Three days ago, my partner and I adopted a four month old puppy. He’s an Australian cattle dog and blue healer mix (we think). His name is Pisco. Before Pisco, it’d been about a decade since having a dog. I definitely thought I was prepared to jump back into dog ownership after such a long time without one. Turns out, the puppy phase requires much more work than I had anticipated. Here are some things I did not see coming.
Some dogs pee when they get really excited. Or scared. Sometimes they are potty trained and still poop in your closet.
Eating treats, playing fetch and walking on a leash are not all givens. In the training we have done this weekend, Pisco has rejected treats on multiple occasions. He’s even spit them out. Time for different treats I suppose. It’s tough to use positive reinforcements when he won’t eat treats.
We took Pisco to the park to get some exercise on Saturday morning. We brought all the new toys so we could figure out which one’s he liked best. We threw everything back and forth to see what he liked and teach him to fetch. Twenty minutes later, we realized we were playing fetch with ourselves as our dog watched.
Leashes are tough for little cattle dogs. Pisco has a tendency to herd us and constantly tries to walk circles around us. The leash get wrapped about his legs or out legs at times. He’s starting to figure it out, but the concept a leash has not sunk in.
Putting a dog’s needs before your own is a tough transition to make. All the normal things that we used to do take extra planning and consideration now. E.g. we were organizing the bathroom and left Pisco alone for a few minutes. He decided it was time to poop in the closet. Oops.
We’ve noticed Pisco loves the dirty hamper as well. When given the chance, he’ll jump onto it and sit on it like a throne.
Finally, he likes to bury himself under a blanket on the couch. He creates his own little tunnel to snuggle up in. Yes, it is adorable.
What habit does your dog have?
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