Thursday training tips: Introducing Miss Peaches!

We started with the best intentions. Before I left home to travel to North Carolina to adopt my new 7-month-old puppy, Peaches (formerly Beach), I had puppy gates set up through the house. I have four collies, and I’m fostering a senior cairn terrier – Darmok! – and I know that many trainers advocate an extended “separation” time to introduce a new dog into the household. Keep them apart for several days and let them become used to each other’s scents. Well…

Dreams come true

We arrived home and my collies, who have been hosting foster dogs over the past year, were anxious to meet Peaches. And Peaches wanted to meet them! Additionally, my 4-year-old male collie, Nemo, had extensive experience with Westies, so to speak. In 2015, he saw a stuffed full-sized toy Westie at a local pet store, and he went crazy for it! So, we brought it home, and Nemo has treasured his Westie (and her successors, as one after another got left out in the snow or under the garden shed) all these years. And HERE SHE WAS, COME TO LIFE!! Nemo discovered that dreams do come true, and he especially wanted to meet Peaches.

Nemo loves his Westie toy(s)! This is in 2015.

When Nemo met Peaches, he knew his dream had come true.

To introduce the dogs, instead of a days-long introduction period, I followed Patricia McConnell’s advice, laid out in her fantastic book, Love has No Age Limits: Welcoming an Adopted Dog into Your Home. Peaches met the dogs one at a time, out in the backyard where there is lots of space. Everyone was on a leash.

She first met Darmok (who has since become her big brother, showing her the ropes of living with collies). Then I brought out the seniors, Princess and then Eddie. They are both late-in-life rescues, and each have a calm, laissez-faire view of the world. Then Nemo got his chance! He greeted her like the dream-come-true that she is. Finally, Rosie. My five-year-old girl can be pretty bitchy with dogs she doesn’t like, so I was grateful for McConnell’s pointers to avoid tension: don’t hover; don’t add your tension to the mix; keep your body relaxed; and keep their leashes loose. Rosie was fine.

We weren’t quite to home base, yet, however. It was time to go in the house, another potential point of tension. McConnell’s advice is so important, I’m going to quote it in full:

“Once the dogs have met outside and are going to be together inside, bring the new dog inside first, and the resident dog in second [ed. note: and third, fourth, fifth, and sixth]. If the resident dog is at all territorial, this tends to diffuse some of that ‘Who’s that entering my house!?’ tension.”

I’m one heck of a lucky dog owner. Peaches was officially accepted into the family, and everyone gets along great.

Patience, patience

One of the hardest things for me to do is… nothing. This little girl is so special, and I want to get her groomed, start obedience classes, and introduce her to the neighborhood. Uh uh, mom, slow down. Rescued dogs are dealing with a lot of changes in their lives, and what they need most is a feeling of security. And what we need most is patience.

As much as I love a day at the spa, we know that grooming is not especially enjoyable for our dogs. So, since Peaches isn’t in dire need of a bath, we’re going to wait for a while before lining up the shampoo and conditioner or clipping her nails. In the meantime, I’ll be holding her paws and showing her the grooming tools, while feeding lots of treats, to help her get accustomed to a life of glamour.

We’re going to wait a month before starting obedience classes, so we can get to know each other – and Peaches can learn to trust me – before introducing her to a classroom environment of strange people and puppies. In the meantime, she IS a puppy and we do have to establish limits. One of the most important training methods I’ve learned is “this, not that.” Peaches’ foster mom warned me that Peaches likes to steal shoes, and truer words were never spoken. This girl is relentless in her quest for shoes. Rather than an eternity of hearing “no,” however, Peaches will have choices. If she leaves the shoe alone, and opts for “this, not that,” she will get something very special. Tonight, it was frozen beef broth, which is tasty and is good for her growing bones. She loved it! Since she’s still a little thing – not even 8 pounds yet – she didn’t get to eat the whole thing in one sitting. She willingly gave it up to me, with no resource guarding. Tomorrow we’ll do it again.

This...

...not that.

We try to forget that death may be around the corner

McConnell also advises patience in taking your new dog to the vet. She suggests waiting a month, if there are no health issues. I wish that was the case with Peaches. She has very serious health issues, and I want to make sure my vet has a firm grasp of those issues and that we plan, together, for appropriate diagnostic procedures and treatment. You see, Peaches was born with a congenital heart defect, called subaortic stenosis. It is severe, and Peaches’ prognosis is bad. According to North Carolina State University veterinarians, the average life span of pups with her condition is 56 months. (It’s less than two years without the meds, which is unthinkable.) Even then, she is at risk for sudden death if she experiences extreme excitement or strenuous exercise. So we are seeing our vet this week.

Peaches loves playing with Nemo, but their play sessions don’t last more than minute or two. Somehow, Nemo senses that Peaches can’t do more than that. This collie, who I re-homed after his original buyer rejected him for being “too hard to handle,” has always been the goofball of the pack, but Peaches has turned him into a “Lassie,” a protector of family and home. Nemo is always near her, even to the point of sleeping next to her crate at night. Peaches has captured his heart, as well as mine. Now, we must steel our hearts for the time that her heart fails.

In the meantime, though, this special girl has a lot of living to do! Check out this blog every Thursday to read more about tips and training with Peaches.