It has been two weeks since Oliver came home. We have seen much improvement. He does not snap at Tasha at all. He has had a couple incidences with Quinn but nothing like the beginning. He is courteous about the cat, but does not chase her anymore.

This past weekend I took him and Quinn to the EMS Conference at Mt. Sunapee. He did very good socializing with people, and okay with other dogs. Mostly it was other dogs passing by that he barked at. Only one real mouthy event when and unleashed collie came up to him.

While at the Mt. I put them into a day care for the day; I loved the place and will definitely use them again. They tried to introduce him to other dogs and said he really wanted to play but then became snappy so separated them.
Today I brought him to Pembroke Vet Doggie Day Care. Quinn went in with the general population and Oliver went into day boarding. At the end of the day it was reported that he really acted like he wanted to join the other dogs and after he was neutered we would work on it.

On the way home we stopped at AK9C and spent 15 minutes or so working on socializing with dogs. We had a number of snappy attitudes. Will continue.

He is getting much better at waiting. Sits and downs are okay. With me is a slow process, but I am remembering “baby-steps”"

Here are the boys on DHART1. Look at how happy Oliver looks and what a great job he is doing on his "wait"!

Week 1

Well it has been one week since I brought Oliver home. He has adjusted to well. In fact today I left all three dogs alone while I worked on the ambulance. I went home at 10 AM and 2 PM to let them out to go potty. They were good and no accidents and no destruction.

I had my private lesson/evaluation with my trainer last night. These are my assignments:
1. The name game
2. Power praise
3. With me
4. Stay
5. Stay with cookies on floor

We also worked on control when he becomes aggressive or barking. I am to grab his collar, lift his front legs off the ground, while holding him between my legs. As soon as he relaxes, release and praise.

Also to work on car rides she suggested getting a bunch of water bottles with a little water in them for weight and every time he barks or carries on toss one at him for a distraction if I am driving. Also take him to the oval, park it, and sit with him and work with him by lifting of collar and apple bitter.

He did very good at the arena. Sure he was excited and barked, but no aggressive behavior! Yeah!

Tonight I saw a big improvement when training, "with me". He is so smart!

Quinn seems so happy. He plays and plays with his little brother.

I am happy.

Day 4

The little things I have taught Quinn I no longer take for granted, like waiting and let me go through the door first, or waiting in the car until I have everything gathered, then I call him to come. Oliver has all of this to learn. Yes, he will sit and down, and even stay for a second or two but there is so much more he needs to learn.

Going through the drive through at DD was a trip! He was so excited when I put down my window and he saw the girl there, he tried to jump out. So we need to work on staying and waiting in many situations. Getting out the car is so difficult because has soon as you turn the car off he is in your lap ready jump out. I have to hold him down, get out, make him sit and wait a second (a second at I time…baby steps) then I let him go. Have done this 3 times now and already he is beginning to pick up on the habit, he is such a smarty pants.

Last night Quinn and Oliver played tug of war with a stuffed toy, they raised all over the place playing, it was so fun to watch, they both were panting by the time they finished. Tasha tried to get on it to but wasn’t quiet fast enough. I was right on day 1 when I said she was pissed but would get over it.

Funniest thing so far was Quinn had the toy and raced up onto the back of the love seat that Chris was sitting on, Oliver was chasing right behind and over shot his jump and ended up jumping over the couch and onto the floor.

Today I worked and left Oliver home with Chris who had the day off and took Quinn in with me for ½ a day and then switched dogs at lunch. Chris took Oliver for a ride in the pick up and went for coffee. He said he was “pretty good”, also wanted to jump into the driver through window, but he said he just pushed him back onto the seat.

While we had lunch I left him in the crate in my vehicle and he carried on like he was being murdered; I do not think he was crate trained.

No growling or snarling episodes so far today.

The training goals until I meet with Ann on Monday are:
1. Maintain practice on heeling whenever on leash.
2. Teach him wait for going in and out of doors, vehicles, etc.
3. Continue to practice sits and downs.
4. Practice come with yummy cookies.
5. Teach him to roll over.

He seems like more of a trickster than Quinn, he seems to be picking up the rollover pretty fast. We will see.

Bad habit I need to talk to Ann about is barking at people. Either in the car, on the street when walking, or at work looking out the window.

Day 3 - We have a name!

Good day. Our wonderful new little boy will be registered as, "Sure Haven Twist of Faith" with a call name of "Oliver" (Oliver Twist).

Will post more tomorrow.

Day 2

So I do not believe my little guy is crate trained. He cried ½ the night; either he isn’t crate trained or totally stressed. Anyways, he awoke me at 4:32 am, so I got up and pottied him and then took him for a ½ hour walk. When we got back I got Quinn up and took care of him. He is still petrified of the pup. No incidences this morning with ‘potty mouth’ (the snarl and vocalizing to sound like a big meanie.) I put the pup up in the bathroom with his crate left open, some toys and a fresh marrow bone. Then I took Quinn and headed to the Tech, dropping Quinn off at daycare so that he had a “normal” day.

After teaching I picked up Quinn and headed to work in Wilton; along the way I stopped in and found my trainer and explained the situation. She came up with the “potty mouth” phrase. She was very confident we can correct this problem. Her first suggestion was to set boundaries with him and not let him get away with it. I am to grab him by his scruff and lift his front feet off the ground and spray his mouth with bitter apple. I will also set up some one on one sessions with her and then move him into Basic Obedience class. With that information I continued on my way feeling much more confident. I stopped at Agway and for $5.99 purchased 8oz container of bitter apple, choosing it over the pint size, optimistic that we can nip this in the bud.

I stopped by the house on the way to the office to see what destruction occurred in the bathroom over the past 5 hours; happily the only upset was some towels pulled off their rack and a piddle spot. I can live with that!

Quinn went from daycare to work with me and seemed to be pissed at me, but at least his tail was wagging.

After work all went very well initially. Everyone pottied and then Quinn and the pup actually played for about 10 minutes. Then the pup got rambunctious and tried humping Quinn. I corrected him and that ended the play. Then the pup growled at Tasha and got a taste of the bitter apple. We had a couple more growling incidences; then I took Quinn and pup for a walk on the double dog leash. It went great! Everyone walked nicely and seemed to enjoy themselves. Next I decide to take the two down to the ambulance bay so the pup could begin his socializing. Again all was well until he suddenly struck out a Quinn. Unfortunately I could not separate him and get to the bitter apple in time to make it effective; but that ruined Quinn’s mood and he moped the rest of the time.


Here are my boys!

Tonight we are all resting; Tasha is on her couch, Quinn is on the back of my couch behind my shoulders, and the little guy is on the floor chewing on his marrow bone. All in all I feel everyone is in a better place tonight.

FYI: I brought Mr. Rabbits cage down from the attic and set it up in the TV room so that he could be with us but protected from the pup while he is home. When we are gone I will let the bunny out.

Have not thought of a name yet.

Day 1 with Little Brother, the Rejected Pupp

Quinn is my forever dog. He is the best dog in the world. I got a call from his breeder that a full brother (different litter) needed to be re-homed. Please follow our journey of bring a new dog into our family...

Okay, so today I brought home Quinn's little brother. His name WAS Edward, but I am going to change that.
Met former owners with Lynn and Ken Carothers (Breeders of Quinn and new pup) at the Merchandise Pkup at Sears at the Mall of NH. Met a very boisterous pup. Quinn initially ran right up to him all wiggly but the pup growled and snapped at him all the while his tail a wagging. Frightened little dog.

Little Brother comes originally from Sure Haven Farm, born October 11, 2009. He was homed in Alton with a family with 5 home school children. He bit their 5 year old and they decided they could not keep him. Lynn contacted me and here I am starting my blog of Little Brother, the Rejected Puppy.

So I loaded up his crate in the back seat in a position where I could see him. Most of the way home the pup cried.

On the ride home I was contemplating how to introduce him to the house. I decide to bring Quinn in and let him and Tasha out to pee and introduce Tasha to the pup in back yard. But first! I made a noise maker that I remembered they used at MoJo's. FYI: Tasha is my 11 1/2 year old lab/dalmatian,sweet old girl.

So I brought the pup over toward Tasha and she charged right at him, he snarled; she snarled and I shook the noise maker and Tasha backed right off. We did this a few times, then I put the pup in his crate and let the other dogs in. Once in the house I let Tasha sniff him through the crate, there was lots of snarling but nothing too bad. Next I put the baby gate up across the dining room door and let Tasha greet him through that, but he jumped it too easily!

He was so hyper I decided to exercise him; I took him for a walk to Zielinski's; he walked okay on the leash, but certainly would never pass an obedience test, leash never really a loose lead.

Once back I leashed him to the porch door and fed everybody. Then he was leashed to the towel rack by the TV room door and we sort of settled in....sort of...he whined, Tasha and Quinn cowered on Tasha's couch.

Ordered pizza delivery for dinner, too stressed to cook.

Had a couple more snarfoos between pup and Tasha but over all felt confident Tasha wouldn't kill him and let him loose.

Then he met MR RABBIT, Ugh! He was very prey driven toward the rabbit; had to put up the XPen and barricade the rabbit.

He found a used up, dried out marrow bone and it was like he was given prime rib! Obviously never had one before. Wait until he get a fresh one!

Easter, our calico cat just came into the room; what a ruckess! Dog chased cat, cat cuffed dog then ran into kitchen and retreated to top of refrigerator. Dog has bloody nose, but the tail is still wagging. Not sure if he gained any respect for the cat yet.

This is how I feel right now 4 hours after acquisition:
1. Quinn is pissed at me but know he will get over it.
2. Tasha is not going to kill him.
3. He is very alpha; I must maintain the alpha bitch role at all cost.
4. Haven't figured out Mr. Rabbit at this point, but am certain I can work out something. Maybe he will have to be barricaded when the pup is home for now.
5. Easter will have more chances to show who's boss.
6. Believe his prior home let him be alpha and my job is to re-establish his role in a pack.
7. Cannot believe this pup came from the same womb as Quinn.

So there it is so far for day 1 with Little Brother, soon to be renamed....taking name suggestions!