A few days ago we went to pick up our new little bundle of fluff – Doug.
He was 6 weeks old to the day and super sleepy, yet really playful too. I know some say pups shouldn’t leave their mom until 8 weeks, but a lot of breeders give them up at 6 weeks. I think possibly this is so they don’t have to pay for their first set of injections and perhaps by 6 weeks they’re ready for a puppy break, haha!
I got Todd at 6 weeks, so I didn’t think too much of it with Doug either.
So, we set off to pick up our little fluffball to bring him home. I’d read lots of articles about how to introduce your adult dog to a new puppy, and one article, in particular, had an idea I thought was great and decided to go with. The idea was that the adult dog would ‘find’ the new puppy, rather than being called over and forced to investigate the new pup.
Obviously, not knowing how an adult dog will react to a puppy, we needed the set-up needed to be safe as we wouldn’t be directly on hand. Grant took Todd out for a walk when we got home, whilst I set up Doug’s crate in the corner of the room, made some teas and sat down in front of the TV.
When they came back, we both sat watching TV as if the puppy did not exist. Todd obviously went to drink lots of water, did his usual routine and finally discovered the pup in his crate. It seemed to work well as he was rather excited and kept coming over to us, almost in a way of trying to tell us what he’d found. Success.
The most unexpected problem was that Todd began to drool A LOT. It was constant. Apparently this is either due to stress or sensory overload. It was so bad the floor was literally sopping – and this didn’t stop for about 4 days. There was a painful amount of cleaning!
Now a few days on, and after a brief period where Todd became scared of Doug, (never would have thought that possible!) Todd has fully accepted Doug into the house. I wouldn’t say he’s overly keen on Doug, mainly because of his playful behaviour (which Todd really doesn’t get, and would prefer to be left alone) but he has definitely accepted him and is learning to share his house with him.
He even shared his bed at one point! Although mostly, Todd does prefer to be somewhere up high, mostly the stairs or the sofa, anywhere Doug can’t reach and annoy him.
As for Doug, he loves all his toys, chewing fingers, squishing himself through the stairgate, and also stealing Todd’s bed, which is apparently much better than his own.
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