and I was about to pick him up to carry him down but, he did it on his own.  

 

He hates his leash- likes to bite it constantly when outside.  I just take it out of his mouth and redirect him.  Hopefully he will start to ignore it soon

 

He loves to be around people, especially my 5 yr old- if Jackson is out of Barkley's sight he whines for him.  

 

Enough of that- here are a few pics.  I'll be back for more if I get time to breathe :)

 

Completely sleeping on Jackson.  "Mom, can you move him a bit, I want to get up."  Ten minutes later... "Mooooooooooooooom, I need to get up"

 

[Gayle Miller]

An A++ for you, Ali!! What a terrific job you are doing with your young pup!!  And he is just so adorable!  You're making such great strides, I can't wait to read posts when he' s all of 12 weeks old!!  Love the updates!

[Alli and Barkley]

just wait- I have a feeling in a few weeks I will be on here crying about how he doesnt listen lol

 

There are some drawbacks of course!

1) Roundworm=ICK!  We are so so lucky that he was being dewormed by the breeder or else it could be worse.  He was dewormed fours day before we got him.  Then since giving him the medicine we have seen 3 nasty white worms in his stool.  I can deal with a lot of things but worms?  ICK!  Hopefully he will be worm free SOON so I can stop cringing.  I swear to you my hands are bleeding from them being so dry due to constant washing

 

2) Seriously, there are times when I want him to walk on a leash and he will look directly at me and sit on the grass and start rolling around as if I didn't exist

 

3) You can make loud noises, kisses noises, clap your hand, tap the floor, use a squeeky toy, etc but if he doesn't want to come over to me- he won't- stubborn little guy!

 

4) My house was ready for Barkley, but my backyard wasn't.  We had a big wind storm a few nights before Barkley got here and there were a ton of little twigs/acorns all over.  I should have picked them up when I had the time because now, Barkley LOVES to eat twigs, flowers, acorns, etc

[Alli and Barkley]

should add that acorns can be toxic to dogs- so be careful when they are around them!  We have been trying to distract Barkley with a toy outside so he stops eating random things

[BG and Gavin]

Re #3 - do yourself a huge favour now and do not call him to COME to you unless you can completely 100 percent enforce the come.  That is only use Come is you have a leash on him and can follow up by pulling him to you.  I wish I knew this earlier as I truly believe that I spent half Gavin's puppyhood teaching him not to come (that is giving him a choice).  It has been tough retraining.

[Alli and Barkley]

I am a bit nervous about things going so smoothly currently- its like I am waiting for the sky to come crashing down.  I'll let you know how he is doing in a few months...

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Hehehe...wait until the 6-9 month period - teenage period.

BUT you may have a really calm, good puppy!  That has been known to happen :)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Allyson, I'm watching all of this since Alli is a few weeks ahead of me and it will be interesting to see what happens when I get my puppy home.   I would so love a calm puppy through the terrible teens but If it's not to be I will repeat the mantra from  the Old Testament "And this too shall pass' LOL

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Thanks Alli for all the great updates.  It will be interesting to see what happens when both Sandy and I get our puppies and whether we have similar experiences.  

Ps Glad you're over the worm stuff (yuk yuk yuk)