Puppies are cute. Their noses are cute, their feet are cute, their stubby tails are cute… But a puppy with a bad attitude is NOT cute.

Alice has really bloomed over the last couple days. She’s excited to see new people, but is a little timid in meeting them at first. Once she hears them cooing at her though, she melts and runs over to greet them. She’s extremely smart and already knows her name too! When you call her, she doesn’t think about it for a second before she’s bounding towards you.

One of the things that’s also come to light a little more over the last couple days is Alice’s attitude. While I understand where she came from, it’s hard to piece together her puzzle without seeing where she came from. Her extreme over-reaction to correction from other dogs is a little troubling. Below is a video of what I’m talking about.

If you watch carefully, Cow and her are playing with a toy together and are gently gnawing on each other’s faces. Cow bites Alice a little too hard and Alice gets upset and snaps at Cow. Cow then sits up and corrects Alice for being extremely rude while Alice is leaning against the wall. As Cow’s getting up to move away, Alice (still angry) takes advantage of Cow’s turned back and tries to assert dominance and correct Cow for correcting her. Cow corrects her once again while backing away from Alice, and Alice goes back to the toy. It’s difficult to say who “won” that little altercation, as afterwards neither dog would approach the other one until I reassured them everything was alright.

This minor altercation with a well-tempered adult dog and a puppy really isn’t that big of a deal. But unless the behavior is nipped in the bud as soon as possible, it could lead to Alice being dog-aggressive later on. To correct this, I interrupt the actions with loud noises. Things such as a shaker bottle, yelling NO, clapping my hands, etc seem to shock her enough to stop the behavior. If it’s severe enough, intervening is the only way to correct it. In these cases, I scruff Alice (using my hand to simulate mom picking her up by the neck skin and support her bottom) and remove her from the situation. This allows all parties to take a break and cool off a bit, and also teaches Alice that acting aggressively will result in being alone. And that couldn’t be farther from what any dog ever wants.

I’m proud to announce that Alice has gained 5.6 lbs since May 13th! She came to us at a low 11.5 lbs and is now a whopping 17.1! Slowly on the med, both physically and mentally, we’re looking forward to the day Alice gets her forever home.

Today puppy met:

• Neighbor lady
• Mail man
• Swiffer duster
• Laundry room
• Adult spayed female large breed mix
• Aquatic turtle

Today puppy worked on:

• Out
• Leave it
• Off
• Sit
• Down
• Potty training