We picked up Xena, previously known as 'Puppy' from her old home on the 12th of February 2010. She is 8 1/2 weeks old and a purebred ridgeback -without papers. I had been to see her a couple of days before and met the parents. Big dogs! She is the last of the puppies. She wasn't the runt but the others in her litter grew up faster than her. The breeder showed me the dad who was the runt of his litter and probably weighs in at 70 kg. Both parents were quiet, non aggressive towards me and kind of laid back. I think that her litter mates had bullied her somewhat as they told me she has only just started coming out of her shell and they had taken her out the other day to their kids scout lessons and that she had been rather scared and shaking. They gave me a package with a lot of ridgeback info, her imunization record, worming medicing, puppy milk and enough puppy food to last 16 days. Also some of her toys and her blanket and we came home. They were nice enough people. 
Xena took the car trip well, I used a harness with a seat belt extension and put her in the back seat as someone told me big dogs shouldn't go in the front due to airbags.
She was tired and laid to sleep under my legs. She played tug of war and chased the kids around. She did nip and tried to jump up but we pushed her down and said no. She seems to understand. She will sit if you push on her hind... but not for long. She is almost trained to do her poops outside. Still uses the paper if in the house. She's doing much more than I thought she would for a 8 1/2 week old puppy.
First reactions from friends and family seemed to be a consensus of, "Wow that's a big puppy!"
We seemed to be getting on well, she is playing fine with the kids and even ignored the cat (who is throwing a hissy fit every time she sees her).
Until, she was sleeping under my legs and I got up to move her and she growled at me. I said no and moved her but was upset because I didn't expect my puppy to growl at me. After a while I decided she was probably tired and its a strange new environment and not to worry about it.
Put her to sleep in a plastic kennel in the laundry. She cried for about 20 minutes the first night then was quiet... that was pretty good.
Next day.. she starting growling at the kids when they tried to move her while she was sleeping. I was starting to worry. After a nasty growling incident I took her to her kennel and left her there for 20 minutes. She was better when she came out.
She seems to be doing ok other than the growling. We have taught her to eat from our hands and to let us pat her while she's eating.
The second night she cried, moaned, howled and whimpered on and off all night. I had to be up at 6am and think I had 4 hours sleep... much like having sleepless nights with a baby.
She woke me up at 6am (second day in a row) with a different kind of whimper... took her outside and she went to poop. Outside I drank my coffee and gave her breakfast. She seemed quite scared of the noises of the birds in the trees. The neighbours dog barked and she shot back into the house. A few seconds later popping her head out to look at me. I looked back at her and she came out again. More noisy birds and she dived under some greenery. We played a bit and went back inside. I got ready for work, kids woke up and played with her some more. Then she crashed again.
I worked for the morning and came home and we had our first puppy classes. I'll tell you about it in next post.
First reactions from friends and family seemed to be a consensus of, "Wow that's a big puppy!"
We seemed to be getting on well, she is playing fine with the kids and even ignored the cat (who is throwing a hissy fit every time she sees her).
Until, she was sleeping under my legs and I got up to move her and she growled at me. I said no and moved her but was upset because I didn't expect my puppy to growl at me. After a while I decided she was probably tired and its a strange new environment and not to worry about it.
Put her to sleep in a plastic kennel in the laundry. She cried for about 20 minutes the first night then was quiet... that was pretty good.
Next day.. she starting growling at the kids when they tried to move her while she was sleeping. I was starting to worry. After a nasty growling incident I took her to her kennel and left her there for 20 minutes. She was better when she came out.
She seems to be doing ok other than the growling. We have taught her to eat from our hands and to let us pat her while she's eating.
The second night she cried, moaned, howled and whimpered on and off all night. I had to be up at 6am and think I had 4 hours sleep... much like having sleepless nights with a baby.
She woke me up at 6am (second day in a row) with a different kind of whimper... took her outside and she went to poop. Outside I drank my coffee and gave her breakfast. She seemed quite scared of the noises of the birds in the trees. The neighbours dog barked and she shot back into the house. A few seconds later popping her head out to look at me. I looked back at her and she came out again. More noisy birds and she dived under some greenery. We played a bit and went back inside. I got ready for work, kids woke up and played with her some more. Then she crashed again.
I worked for the morning and came home and we had our first puppy classes. I'll tell you about it in next post.
Photos from breeders advert.
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