Weekly Dog Blog -- Sampson, 9 Weeks

Age: 9.5 weeks

Weight: 30.4 lbs

Yes, you read that correctly. In his first three weeks home, Sampson has almost doubled his body weight. 

The past week and a half have flown by with my husband's birthday and the arrival of my sister's family as they transition from full time Caribbean life to a US existence. I have hardly known how to handle myself, so many exciting things at once. If you haven't  read This POST about the fabulousness that is my sister, you might not get how giddy this makes me, to have her family shouting distance away... 

Piper and Quinn with their ongoing painting projectAnd Piper has been thrilled to have my sister's daughter Quinn, her sister-cousin. Both girls agree that Sampson's chewy phase is unwelcome. He loves following the little girls' flouncing skirts and thinks their delicious, sun-warmed forearms are just ripe for nibbling. Perched up on the kitchen counter out of the way of Sampson the other night, Piper told me:

"I have decided I don't want a puppy. I want a dog. The worst Jonah ever did was shake his wet on me."

Throughout this time of helping their family to settle in, Sampson has been a game little shin-high compadre, toddling cheerfully between their new house and ours. He should be relishing his final moments indoors at Casa Nowak because the white carpet comes tomorrow and it's not going to be much longer that J can do this: Over the Shoulder Puppy Holder

In addition, this past week we had our annual family reunion--a tradition my maternal grandparents started more than 50 years ago. From these two people, who had seven children, there are now 72 relatives--their children, grandchildren and great-grands with three new babies due. This year, we decided to hold it locally, literally in the common property. My grandfather celebrated his 90th birthday yesterday and we are all feeling blessed to have him as this winter he underwent treatment for cancer and beat it. The day before the fesitivities began, he played his first full round of golf. This is the cake my sister and I made to celebrate my grandfather's return to one of his favorite pasttimes:

Grandpa's Golf Cake

 Because of my grandparents' belief in family, because of them starting this tradition, my children know their second cousins more intimately than most people know their firsts. It was so fun to see the twenty great grandchildren traveling in a pack, fishing and bouncing and running wild. Sampson got to be underfoot for much of the family festivities in the backyard, scavenging under banquet tables, frolicking with my cousin's two-year-old Bernese Mountain dog and snuffling small cousins.

Our typical 4 am pre-dawn walks were spent restocking the hidden treasures for the weekend-long scavenger hunt and Sampson was a game little companion, sniffing out . In order to control him in such a crowd and monitor his bacon intake, I started attaching a leash to his collar. He mostly dragged it or carried it proudly in his mouth, but it was a start.

There was also time for a little bit of this--early morning writing with my sweet boy at my feet: 

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THE FAMILY THIS WEEK... WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING WITH SAMPSON?

Holy Biter, Batman!

When I was growing up, conventional wisdom was that when a dog nipped or bit, you 'popped' them under the chin. Never over, so they wouldn't see it coming or get head-shy of petting. This doesn't jive with our parenting style or who we are as people so I have been researching some non-violent approaches to keep Samps from being too bitey with the under-four set. 

1. LICK

In this, we coat Piper's palm with a smear of peanut butter, and then she calls Sampson to her and tells him to 'lick', while repeatedly praising him. The idea is that when he runs up to her, mouth open, she can hold out her palm and say 'lick', and he will do that instead. This has about a 35% success rate. The rest of the time, he just looks at her incredulously like, "Wow, you're giving it to me? It's more fun when I chase you down and you squeal but okay..." before chomping down with his needle teeth. 

2. "YIPE"

So when that doesn't work, we have tried to teach her to 'yipe', high pitched and loud, like one of his litter-mates, to give him the message that that's too much. If you know Piper, and her big-eyed, soft-spoken ways, you know that this only works when I am right there and 'yipe' for her.

3. Mama Dog Says NO

This is another one that is only effective when I am around and comes straight from the Dog Whisperer. When he gets her, I make my fingers into a claw/jaw and close them over his skull like a mama dog's jaw and hold it there making a low growl until he lets go. This is the most effective of the three, though nothing quite beats the foolproff way of keeping Piper from getting nipped--carry her; everywhere. 

If you have a great puppy-training method, I'd love to hear it! 

Comments

[Mary Q.]

Chandra, I am LOVING your dog blog, pictures, and chat about your family. You just speak my language and make me smile a lot. I wish I had some foolproof puppy training methods for you. Certain inevitable stages, like the irritating needle-sharp biting weeks, can be tough to weather. Our inclination for hand/body biting has been your #2 YIPE response -- an instantaneous loud reaction! Sometimes it works; sometimes not. In terms of chewing non-human items, we've been highly successful with that with Sunny, our yellow Lab 16 years ago (who left us two years ago), and now with our 18-month-old chocolate Lab, Jazz. We provide NUMEROUS toys and repetitious diversion tactics. They both caught on quickly and, as a result, it's never been a problem in the house. In the backyard, it's been more of a challenge. Jazz thinks grabbing a branch from a bush and tearing around the yard with it in her mouth like a flag is more fun than just about anything. It's a lot harder to corral her out there! ;-) Looking forward to more updates! Enjoy your summer!

[Kris Pitcairn]

Chandra....I LOVE hearing about Sampson. Thank you. And I wanted to share that I knew a woman who actually bit her Rottie pup, on the neck, when correcting him, as the mama of the litter would. That Rottie rarely left her side in the 10 years they shared together. Affectionate best wishes to you, Jonathan and the kids as you welcome Sampson into your family. He's "one lucky dog!"

[Chandra]

Thanks Mary and Kris! Mary, I will definitely add more diversion, as I think that's what Sampson really needs. And with three little kids, he needs me 'on' him more. Walking on the leash has been huge. Kris, that's hilarious about your friend and the Rottie. I don't know if my tiny mouth could make much impact with all Sampson's fluff, but I won't rule it out as an option.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I just read a disheartening fact: we're not even to the 'teething' phase, which is 4-7 months, yet. This is just mouthiness, or being 'chuffy', as Piper calls it.