Homeward Bound!

Eli is heading to his new furever home. I hear his new parents are planning some very important work as a therapy or service dog. I'm not sure which one he will be and I'm not sure exactly what he will be doing in that capacity. I AM sure, however, that he will be a smashing success at it!

Here is a little video I took on our last night together.

Eli, my dear friend, please remember to be good, you have important work to do. And don't forget, always potty outside and never chew up the couch! Be a good boy!

Socializing

Just like children, puppies have different critical stages of development. These begin at birth and continue through puppyhood. From three to twelve weeks of age is a critical time for socializing your puppy. This means you want to expose your puppy to as many different surroundings, people and animals as possible. While you may handle your puppy a lot, if he never sees anyone but you he will likely develop a fear of strangers. The same idea applies to surroundings. You want to expose your puppy to the different sounds, smells, sights and any other stimuli now so that he can be a well rounded dog with little or no fear later in his life.

Eli is about nine weeks old and we have taken every opportunity to expose him to different things, people, places. On Saturday we took him and my son to the feed store where he was met by other patrons with great enthusiasm (everyone loves a puppy!). He walked next to my son's wagon, and he rode in the wagon. We walked along a very busy street with lots of noisy traffic, and we took quiet side streets where there were other dogs, children and fire hydrants to spark Eli's interest. He did great and if I had to guess, his favorite part of the day was being in the feed store with all those wonderful smells!

7 Basic Needs

Tamar Geller, author and dog behaviorist, stated in her book "The Loved Dog" that a dog has 7 basic needs: a sense of security, companionship, understanding the hierarchy, surprise/excitement, food and exercise, mental stimulation, and love and connection. A need is something that is necessary to sustain a good quality of life, and if any of those needs are not met problem behaviors will occur and the dogs quality of life will deteriorate. When the needs are met you get this:
A satisfied, well behaved and tired puppy!

I learned recently that Eli has already found a forever home where he will be going in about a week. He sends a big, sloppy puppy kiss (puppy breath included!) to his new forever family!