The Puppy and the Princess
Monday, January 11, 2010 at 10:40AM This was our first weekend having Buster, our new Yorkie/Cairn puppy, home with us. We're acclimating him to our home little by little for two key reasons:
1. He's a puppy and requires a lot of care right now - more than we can give him on some work days. Some days we have a nice alternating schedule that means we don't see each other as much as we'd like, but we will be around for the puppy. But for now my mom, who isn't working, can spend all day with him at her house.
2. Oreo.
See, Oreo is a princess - an eleven year old princess. She rules her domain while accepting help from no minions. She is not-so-at-large (about 13 lbs on average) but quite in charge.
Being eleven, Oreo does not like to play very often. She'll play fetch and throw her rawhide around once in a while, but not at the rate and frequency of a terrier puppy. And she doesn't like being bothered by other dogs.
Oreo and Buster met twice previously at my parents' house, then this Friday we brought Buster to our home for the whole weekend. To give you an idea of how different Buster and Oreo's activity levels are, my parents' nickname for Buster is Zippy. Oreo's is Old Lady. So, yeah.
The basic issue is that Buster wants to play with Oreo . . . because he wants to play basically any time he's awake. And if you don't play with him, he will keep bothering you - jumping up, nipping at you, and so on (stuff we are trying to train against, in case you were concerned).
Oreo is pretty patient so while he jumped up and down yapping at her, she just stared at him . . . until she had enough. And then she barked back. And that was when we became that house that has two barking dogs. Oh hell no. So I started working with Buster on not barking at Oreo. Oreo already only barks when another dog is bothering her; she's well trained, so that's not a concern - but she will defend herself against the twerp jumping at her.
Other than that, though, Buster was very good considering he's only two months old. We "puppy-proofed" the house as much as possible, but he still ended up being attracted to chewing on a few remaining wires and we are still working on the housebreaking. He's VERY good at peeing on the paper (his foster mom did a great job paper training him) . . . uh, but he needs some work on where he makes his other deposits. Once it's warmer out and we can walk him, that will help . . . but for now we're just keeping an eye on him, putting him on the paper, and cleaning up regularly.
So it's not Buster I'm worried about; it's Oreo. She is an old lady, even though Shih Tzus can live ten to eighteen years, depending on health and size. I would like Oreo's golden years to be happy ones - and I have no doubt she'll acclimate to Buster; it's just going to take a little while.
On Saturday, after a round of barking, she finally nipped him on the nose - at which point he yelped, backed up, and wandered off. He then bothered her noticeably less on Sunday, which I'm hoping means she adequately asserted herself and he's learning his place.
Mom? Oreo sent me to my room.
Okay, actually, he goes in his crate by himself. He actually likes it in there.
I'll just stay out of Oreo's way now . . . at least for a minute.
Reader Comments (3)
Adorable!
Your dogs are so cute! And perfectly named!
Thanks! I hope we name our kid as well. LOL