Week Three
Is it only 3
weeks? A lot has changed. Lewi has grown, 5 days ago he was 1.1 kilos heavier
than when I picked him up. His legs seem to have grown, making it easier for him
to reach places that he couldn’t before. This has meant that we have had to
learn the command ‘leave’. This has worked quite well, though the first time
I used it was hard. A very loud sharp command, it frightened both of us! It was
followed with a good boy for obeying. There are lapses, but he is getting the
idea about things on the table and my shoes! He still heads for visitors’ feet
or bags, which worries me as it can be a bit annoying for them. Work on
‘sit’ is going slowly, but that needs to be incorporated into the greeting
routine.
He had his
injection and general medical last week; so going for walks is getting closer.
He was very frightened when we got to the vet’s but a tasty treat from her
soon won him round and he didn’t even notice the jab. We have made a good
start on preparing for walks. He is perfectly happy with a collar on now and we
have had one walk on a lead in the garden. It took a lot of coaxing and he was
unhappy about leaves falling out of reach. I tried to make it as unstressed as
possible, letting him choose where to walk. (within reason!)
He is chewing
much more. This leads to some problems, the leave command is coming in useful.
The key there is making it firm enough for him to realise I mean business, and
not to relax the telling-off body language if he answers back (which he often
does). I did notice today, in a quiet spell when he was sitting with me, that he
seemed uncomfortable. He wanted to chew my finger, but not with his teeth, he
chewed with the gums in the gap between front and rear teeth. I discovered this
as I was poking around in his mouth. (Vet training!) I think he may be teething.
A quick look on the Internet showed that this starts at around 3 months, well 11
weeks is near that. Back to Pets@Home I think to look for teething toys.
We have had
some puddles. Very small ones in key areas, done when I was not in the room! I
think it may be some form of marking. He is careful to go outside, asking if the
door is closed, to toilet properly. This is an issue to discuss with the trainer
I think. Every time we go to the garden for toileting, I make a point of saying
wee-wee as he urinates and praising him afterwards and he has made the link I
think. At bedtime I don’t want to spend ages in the garden waiting for him so
I say wee-wee and he does seem to get the idea.
There are still
issues around eating, for me anyway, sometimes there is too much else of
interest for him to concentrate on his meal. Unless it’s fish. A treat meal
for him is a piece of cod. I either lightly fry or steam it (I have to cook it
so that I can easily fork through to ensure there are no bones) and I mash it up
with some dry food. He eats that like there is no tomorrow. I have discovered
that he likes cheese as well. I have been using small pieces of grated cheese as
training treats.
We had the
first fireworks of the season on Sunday night. Luckily they went off during a
quiet spell in the evening when he was sleeping under my legs and feeling safe.
I’ve invested in a DAP diffuser to help when November 5th comes
round.