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Photo/s of the day. Playing with Lumi. :)
The most difficult part for me is sitting through Lumi's crying while she's in the crate,
and not going to her to settle her down.
Glen has been really good for me in that sense.
And she does settle down; though she managed to keep it up for a good thirty minutes earlier,
she then slept just fine and seemed all the better for it or - see for yourself!
LUMIFAAAAAAAACE
She was scrambling to do something here, can't remember what.
This is Maybe and Moet. They are wonderful. Maybe has swiped at Lumi several times, but as long as Lumi keeps a respectful distance, they are getting along just fine. Maybe gets very close, and I actually think she might be the first to start really bonding with Lumi. Moet has stress-vomited, but has also sought physical reassurance from us, and has come quite close to Lumi. In this photo, he was walking past her while she was under the table. Stoically ignoring her.
OM NOM NOM. Super mouthy, we've pulled out all the toys to give her things to distract her from chewing our clothes, shoes, feet and hands and wrists and elboes and faces. She's already chewing on the leash a little less, but if she gets excited, she'll snap at us. So we give her a toy, and she lays into that instead. Most of the time.
How can you not love that face? :)
Before.
After! - Trying to faceplant into me and the camera. Lol.
This photo is blurry, but I love it because of the expression on her face.
Oh! And we've taught her how to play fetch. She doesn't know 'drop' yet, but she brings it back to me every time! But she knows 'go get it!' and 'fetch!' We did it about 15 times, and at first I was using food rewards, but then just the toy and pats was enough. Fun!
She also tentatively knows her name (there's a lot of exciting things in our house right now), she's getting the hang of sit (which I ended up impromptu teaching her when she looked at my apple like - share? And I was like, sure I'll share! Let's train for sit!)
and not going to her to settle her down.
Glen has been really good for me in that sense.
And she does settle down; though she managed to keep it up for a good thirty minutes earlier,
she then slept just fine and seemed all the better for it or - see for yourself!
LUMIFAAAAAAAACE
She was scrambling to do something here, can't remember what.
This is Maybe and Moet. They are wonderful. Maybe has swiped at Lumi several times, but as long as Lumi keeps a respectful distance, they are getting along just fine. Maybe gets very close, and I actually think she might be the first to start really bonding with Lumi. Moet has stress-vomited, but has also sought physical reassurance from us, and has come quite close to Lumi. In this photo, he was walking past her while she was under the table. Stoically ignoring her.
OM NOM NOM. Super mouthy, we've pulled out all the toys to give her things to distract her from chewing our clothes, shoes, feet and hands and wrists and elboes and faces. She's already chewing on the leash a little less, but if she gets excited, she'll snap at us. So we give her a toy, and she lays into that instead. Most of the time.
How can you not love that face? :)
Before.
After! - Trying to faceplant into me and the camera. Lol.
This photo is blurry, but I love it because of the expression on her face.
Oh! And we've taught her how to play fetch. She doesn't know 'drop' yet, but she brings it back to me every time! But she knows 'go get it!' and 'fetch!' We did it about 15 times, and at first I was using food rewards, but then just the toy and pats was enough. Fun!
She also tentatively knows her name (there's a lot of exciting things in our house right now), she's getting the hang of sit (which I ended up impromptu teaching her when she looked at my apple like - share? And I was like, sure I'll share! Let's train for sit!)
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Also, I am pretty sure we have the same dining set.
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You almost make me want a puppy. Almost!
Lumi is gorgeous, and you guys sound like you're off to a great start. Are Lapphunds big chewers? Apart from this phase, I mean, which is the normal puppy "learn about as much of the world as possible by putting it in my mouth" phase. I wouldn't expect them to be particularly mouthy (other than the normal "breed used for herding" instincts), but I'm not that familiar with the breed (and there's the confounding fact that every dog is an individual, too). Heh. I've known of individuals from not-mouthy breeds who have consumed things like gardening gloves (essentially whole), and other cases with very mouthy breeds (some of the scent hounds, who normally vacuum up anything that could be construed as food, and many things that can't) who have been absolutely perfect as for as not mouthing, so... I'm just trying to construct a mental map of when you can expect the ankle alligator to calm down a bit. Of course there's still adolescence ahead too... :D
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I actually don't think she's that bad. I mean she's mouthy. She's trying to process the whole world through her mouth. But she can be redirected fairly easily (she has crunched down a few soft compacted 'sand-rocks' outside which were small and hard to get to in time), and I wouldn't say it's unmanageable - especially for a first day in an unfamiliar environment.
That said; I'm pretty sure she's as mouthy - if not moreso - than Monty when we first got him. But that could be a reluctance / fear thing. She's just not scared of anything, so she'll try the blinds and the chair and the rug and so on. Whereas Monty was happy to be with us, but more noticeably 'uh, this isn't my home.' Lumi is just... nothing we've done so far has really frightened her. Lumi still wants to be Maybe's best friend even though Maybe's given her three swipes on the nose. She just wants to do it at a safe distance now. Lol.
She's also pretty tolerant of me needing a lot of rest. She went down with the Kong for around two and a half hours tonight peacefully, and didn't make a peep even while I was very upset. When we got her after we both woke up again, she was happy as anything, like nothing had happened, and has been playing and wagging her tail ever since. I think I may have hit a temperament jackpot; not that there aren't lots of different kinds of temperament jackpots - but I underestimated how valuable it would be to have a confident, adventurous puppy. Taavi - her brother - still isn't eating. I don't think it would occur to Lumi to not eat (treats, dinner, a little piece of limestone, you name it)!
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Mouthing/Chewing serves a multitude of purposes, so it's not as straight forward as "dogs nip because of herding instincts". Chewing can bee relaxing, soothing, distracting, occupying. Often a dog who is upset about something will try to take out frustrations and/or self-sooth by chewing. Mouthing also conveys a lot of information about the world that (as humans) we're not privy to -- chemical cues, scents, subtleties of texture. It could be that Lapphunds are mouthy because they're intelligent and active and using the mouth = one more way of interfacing with the world, that they don't necessarily "grow out of" the way other breeds do. They're also vocal, yes? So they could just be inclined to use the mouth a great deal *period*, the way the scenting breeds always default to the nose. Heh. It's good to know, though, so thank you for informing me. (For the record, Keeshonds are not particularly chew-y, though they are bark-y. Many of the racing bred Siberian huskies, though, are fearful chewers, so it might just be something general to Spitz-types that comes out more in certain breeds/individuals than in others. I don't think it correlates across the board to energy levels, because elkhounds also aren't particularly prone to chew (to my knowledge, anyway) and they're as energetic as many Sibes.)
I underestimated how valuable it would be to have a confident, adventurous puppy.
This is something that only comes with experience, so you can consider your appreciation for good temperament as a work in progress. Sometimes people find they like the more "troublesome" types better -- an acquaintance with a working line GSD (who she works in protection and tracking), and who always previously had GSDs, adopted a Shiba Inu about five years ago now, and more recently a second. She finds that for her she actually prefers the aloof, independent, far less biddable Shibas to the much more biddable and responsive GSD. (Not that she doesn't love her GSD, but she won't be getting another.) The moral? Everyone is a unique individual, and has to find what works for them. For you of course you have very functional reasons for requiring a certain temperament, but there's room for individual preference too. :)
Taavi - her brother - still isn't eating.
I'm sorry to hear that. It's not a good thing that such a young puppy is so very anxious. He's to be used for showing yes? So hopefully the handler will give him the best possible socialization, etc. to get over his issues. Still, if I were a breeder, unless the breed was astronomically rare, or he had some other very special qualities, I wouldn't consider breeding from such a dog. That sort of anxiety level (when it shows so very young, and not environmentally induced) has a genetic -- and therefore heritable -- component. To my mind, that's unsuitable to knowingly propagate in any dog breed intended primarily as a companion animal.
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It's a gloomy day, I'm tired, and I'm trapped in the office all day, but my rotten mood is powerless when confronted with cute puppy pictures :D She has such a sweet face!
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Also: ZOMG! So cute it hurts!
*Squee!*
Because I am off visiting friends-I did not comment on the first rounds of photos --and besides," OMG! So cute! really sweet! AWWWW."..what is there I could say?..
She is learning stuff already! cool!
I am not Nearly the trainer you are, my dog still has not got great manners.
Sasha did not know Anything when I got her from the rescue (she was around a Year, they said.)
I tried back-chaining Fetch (taught her "drop it" first)I never made it to reliable fetch; I ought to work with her more.
'Drop', is a useful command though---Sasha has a pretty good 'drop', even though her fetch is spotty---so if she steals someone's ball at the dog-park, I can get it back (or she gets into something she should Not eat)
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Distracting from halfway across the globe!
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She absolutely qualifies as Weapons-Grade Cuteness. Wow. What a fuzzy, darling little firecracker!
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Also, as a spinner, I must say that Lumi would provide awesome spinning fiber. I have spun dog fur into some amazing yarn in the past, so if you ever want some puppy yarn you know where to find me!