Puppy Blog

Our new pup

The call came quickly after we emailed Belgian Rescue that our rescued Belgian Shepherd, Kees, had died suddenly from liver cancer. We had got Kees from Belgian Rescue seven years previously so felt we should inform them, and at the same time we let them know we might take another as we were now experienced with Belgian shepherds [Groenendaels], but little expecting it as they have few dogs to rehome, unlike German Shepherd Rescue which has many.

Before we could find another dog in need of our love and a home at local mixed breed rescue centres, Belgian Rescue got in touch; they had a young pup approx. eight months old who was in need of a calm, loving, experienced home and could we help? With our experience with the breed, and working from home - and therefore around all the time and not likely to leave him alone - they thought we would be ideal to have him. We felt privileged, and accepted immediately, making an arrangement to drive over and pick him up from the Belgian Shepherd breeder who was temporarily looking after him.

When we arrived, we were greeted by several full grown Groenendaels, handsome dogs and friendly, all wanting a stroke. We were invited indoors by the breeder and a few minutes later a rather dirty, hairy, nervous half grown pup slunk into the room, darted round several times with head down, looking feral and scared. We sat on the floor and waited for him to come to us which he eventually did; his natural curiosity getting the better of his fear. Strokes and reassurance followed, but we couldn't stay too long taking up their time, so we paid the breeder a donation and, picking him up bodily - he was surprisingly light for a big dog - I carried him to our van and loaded him carefully in next to my partner. Our Dalmation-Lurcher Freya said hallo and he settled into the back seat for a cuddle on the journey home. He was quite relaxed, no sign of panic or nervousness that one might expect in those circumstances. What trust for total strangers, perhaps we gave off a reassuring vibe. My partner decided to call him Kai; a name that appears to exist in every language, but meaning something different in each; including fire, ocean and harbour.

Kai looking a bit wary soon after we got him

Home

Once home, he was more nervous, and paced about exploring the house and garden, and, since he'd spent most of his short life in a garden, alone and neglected, he immediately took up residence outside among the shrubs. This was a backward step and we spent some weeks getting him used to staying in the house, but he would often sneak out, sometimes with a toy, and settle down on the earth again. Gradually this need to escape to the outside diminished, he became used to being allowed on a couch, and despite a fear of loud noises which meant the busy road outside full of noisy traffic was something that remained and remains a constant threat, he slowly calmed down and relaxed. Even now six months later he growls when car horns are sounded outside. He discovered his new toys and played enthusiastically with them, every day seeing more normal puppy behaviour.

Kai with his favourite toy, Lammy

House training

Getting him house-trained turned out to be a more difficult job than anticipated; very young puppies are relatively easy to housetrain, it takes a week or two, but with Kai, having spent his first six months on his own in a filthy garden, it took a good deal longer; a case of one step forward one step back a lot of the time! He had a very matted coat that had clearly never been brushed, so one of the priorities was to sort that out. Bathing removed a lot of the dirt, and careful brushing and untangling slowly rid him of the knots and tangles. Despite this, he still itched and kept biting and licking at himself, exentually setting up an infection which spread round his belly, making the skin red and raw, so something had to be done. A visit to the vet resulted in antibiotics and skin cream, plus a cone for his head to prevent any more biting. This he hated as much as every dog I've known who has had to have one, but it worked and eventually the infection became a thing of the past and his fur started to grow back where the vet had shaved it away.

The thing to remember with puppies messing in the house is not to react angily, but to express regret, show them where they should do it with verbal backing - 'in the garden' or 'in the tray', and if possible, designate a place complete with newspapaer where you want them to do ti. Once they've got it, you can slowly move the newspaper closer to the door until you move it outside. Any sign of the dog asking to go out should be encouraged with congratulations and pleasure. Despite his feral early months, Kai eventually got it, as he's very bright, and he now asks to be let out, usually by silently staring at the back door until you notice.

Walking and socialising

He was scared of traffic, especially the huge trucks which thundered past as we walked to the river meadows in the morning for exercise, and at first there was a lot of panic and lunging until he realised he couldn't escape. Months later he still pulls on the lead, but this is now partly from impatience to get to the fields and run free. Letting him off the long lead took some time, as I have to be confident first that a dog won't just bolt and get lost. After a few weeks of walking, and running, him on the lead, the day came when I decided I would try him free. It took a second or two for him to realise that he was no longer constrained, and he was off! Running like a wolf, long hair streaming, he ran and ran, then turned and ran back towards me. Initially, he came back to me every time, unwilling to spend too much time away from what now represented security.

He is extremely sociable, goes up to every dog and says hallo, and often wants to play with them if they are willing; and oddly he becomes deaf when he's running with other dogs, fails to even hear the whistle, especially if the other dog is female! He is still scared of strange humans, making us think someone abused him; with rescued dogs there's a blank history usually with behaviour giving the only clue to what they have been through before. All we knew was that the couple who had him had split up, and that he was handed over to the rescue at a motorway services with no papers, although he's clearly a pedigree Groendendael. I think he was shut outside during the day, left to his own devices. Then when the humans returned, he was so over the top excited at company that he probably got shouted at, wet himself, got shouted at again and thrown outside. It can take years to undo the thoughtless actions of a few months.

Snow! January 2010

Kai loves the snow, but then don't all dogs? He stared at it at first, unsure how to react, but once free to run in the snowbound fields he was off with great excitement. It seems not to slow him down at all, despite it being twice as difficult for me to walk in it, and he delights in throwing himself down in it and corkscrewing through thick snow head first, emerging white, then with a quick shake a cloud of fine snow appears around him and he's back to being snowless again.

Running in snow which doesn't slow him one bit

He could go on all day like this

 

Since he was skin and bone when we got him, we've been feeding him up with special puppy mix, plus fresh meat such as liver, and pork sausages, which he loves, and now his backbone is no longer a sharp line, and his ribs are covered with flesh. He is heavier to pick up than initially when he was so light he felt like a dog half his size. He is extraordinarily affectionate, not uncommon with rescued dogs as they know life can be bad and are appreciative like no dog who has had an easy life could be. He loves cuddles, and will lie in your arms and even suck on a finger. One big baby!

I will continue the blog as he develops, he's still a puppy although a big one, and I shall chart his progress over the coming months and years.

The North - May 2010

We moved to Scotland to a large detached house with vast garden and Kai is very happy. It's his domain as he develops towards adulthood and he's clearly loving it. He also appreciates the space to run, as he is a running sort of dog, just for the joy of it. Straight out of the garden and we are into fields and a river, hills, woods and yet more hills, all walkable and so we have been exploring. At first, still unsure of him in a new area where if he got lost he would be really lost, we kept him on a lead, albeit a very long one which still enabled some running, but we decided that he had to be trusted at some point so off he went, almost disappearing into the distance much to our concern, wheeled round at the bottom of a large field and raced back. Since then he is just like the other dogs, they all head off ahead of whichever human is escorting them and then Kai is away at speed, while the girls will amble about smelling and peeing. His grinning face is confirmation he's enjoying himself, and he daily becomes more confident with people.

A shock moving north at the end of March with snow still on the hills and the air bitter. Kai is the only member of the family totally unconcerned with the cold, it's what he's built for, much like the wolf he resembles in many little ways.

 

One step forward one step back

Having got Kai to the point on walks where I could trust him to run free off the lead; coming back to me frequently and being easy to put the lead back on for the last leg home, he suddenly the other day, having seen two Weimaraners in the distance, and having picked up their scent on the river bank they recently vacated, he set off in pursuit. It was difficult even to keep him in sight, until a couple of miles later I caught up at the exit to the field into an estate as he was hesitating because a 4x4 was parked across the entrance. He eventually decided it couldn't be trusted and turned away, minutes later I was able to grab him. He was severely told off, and since then I have had to keep him on a long training lead, which slows his usual full flights down and speeds up my overall walk speed as he can normally cover four times the distance in the same time. Although he does seem to have understood he did wrong, I daren't risk him free yet as he would panic if he got lost among houses, which he doesn't have familiarity with, and I've seen too many frightened, worried dogs on the loose desperately trying to find home. I expect it's his hormones, there was probably a bitch among the dogs he smelled, and he's starting to get ideas! He's around 18 months so still not adult [some breeds would be, but all shepherds are adult at around 2-2.5 years. The countryside around here stretches for many miles, encompassing fields, mountains, rivers and woods as well as small towns and villages, and the worst danger, roads.

Striding across 'his' lawn

Attacking - just for a laugh!

 

Moved again, and Kai has adapted to his new home very well. We are now on the North Norfolk coast and walks are on the salt marshes and along the sea defence wall which keeps the sea out of the reclaimed land, used to grow food crops. I still can't take the plunge and let him off the lead that he's been on since we arrived, as there is a main road and if he got frightened and ran away, it wouldn't be as easy as in Scotland. There are many more people around, especially in summer with all the visitors, and he is still nervous of strangers. I shall have to let him have his freedom eventually, perhaps up on the high common which has far less visitors. Since he's very obedient now I'm probably worrying for nothing, but best to be safe, even though he does love to run free, and very fast.

Still, he has a huge garden to call his own, and runs about that a lot, so it's not a bad life. He has a bark at a few things, including the pink-footed geese which spend winter here, feeding on the salt marshes and sugar beet fields, who fly over in huge noisy flocks, or skeins spread about the sky, every day, calling and shouting to one another.

Kai is nominally an adult, since he's approaching his third birthday, but due to his traumatic first six months we think his childhood was delayed, and he's been catching up ever since. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

 

Dogs Trust have a selection of useful free pamphlets on aspects of dog ownership; such as Your New Puppy, Basic Dog Training and Guide to Behaviour Problems which can be downloaded from their website as PDFs for onscreen reading, or printed versions by post.

Download Bluecross Petcare PDF Leaflet

info at my-new-dog.co.uk