Monday, January 16, 2012

This Week's #SAGApupVolt News

Volt is now 11 weeks old and weighs in at 8.8kg!

He is eating 110g of Purina Olympic Puppy three times a day. He LOVES his food, but he has very quickly learnt that if he's bouncing all over the place he's not going to get any. Once he's calm and sitting nicely I put his food down, and he doesn't jump into his bowl immediately anymore. He's learning to wait until I say he may have it! Lunch and supper are eaten inside his crate, and breakfast is eaten outside with the girls, after Thelma and Louise have been fed and whilst they are eating. I am so proud of him!

He has now slept downstairs in his crate for two nights in a row. After his 7pm supper and a late night "busy", he starts falling asleep at around 10pm. Then we "kennel in" and he sleeps till 5am, or a little after. I set my alarm so that I wake up at 5am as well as I don't want him having to call me when he's awake. Thelma and Louise are allowed onto their beds at 11pm, or a tad earlier if its cold, and in the morning they all head out the back door for breakfast and busies. Thelma and Louise are protective of their food, but that's getting better with time, and unlike before Volt arrived they now eat ALL the food in their bowls before taking up their morning patrol of the garden.

Leash walking is getting better every day, but he gets so excited if Thelma and Louise are walking with us! And let me tell you, the three of them together is a mission - Thelma and Louise are trying to stay out of his way and he's trying to walk and play at the same time!

The cats are settling down nicely, as with Thelma and Louise its Turk who is the bravest when it comes to Volt. They don't play, but Turk is far more tolerable of Volt sniffing him and following him around. Greebo and Magic's hissed warnings and the occasional swat from them has definitely made him wary of felines, but he still needs to be reminded every now and then with a "no" that they are not to be chased.

Last week we did a "drown proofing" as my swimming pool is not fenced, and Volt gets very excited if there are people in the pool - sticking his whole face under the water if you give him half a chance. So what I did was to walk him past the pool with my son walking behind me, and when we were heading for the steps I gave a signal and Volt was pushed into the pool. My son then jumped in and using his leash and my son's guidance we showed him where the steps were. He was drenched, but not particularly shaken, so here's hoping we've put him off - not given him an excuse to jump in when he wants to!

Tomorrow we go back to puppy class for our second session with his siblings and other puppy raisers! I am less nervous than last week, but I am still very aware that I am being "observed" when it comes to Volt's training and behaviour.

Volt just LOVES water! And he loves the rub-down that he gets if he does get drenched! 
This picture was taken after he discovered a tiny fountain coming from a hole in my hosepipe!

 Thelma and Louise are warming up to him slowly, and Thelma will even play a little bit, but they're still happier on their own bed if he's in his crate!

RUNNING! Check his ears!

Just look how he's grown! He's already lost that super-soft puppy face!

This is his favourite toy! He has a rope as well but he much prefers this rubber chew toy.

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Don't forget to check out the Twitter hash-tag #SAGApupVolt to see regular updates on my puppy raising adventure!

2 comments:

Gill said...

He is just so beautiful! Love the one with the flying ears :-) Sounds like he's a very good boy already!

cat said...

He is stunning = ours love water and swim like otters