A few of you may remember me, and I'm thinking most of you won't know me. I browsed around and saw a few names that were here 6-9 years ago when I was an active member. I'll get to it then. I'm shocked I was able to use my original handle actually.
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
I go by Noobs, so called because when I joined this forum 9 years ago I was a "newbie" at dog training. (Get it? Ha. Oy.) I live in NYC with my family, which includes a boy who turns 6 tomorrow. We decided as a family that we are ready to add a pup to our household. We made our boy wait almost two years before we finally started looking around, and Saturday morning after a whirlwind application, we picked up our new friend after he was driven from TN up the east coast by a rescue organization. We had about 36 hours' notice so we had to run around like crazy to get the minimum supplies needed (crate, bed, food, some toys). We've renamed his Gus. Short for Augustus. And we love him.
The rescue and foster family guesses he is 14-16 weeks old. He was apparently found with his sister suffering from mange. He was with his foster family for 6 weeks while they took care of him and his coat. They found him to be friendly to everyone, and he lived with a girl who is only days older than our son, plus her 10-year-old sibling, and two big dogs. They have a huge yard so hadn't really walked him until a week before we got him. Surprisingly he is great on leash! We are gauging how much walking he can handle at a time. We're sticking close to the 5 minutes per month of age rule. The adoption agency thinks he's an Australian Shepard mix with some Dachshund (his sister has short legs!). But take a look at the pics and you tell me!
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4189/34067699870_fe24d92493_z.jpg)
It's been quite a whirlwind for our little guy, as he spent Friday and overnight on a truck with dozens of barking dogs on what must have been a 14-hour drive. We picked him up Saturday morning and put him in another unfamiliar vehicle for another hour, and he spent Saturday getting familiar with our home, found his favorite room (my son's), got acquainted with his new crate, bed, and toys, and walking around a 3-4 block radius around our home. I've found he's not afraid of much. Loud construction and being under the train tracks when a loud train rumbles by. When he sees unusual-looking people approaching (usually that simply means someone carrying bags - weird appendages!) he stops and looks, watches them pass (this is the point where I praise and talk excitedly about how he just watched a person go by), and goes on walking with a verbal "let's go" reminder. Some of you know what I went through with Murphy so I worry that I'm overreacting but I am not sure yet whether that is a sign that he might react in the future. We don't know yet what motivates him so we haven't started any kind of treat rewards. But when he saw a cat pass in front of him last night he just watched it go and I almost cried.
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
Sunday we threw a birthday party for River; he turns 6 tomorrow. He had given up a having a big party with lots of kids so that we could afford to adopt the dog and buy his first round of supplies. So we only had 3 kids over, but 15 adults. Gus handled it so well. He approached people when he wanted to and walked away from people when he didn't want to greet them. But everyone was very patient and no one tried to force him into anything. He went into his crate on his own when the crowds got to be too much. He only emerged whenever River was in his sight line. We just had to make sure the kids (who were understandably excited) didn't crowd around his crate and they understood that it was his safe space.
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4170/33642278473_7b105d620b_z.jpg)
He's had a few accidents in the house but only due to our negligence. He's been napping A LOT after 15-20 minute walks and after he goes to potty after waking up. He has a playful streak, and being his size it's fine (for now) for him to gallop around the house. Did I mention the agency thinks he'll grow to 40 lbs max? He's slept through the night since being here. Fosters said 10pm-5am, but at our place it's been more like 10:30pm-6am which is great! He seems to like picking up rocks and sticks on walks, so we're going to be working on "leave it" and "drop" for sure! He's already worked out "sit" and "down" on his own so I started using hand signals for those already. He doesn't quite know his name yet so we haven't worked on recall. We have spent some time talking to River about dog ownership, and things we need to do to make the dog happy. He's been very good about praising Gus every time he sits, even when he isn't asked to. He praises in a high pitched voice which I think is so funny and cute. He compliments Gus a lot: "Who's a good dog? You are! Who's the handsomest boy? You are!" He has even asked us to let him get up earlier so that he can take Gus on his morning walks with me.
A couple of questions, as I haven't owned a puppy this young since I was a child and my family did everything wrong.
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
- He's teething so is chewing the house down. We're working on it! But I want to know, how much can I do when playing with his rope (pictured below)? I don't tug very hard. Whenever he catches it in his mouth I pull it a little and if he's got a good hold on it I don't try to pull harder. Should I be doing that at all?
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4194/34452288645_63864cb289_z.jpg)
- He's learned that if he takes a running start, he can jump on to our wooden box at the foot of our bed and then jump on to the bed. Should we be worried about his developing bones when doing this? Here's a video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3poz ... G1jc2hyUzA
Well he's only been with us a few days so there's not much else to tell. He's already quite attached to his little human boy, and vice versa. We are looking forward to watching their friendship develop.
Thanks for listening.