Raising a Puppy: Seventh week in his new home
A day in the life with Bruno the Boxer puppy. Bruno's seventh week—13 weeks old, 28 pounds, 16 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
A day in the life with Bruno the Boxer puppy. Bruno's seventh week—13 weeks old, 28 pounds, 16 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
3 months old
Bruno has not peed in his crate or in the house since he was 12 weeks and 3 days old. (Knock on wood.) He's been spending a lot more time indoors, so this is very good progress. I put him out when he starts to wander and he has walked to the door on his own, wanting outside.
12 weeks and 5 days old. Bruno continues to walk to the door when he wants to go outside and his crate is still dry!
Bruno is also doing an excellent job at peeing on command.
Bruno had no reaction to the shots he received yesterday; the Benadryl did the trick. He now has all of his shots.
Oh Dear Bruno.... Bruno got too close to the edge of the pool and being his clumsy self, he fell in. Bruno was doing the doggie paddle, keeping his head above water trying to get back out of the pool. Sara reached in and pulled him out. Bruno was soaked.
A few days later...the kids take Bruno into the pool for a swim. Bruno doesn't seem to like the water, but he didn't mind being on a boogie board all that much; well I guess I really should say he didn't have much of a choice so he made the best of it ;-)
Bruno visits Clover Leaf Stables, a horse farm where he meets Dean the Texas Heeler. Dean is an 11-week-old puppy and Bruno is 13 weeks old. We first brought Bruno to the stables when we were dropping Amie off for the day. Bruno got out of the car to meet Dean. At first Dean ran from Bruno, barking at him, all the while Bruno was trying to play with Dean. However in about ten minutes Dean had warmed up and was playing with Bruno as if they were best friends. We soon had to leave but returned later on the same day to pick Amie up. Once again, it took Dean about ten minutes to warm up to Bruno, but after that they played for a long time.
Video Clip of Dean and Bruno—This clip was taken when we first got to the farm. Dean was still warming up to Bruno. At first Dean would run away, but it didn't take him long to decide he rather liked playing with Bruno. Notice the dog in the background in the picture above. That is a Golden Retriever mix named Sam. Sam and Bruno got along great right from the start.
Bruno meets Clover Leaf Stables’ three Yorkies, Jack, Doogie and Tootsie. They all did very well together. The younger Yorkie wanted to play, the middle-aged Yorkie didn't care either way and the older Yorkie told Bruno in his senior dog kind of way that he was not in the mood for playing. One short snappy bark and Bruno took the hint. "OK, fine, I'll go play with your younger sister!" The older Yorkie was not trying to fight; he was just letting Bruno know he was not going to play with him. Bruno was very much OK with this.
Jack, Doogie and Tootsie, three Yorkshire Terriers that live on a horse farm (Clover Leaf Stables).
Doogie wants to play with Bruno while Jack smells him and decides he'd rather not play today.
Bruno decides to smell Jack and Jack gives Bruno a warning bark that means he does not want to play. Bruno walks away from Jack deciding this old dog is the boss.
Bruno watches two horses run by. He lets out a small growl and bark and I smack his snoot just enough to get the message across, "Hush Up, Bruno. We DO NOT bark at horses!" Bruno sits quietly for the remainder of his visit to Clover Leaf Stables.
The first time Bruno met Scrappy the Chihuahua Puppy was when Bruno was 2 months old and Scrappy was 4 months old, Bruno was still larger than Scrappy, however. Both having new little puppies, we wanted the pups to get some playtime in. Bruno walked over, wanting to play with Scrappy. Scrappy, suddenly and without much warning, growled and tried to bite Bruno. Bruno jumped back. This was Bruno the Boxer pup’s first encounter with a dog that didn't like him. Scrappy's owner corrected him, telling him to be nice. Bruno walked over again pawing in a playful way, wanting to play. Scrappy was OK for a few seconds. We thought they might actually start to like one another. However, without much warning, Scrappy growled and tried to bite Bruno again. Once again, Bruno jumped out of the way and Scrappy quickly came back and bit Bruno in the lip. For the first time Bruno began to bark and growl as if he was defending himself. I think Scrappy got a tad nervous because he began to sneeze over and over again and didn't try and attack Bruno anymore. This was the first dog Bruno had met that didn't want to play. A month later when Bruno was 3 months and Scrappy was 5 months old, we tried introducing the pups again at a picnic we were both attending. Nope, not going to work.
See video clip of Scrappy the Chihuahua still hates Bruno the Boxer Puppy. Scrappy, do you realize how small you are?? NOPE, I don't think he does.
Update: I didn't realize it at the time but this situation with Scrappy the Chihuahua and Bruno when they were puppies was handled all wrong. I as Bruno’s owner should have handled this differently. Here Bruno is a small puppy meeting an aggressive dog for the first time. While it was clearly Scrappy that was the one who was initiating the aggressive behavior, Bruno should have been told to leave it alone. We as Bruno’s owners should have showed him we could handle this little dog and that he didn't have to take matters into his own hands. Instead, we let Bruno start to growl back. The behavior we created was an adult dog that is good with stable, well-adjusted dogs that do not challenge him, however Bruno will growl back at other dogs if he is challenged or if he senses any imbalance in the dog. Dogs can feel the energy coming from other dogs; they know how other dogs are feeling. If I am at the vet’s office sitting on the bench and another dog walks in Bruno will either lie there and ignore the dog, sit up and look at it wagging his tail as if he wants to say "hi" or he will growl. I can always tell what state of mind the other dog is in by Bruno's reaction to it. If I tell Bruno to "Leave it," however, he will. This is because of the strong pack leader bond I now have with him. It would just be much nicer if he ignored all dogs and didn't feel the need to challenge back or tell another dog to chill out. Dogs will often tell other dogs that they don't agree with how they are feeling. I would much rather have Bruno reliably leave that up to me and not take matters into his own hands. It goes to show how important it is to understand your dog and understand the natural instincts of dog behaviors. It is the humans that create bad behaviors in their dogs and it only takes one or two instances to create a behavior we would rather not have in the future. Yes, these behaviors can be controlled, handled and even changed with the right owners, but it's so much easier to avoid them in the first place. As much as I know about dog behavior today, I am still learning something new every day.
Bruno meets Emma the Yo-Chon, also called a Bichon Yorkie. Emma is full grown and much smaller than Bruno, weighing in at about five pounds, whereas Bruno is about 29 pounds. Emma was not 100% confident in this large puppy, however it did seem if we were in a safe area and able to take Emma off of her lead she would have played with Bruno. Emma's owners say she plays with their neighbors’ full-grown Golden Retriever, so this little YoChon can hold her own! See more of Emma the Yo-Chon.
Bruno is getting so strong I am worried he is going to break his collar. It has a plastic snap rather than a buckle. Bruno gets a new thicker and stronger collar. No more worries, Bruno will not break this one. Looks rather handsome on him :)
See that cheetah-spotted cat toy hanging over the wolf statue we have on the porch? Every day I find that toy in Bruno's bed, and every day I take it away and put it back on the wolf. Hmm, are the cats knocking it off the wolf? Or is Bruno jumping up and stealing it daily??
Oh Bruno, he went into the fire pit again and took a piece of a burned log. I heard my daughter yelling at him to get out of the fire pit. Bruno left the pit when she yelled, however, he had already brought a log to his bed. He had been working on his second log. He also stole a leash that was sitting on the porch glider. Notice the cheetah-spotted cat toy!
Bruno decided to chew up the broom—time to put the broom inside, away from his reach. "NO, Bruno! We do not chew on brooms!"
Yikes! Bruno was playing with HALF of his tennis ball! The big question is what happened to the other half? I am hoping Bruno did not eat it. I'll have to watch him for signs of upset stomach. This tennis ball was bought in the pet aisle, sold as a dog toy. The quality is horrible. I should have bought him a real tennis ball.
Bruno did it again. He somehow got a hold of Bob's safety glasses’ strap and chewed it up even more.
Bruno got a McDonald’s bag, some paper towels and toilet paper off of the golf cart and chewed it up. I started to pick this up and realized I had poop on my hands and it didn't smell like dog poop. Then I put it together. The kids camped in the woods last night. Oh YUCK! "Katie! Get down here right now!" Sure enough, her friend had pooped in the woods. Katie says they burned the soiled toilet paper, but apparently not all of it! GROSS! Puppies/Kids: told you they are almost the same!
Yet another ball popped by Bruno! Bruno has popped many balls in his short life!
Bruno decides to dig up some flower bulbs. Why?? Did he smell them, or what?? They have been there longer than Bruno has been alive and I never noticed any other spot Bruno has decided to dig. Maybe Bruno just really hates flowers ;-)
"Bruno! If I told you once, I've told you a hundred times, buckets are NOT your toys. Drop It!"
"Now listen here Bruno...number one, you are not allowed in the fire pit, you know that, and number two, youu are NOT allowed to play with my buckets. So now let me ask you this. WHY is my bucket in the fire pit??" Every time I turn around Bruno has one of my buckets. I am trying to get it into this thick head, my buckets are NOT toys!
I walked outside with Allie, my 6-year-old Boxer for about three minutes, leaving Bruno inside by himself. When I returned Bruno had my daughter’s shoe in his bed and was in the process of chewing it up. "No Bruno! Bad Dog! Give Me that Shoe!"
"Bruno Bruno Bruno, why in the world is Amie's riding boot in your dog bed?? And do I spy my red bucket and the cat toy?? Those are NOT your toys! You have no excuse because you have tons of toys you are allowed to play with. Is it asking too much for you to leave all shoes, buckets and that cat toy alone??"
Bruno goes vacuum cleaner crazy! He barks, paws at and tries to bite the vacuum! See video clip of Bruno and the Vacuum.
I had put Bruno inside the house unsupervised while we loaded a couple of horses onto a horse trailer because I didn't want him to get stepped on. When I came back inside I found the white board eraser in his dog bed. The thing is, this white board is in the far back corner of the family room, a room Bruno is not allowed to go into. Bruno never goes into the family room when we are inside the house with him. He's a very good boy and stays outside the door just like his older sister Allie. Bruno is showing those "sneaky Boxer traits" already! Since no one was inside watching him, he snuck in there and stole the eraser. You sneaky pup, ya!
Bruno continues to have a strange relationship with Waffle the cat. The cat will rub against Bruno often, which is actually the cat showing dominance over the puppy. Sometimes Bruno will stand over the cat and the cat seems to get really mad at him. However, Waffle refrains from using his claws most of the time.
When the cat has had enough he runs to high ground and enjoys batting Bruno in the face. I believe he uses his claws from time to time because Bruno just totally gives up sometimes as if he has had enough of the cat! I have seen this cat swat at Bruno from high ground, starting the tiff. The other 22 cats do not care for Bruno. They keep their distance...
We have several orange cats. Apparently Bruno had mistaken an orange cat named Sandy for Waffle. He ran up to the cat, the cat turned and faced Bruno, hissed, raised his paw, claws out fully, and gave him that, "touch me and I'll kill you" look. Bruno stopped in his tracks and walked away from the cat with a startled look on his face, "Whoops, wrong cat!"
