Pupdate: 16 Days In...

 Hard to believe two weeks have already gone by with him.   
It's been different. Interesting. A challenge.    

Let's start with our biggest issues:  

He's aggressive towards Peryn.   Not all the time, but it's been  enough where Peryn does not trust him & avoids him. 

It will definitely happen if food is involved & they are in close proximity.  The bigger issue is when he's gone after him during play time.    

We've begun working on that as much as we can.   It'll take time, but we do have that. 

He's run off twice now. Once with Rich & the other with me.   We're working on that as well. I'll discuss more in detail later. 

He's a counter surfer.  Worse than Ziva.  Ziva would surf the items on the edge & steal if it took minimal effort.  He will get on his hind legs & steal off the counter.

TOO ENERGETIC.  

Good things:
He's a sweetheart to humans in the house. He's on guard against those outside. He loves Ziva. He's a cuddler. He's housebroken. He's got his basic commands.   He LOVES to be brushed.

So the big developments :

He had his vet visit yesterday.   He is indeed a "puppy" as in over 1 but not 2.   His energy is definitely puppy related. We remember Ziva a year ago & she was very energetic.  She has calmed down quite a bit. 

He still has some health issues we're working with.   He has a yeast infection in his ear, near the end of treating his dermatitis, & he may have allergies.   Plus we learned today that he has intestinal worms.   So we have loads of meds for him. 

His incision healed nicely  & he was pretty much given the go ahead.    So yesterday he went to daycare. 

During the week leading up to this, he began getting the zoomies in the house. He also bolted out of the house & hasn't really gotten to let out his energy.  There was a game of chase in the basement the other day, so we knew daycare was going to be needed. 

Our hope is once he begins having a regular outlet for his energy, he may ease up on Peryn as well as not run off. 

They all went yesterday and as of almost 3PM on Saturday, they're all passed out.   They've been like this all morning.   Hopefully this will keep up once he gets in a regular schedule. 

We're probably going to eventually only send the Berner's to playcare.   Peryn does not like it. Yesterday he was pretty traumatized between the vet, rain & being forced to go to daycare.

Peryn at the vet

At the vet

Lada can go maybe once a week.  She's got her buds, she tries to interfere in her siblings play, but ultimately her & Peryn would be best to stay home.   

Fall Update

 So much time has gone by since our last update, I feel like there is so much I should have to tell.   However I don't think I can think of anything off the top of my head. 

AS of late, I have been so busy with work, appointments, the dogs, and all that I don't have time to write.  Tues & Wednesdays are out. The dogs are home & demand so much freaking attention & participation from me that I do not have time to sit on the PC. 

Also, the set up in my office--if I don't have my laptop plugged in there nothing is getting done.  I get so focused on work that everything else is out the window.   

So the pups are mostly doing well.  The house is definitely chaos when they are home.  Their personalities all bring some sort of craziness to the table.   Lada with her extreme love of Mommy & fetch (only with a tennis ball!), Peryn with his demanding of fetch with whatever toy he drops at your feet or his goading Volos into chasing him. Volos who's newest love is to climb into Mommy's lap.   Yep. 68# of fur loves to be cuddled up with Momma.   I actually love it!  He's such a big baby.   He still loves hoarding all the toys, but "allows" Ziva to take what she wants.   He still plays with Lada in some of the calmer moments.   Then we have the baby, Ziva. 

She is ....seriously we love this girl. She is so sweet & fun & energetic.  She loves play care.  Has a blast running all around.  

She's SOOOOOOOOOO BIG.  We currently do not have any way to weigh her, but I just saw a post that her Mom is 101# & sister Rixie is 53#.  Ziva is on the lean side.  I'm going to say she's about 49ish #.   Not too far off from Volos! 

Everyone loves her.  Seriously, day care we hear about how cute she  is. Rich gets stopped on his walks because people have to take a picture.    SHE LOVES EVERYONE.  This is the most well-adjusted dog I've had in.... EVER.  

Good news/bad news.  Currently she seems to be favoring Rich over me.   Part of me is sad since I want ALL the puppies, but really this is what we wanted for him.  She is so over joyed when he comes home from work.  She also likes to climb into his lap for some interaction in the evenings.   Rich of course is so happy because Volos & Lada clearly prefer me.  Peryn is a mixed bag.  Hard to tell as he isn't a cuddly dog.  

Rich takes her & Peryn on walks in the park at minimum 3x week. She tolerates it, but she'd rather be doing other things. She loves the interaction with the people & dogs she sees.

We went back to the farm & Janet (owner) was there with their pack of dogs. She & the dogs played with Ziva. Ziva was in heaven!  We haven't gotten to go back yet because one thing or another keeps us from going. 

Ziva--loves her pack.  Whether or not they feel the same....shrugs.   Volos allows her to be right next to him in his spot, allows her to steal from him, PLAYS TUG with her, & just all around puts up with her.   She tends to stick by him the most.  

Peryn-- he treats her like he treats the rest. He barks or growls at her for different things..... I'm waiting for the day they play tug.

Lada--She tolerates her. She deals with her being by Mommy when it's Lada cuddle time. She does play with her at day care from what I hear.  They've played here once that I saw.  I think they may have played tug.. Can't really remember. 

So yeah, it is definitely more action around the house than previously.   

On the downside,  as of late Little Z has had some GI issues.  A lot has to do with the stuff she tends to pick up on & chew (and swallow).  Last week she ended up eating a jar of my Eczema balm & I had to do an online chat with a Vet to determine if I needed to take her to my vet.   Luckily I didn't , but there were consequences from that.  
Currently we're going on 36 hrs of issues.  Vet was closed today, so I will call in the am.   Rich & I said we wouldn't be surprised if she ate a rock or two.  This girl has been obsessed with the rocks that surround the patio.   This dog is constantly picking up things she is NOT supposed to have & chewing/swallowing. 

She stole my Hawaiian Scooby off the shelf (AGAIN) & destroyed the grass skirt & tag.  It is extremely hard to find this one.  SO I am a tad bid upset about that.  She is getting taller, so she reaches higher. Takes things off the taller side tables.  Shoes. paperwork. Above mentioned balm.    
We will be so glad when teething is over with.  

SO as I said, she's having some issues that have gone on too long now.  So cha ching to the vet we will go. X-rays will probably happen.   

So i think I am going to wind this up.  I need to go prep the pics to share with you.

Thanks for checking in.   

SPOTLIGHT ON......Duchess-the (no longer) loner

Been meaning to do this for weeks, but I get so tired at the end of the day --when there is time.

SO I'm going to talk about Duchess.  

Duchess on PetFinder

 We adopted Duchess into our tiny pack that consisted of Galen & Sheba. She was a very good addition to the family.   She was very non-responsive to the older two and was accepted rather easily.

I would brag about Duchess as being "chill".  She was laid back and there were no issues.

First pic of the new pack

Eventually as she became accustomed to the family, she began to show her true colors. She would often try to get Sheba to play and would often be found playing with her food.  She was a doll and made me smile often.

As time marched on and nature took it's course, we lost Galen and it was just Duchess and Sheba.  Duchess was the perfect companion to Sheba. She definitely helped her through her grief of losing her Life mate.   


Next came Athena and Duchess liked her as well. In the beginning the 2 of them would be wrestling and playing in the house.   It made me smile knowing Duchess had a playmate.  

We began bringing the girls to the park and Duchess would go off by herself. She would sniff the entire perimeter, stay by herself, and would not play with any dog.   She was "fence aggressive" to new dogs entering the park and we had to watch for new people entering all the time.


As Athena became more socialized, she gained new friends and didn't want to play with Duchess.  In fact, these two just didn't seem to click the way any of my previous dog combos had.   

1st family photo with Athena

Any park, any time that we took them to, Duchess was off by herself.  She might interact with a bigger dog here or there, but nothing ever came from it.

We started taking them to this awesome park in the country that was almost always empty and huge. Duchess LOVED it. She loved to run free and do her own thing. The happiest I'd ever seen her was at this park.

Duchess and Athena

Along comes Peryn.  The girls were NOT happy when we first brought Peryn home.  Duchess loved going to pick him up as she got to run with a pony, but the actual coming home..not a fan.

Yet, within a week, Duchess had a playmate.  Not just any playmate..one who took her on. It didn't matter if she towered over him, Peryn would dish it out as much as he took it.   

Still at parks, Duchess did her own thing.  She may allow her siblings to tag along on her perimeter searches, but she still didn't participate.     We joined a husky group because she was a husky, but our husky NEVER played.


At the beginning of this year, right after adopting Lada, we began sending Duchess and Athena to daycare with Peryn.   I was concerned at first due to her disinterested attitude.  At first, I felt my fear was a bit justified.  In the photos they posted from daycare, she was just lying there. She never looked like she played.  

Through 2017 a few other things in addition to daycare came to play.
First,  Lada is obsessed with her big sister. She might antagonize her and interrupt her play, but Lada adores Duchess.  And I really think Duchess loves Lada.  In spite of how they play, she's never "attacked" Lada..and she's had reason to.

And with the 2 puppies, more park visits were happening. The most shocking thing started happening. 

We like this blue dude.

At the dog park & at meets, Duchess didn't necessarily go off on her own.  She'd be right there in the middle of the chaos. Now, she wasn't necessarily playing, but she wouldn't be off by herself the whole time.   She would occasionally play a bit with the right dog, but she wasn't really a longer any longer.  

The big change is when I went to drop them off at daycare one morning.  Normally the hub would do it, but for whatever reason, I did this morning.  Duchess started getting super excited and howling in the car on the way to day care.    Then it eventually turned into going nutts in the drop off area.   Then it was knowing it was day care day.

Big Sis & baby sis

Duchess & Lada

Duchess & her shadow

The BIG change is when the owner of the daycare tells me she's got a "crush".  Duchess actually plays with other dogs and especially one she likes to follow around. 


 So you're reading it right here. Duchess, once a loner, now has a boyfriend!!!  

Playcare and her little annoying sister have forced this loner into a participator.    Who'd of thunk it?

I think I love you

near the boyfriend

She's becoming a stalker

Duchess and her love