The first 3 weeks of baby dog have been...a lot !!
We're lucky to have a puppy that is curious, engaged, observant, smart, personable; the flipside is Ziggy requires huge amounts of attention, touch, entertainment, engagement, and challenge. We've heard a lot of advice around "a tired dog is a happy dog", and I want to scream, do you have any idea what it takes to make my dog tired?? Big shock here because we specifically picked a breed that's known as "fairly sedate most of the time and [that has] only modest exercise requirements".
so I put together some guiding rules for myself, here's what I've learned the past 3 weeks:
1. Dogs create associations really quickly; distract away from unwanted behaviors, reward for good behaviors
my go-to distraction is squeaky toy plus some tug of war; and I get rewarded with a view of the cutest teef (but very! sharp! puppy teeth slice through skin like nothing else)
2. if there's a burst of weird or chaotic behavior, check if he needs one of the following: pee, poop, food, water, nap/sleep
if ziggy nips peter's foot, it means z's gotta go doodoo
3. gradual, but early exposure to: being alone, having company over and not being the focus of attention, meeting new people, seeing the street and its loud sounds, other dogs
