@brushingboots thank you for the solidarity- that story does make me feel better 🤣 bless Pupsy, she wasn’t sure where to go! I felt bad both for my host and for Pablo after that. Poor buggar didn’t know where he should go and while I did show him in to the garden half way through the night (we were sat on their fenced in ‘yard’ while the garden is a few metres away) for a wee, he totally surprised me with the rogue bowl movement. Still, it would have been worse back when he was eating chicken kibble 😂
@GoodBones85 I thought I was asking the right questions too regarding health tests and things. It’s a bit of a whirlwind sometimes - if (when) I get another puppy I will know for next time. Like your breeder, mine didn’t ask me many questions beyond a very basic questionnaire!
I agree that kids have a knack to winding puppies up. For the first couple of months, it must have been very confusing for Pablo because my son is only with me for half of the week and at his dad’s for the other half. So one half was very calm, structured and predictable where he had adequate opportunities to nap (which as we all know makes a huge difference to their behaviour!) and the other half there was another small person in the house that can’t sit on the sofa without being a total fidget and waking him up!
On trying to get them to respect each other’s boundaries- I must admit I have probably trained DS more than Pablo in that way 😂 with P, it was teaching him to not jump up, teaching an ‘off’ command when he forgets himself and does it anyway and I spent time playing with him and saying ‘no’ if he mouthed me and rewarding him when he didn’t. He caught on pretty quick with that one and for the most part, rarely nips unless over excited - he usually opts for one of his toys or his sex dog to get out pent up frustration 😂
With DS, it was explaining to him that he is older and therefore wiser and he needs to be responsible. I think in some instances, kids enjoy having responsibilities and he is very good at, for example, letting P out to toilet when he needs to and figuring out when he needs something to chew on etc. I showed DS how I train P, and supervised him having a go so that if he wants to interact with him, he knows he can get a small handful of kibble and do some ‘training’ with him
He will sometimes want to throw toys for P to retrieve or to play with but I have had to work very hard on explaining to him not to hold it above his head and make him jump up for it, and to try and watch the signs of when P is about to get too overstimulated. In the past, P has mouthed at DS and I’ve consoled him to by explaining that P is still just a baby and doesn’t mean to hurt (we are lucky that P’s bite is quite gentle) so on the odd occasion it happens now, DS knows to remove himself from the situation and let them both calm it down a bit. DS tends to copy what I do so if P jumps up he will firmly say ‘off’ (that’s if I haven’t caught it first) or turn his back on him. I had to tell DS a lot that, whilst he looks cute when he is curling up to go to sleep, you must leave him alone. Don’t put your arms around him ever and don’t bother him unless he comes to you for affection (P will lie on DS’ lap now!) I once caught DS about to throw a blanket over P and had very stern words with him over that. All about respecting P as an animal etc.
Im not going to lie, managing both of them together has been the hardest part of raising a puppy for me so far and the little break the three of us had away at the end of the summer was difficult. But they seem to have found their stride with each other now and things are far calmer. On the day at the beach on Sunday, they were absolutely perfect together and it was a joy to watch as well as huge relief!
Sorry for the waffle! Anyone who read all that did well 😂