Experiment

Because these pups are just days shy of 5 months and most of them have never met another person besides me, I'm conducting an experiment I HOPE will make their transition to new homes somewhat easier for them. I am boarding them, individually, with my vet for a week at a time... Monday thru Friday. Her staff is taking the time to get the pup out of its run, play with it, walk it around inside the working area of the clinic and just generally socialize it with people who know enough about dogs to not make things worse in its little puppy brain. So, this afternoon, I picked up the first victim, I mean subject. I was a little disappointed when the tech brought him upstairs to me by carrying him (instead of on lead) because I had hoped he'd get a lot of lead time and I wouldn't have to make my already irritated back worse by lead training him/them myself. When I asked for a report, the first thing I hear was "He does great with other animals." Duh! But "other animals" included the cats who live at the clinic and have the downstairs to roam in. So that was a plus. When I asked about people skills, the pup got a C to C+. However, it was actually encouraging since I was told that although he was still shy, he had come out of his shell somewhat and with encouragement, was playing a little fetch and wagging his tail when being paid attention to. The idea is for the pup to spend some time away from the pack... and me... and then come home for a while. I'm hoping that will teach him that there is light at the end of the rehoming tunnel and that he WILL survive. He recognised me before I got the car turned on... jabbed me in the back of my neck with his cold wet nose... and his tail wagged all the way home. And when he heard all the dogs barking in the house (INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!) he practically did cartwheels in the back seat. Which made me feel really bad. Having to drag him into the yard, since he flunked "Lead Training 101," didn't make things a whole lot better. Of course, the other pups gave him the old pack welcome... knocking him over, dragging him around a little while everyone barked, sniffing him from nose to stern... and after an our out in the yard, they are all cuddled together asleep in their pen. The next test is when he leaves for his new home....

And, by the way, he weighed in at just a smidge shy of 25 pounds.

Prices
I hope I don't ever hear anything again about high prices for my pups. Did y'all see the story on the 1.5 MILLION dollar puppy in China? Gorgeous dog. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter.