Max, week 1
Well, after one week, Max has improved quite a bit. He doesn’t piddle anymore. When we first got him, he’d piddle when somebody picked him up and before he was let out of the crate. Now it’s “piddle no more” :D He’s also more comfortable with his crate. When we got him, he was crate friendly, meaning he’ll stay quiet in the crate. But he wouldn’t voluntarily go in there. Now, with a Kong, he can go in there happily, not even look when I close the crate and be a good pup until I let him out. He is also learning to not be so excited when I open the crate door. He still gets excited but not as much and he’d back away from the door (he used to scratch at it a lot more before I open). So the excitement is still there, still some scratches, but better. We’ll work on that. He also doesn’t bark or whine when I come home or just plain show up. He’ll wag his tail now but doesn’t expect me to open and let him our soon after I come in to the room he’s in.
We saw the person from Fury Pals Refuge, Carla, the other day and she said that Max is looking so good. He’s more confident and the noticed the no piddles too. She commented on how well he stays calm in the crate and she gave me the whole history on Max.
I mentioned that he was given up by his breeder due to cherry eye. The breeder was for profit only, so she didn’t want to spend the money or surgery or any care whatsoever. I guess every so often this breeder would call FPR and she would give them a few puppies and the mommas if they’re done producing pups (usually about 7-8 years of age). Carla said that the dogs are in a temperature control building but because of the amount, 300 dogs, they’re on top of each other. So she figured that Max never touched ground until before he was taken away by the rescue folks. When they picked him up, he was in a little play pen. But before this, he was most likely in a little wooden box with his mom, brothers, and sisters and to go potty, he had to go out of the wooden crate to a wire mesh flooring with paper on top of it to do his job. Poor animals!! Carla said usually the mom’s are well cared for, fed and somewhat groomed, but the dads… that’s another story.
Before I got Max, I was looking at buying a dog. At first I looked at an Australian Terrier. Cute little thing and not a lot of health issues. I found a breeder south of MO but she was a bit shady when I emailed her. She’s ok about me picking the pup up but she’s not ok with me looking at her breeding facilities and that it’s a bad thing to raise the pups in her house. Plus, after emailing her some more, I found out that she breeds more than one type of dogs. When I was researching this kennel I got to reading about dog farms and puppy mills and found out that Missouri has the most puppy mills. I Googled puppy mills and looked at the images. OMG! It was so horrible and sad. This was the thing that changed my mind on buying. From then on I decided to adopt from a rescue or humane society.
Max might have a potty issue but it might be because he’s just having such a great time running around on soil and grass. He also has some decently nice human buddies, a dog, and a cat who are there quite often. It’s not that he can’t piss or poo, he just takes forever when outside but the minute you come in, watch out. But then it might not be a Max issue but just a general Lhasa issue. That’s why they have a strict training regiment, which I am now starting to follow. He’s really been fine the end of last week maybe the change of schedule, weekend schedule, threw him off.
He’s so cute though (although Kato was the cutest puppy still) and besides his housebreaking issues (which I shouldn’t really talk about since it’s only been a week and I think I’m comparing to Kato who took to potty training just like that), he’s such a little sweetheart. He’s really good on the leash and basic training has been easy (though no results yet). He’ll also just go limp when you pick him up or put him on your lap for lovin’ or grooming. He does hate his teeth looked at or brushed. We love him.