Our first week with Rach!

As it always is when you bring a new puppy home, Mum didn't get a lot done that first week that Rach was with us.

The funnest thing that happened is that Mum found out that Rach tilts his head when she whistles, see the photo? Too cute for words!

I'm not the easiest pup to get along with (probably stems from two factors: the fact that I love Mum the best, and that I was attacked at the dog park when I was young). But Mum has worked with me a lot to help me understand being with other pups and with Rach here, being the 'never stop moving' pup that he is, she's helping me even more.

The first week, Rach was just learning how to be with us...our routine, how we play, how we eat, what's right and what's not so right. And it took a few days before he started to pay attention to Mum's cues, my cues and Gracie's cues about what was right and not right.

The first week, there was a lot of appropriate 'telling' going on, and it was just a few days that Rach caught on to what that 'telling' meant. Mum lets us all work it out and thankfully none of the 'telling' was aggressive, just appropriate re-direction going on.

Three playing at once sometimes became a crowd, so Mum directed us to play with Rach more one on one for a while, which helped a lot. I tend to be the sheltie police and she didn't want that policing to get weird.

The first week Mum just wanted Rach to understand that she is the most fun of anything in the world! They played, Mum let Rach chew on her, they rolled around on the floor and ran around the yard.

Also that first week Rach learned to sit, load up in his crate, how to walk on a leash and learned the potty spots and routine. All of this learning was with a clicker (which we love to help us learn). This is the second thing Mum wanted Rach to learn, that learn is super fun!

The main goal for the first week was just to learn how he best can learn. He caught onto the clicker very quickly, which was great. Mum realized during his learning that he really, really wanted to be right. So Mum encouraged and still encourages him to try new things and not get 'hung up' on being right all the time. She learned that from me and Gracie :).

Mum even gave Rach one of the super easy Nina Ottosson toys and it was an interesting thing to watch. When Rach didn't know what to do with it, he went into his crate and just looked at Mum. So Mum started using her 'cheerful interupter' ('You're doing great! Try again!) to help encourage him further. It worked just as well with Rach as it does with Gracie, and he tried again and again!

Rach was exposed the first week to the wobble board and had no fear, and he loves to tug. So Mum got out all the tug toys for him.

One thing that Rach came with that we are still working on is barking when he wants something, specifically his dinner, and sometimes when he wants to play. He'll bark, and bark, and bark, and sometimes right in my face when he wants to play. Mum is letting Gracie and I deal with the play. And she's working with him on the demand barking for food, which really only happens when he's in his play pen and she's getting dinner ready.

Mum had to give him a cold wash cloth a lot during the first week, as he was in a bad teething phase, but that's better now. Mum forgot just how sharp those puppy teeth can be!

And we learned that Rach loves Wiggy's toys! See it's Wiggy's Play Ball!

The first week Rach gained one lb and 1.5 inches, which makes him 13 lbs and 11" tall.