Smile! Gus really is making progress. Little by little his behavior is getting better.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but after three weeks with our family, it seems we are enjoying more and more sweet moments with our now 14-pound bundle of joy. A little more nuzzling and a little less biting. He's more accepting of his kennel, which means less whining. His legs are getting longer, making him look a bit gawkier and run a lot faster.
He's also developing some screwy tendencies. If you put him on the couch, he'll whimper, but he won't jump down. He has no problem, however, climbing up and launching himself over the back of the couch.
The constant chewing remains the biggest source of frustration. According to our vet, Gus should begin transitioning out of that phase over the next four weeks.
We took Gus for his first checkup (with our vet - he'd been checked several times by the breeder's vet) last Friday. The first few minutes were a bit difficult. The last time I'd seen the vet was the day he showed me Maggie's X-ray and explained our horrible options. By bad coincidence, he had a golden retriever who died the same day as Maggie, so I wonder if it was as emotional a moment for him as it was for us.
But soon he was telling us we should be looking at Gus as our third child or as our third puppy. Either way we should let the kids and Gus work out any conflicts that arise during play, while never being afraid to separate them when all get too rough, sending them to their respective rooms/kennel.
Gus was on his best behavior for the vet - no gnawing, no nipping. We've been instructed to feed him at set intervals, rather than leave food out all the time, in hopes of limiting accidents in the house. And really, those accidents aren't very frequent anymore.
Someday we'll be rewarded with a sweet and loyal dog. Right now I'd settle for a puppy that doesn't like shoes.
Oh come on, Dana. You don't really believe that Gus will transition out of the chewing stage in the next 4 weeks. Remember Lady & Hannah: our kitchen wallpaper, the cupboard corner, your SHOES ..... We've always heard that dogs aren't really grown up until they're 3 years old. (Of course, Hannah never grew up about taking off down the street.) Let's hope that Gus will at least slow down when he gets his "big boy" teeth so his gums don't itch so much.
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