A Lesson In Manners

As Samba's puppies grew she interacted closely with them and taught them some basic manners. We kept most of the pups but Gibson left us when he was twelve weeks old and we heard that he made the adjustment easily. The next to go was Gracie, but she was eleven months old when she went to her new home.

Many puppies and kittens are separated from their mother at six weeks and sometimes even earlier. They don't have the time to benefit from Mom's teachings. I personally think twelve weeks is a good age, but I've gotten puppies as young as four weeks simply because there were no other good options. Sydney and Mackenzie were six weeks old when they came to live with us. Their original owner wanted to get rid of the puppies and wasn't going to consider keeping them around any longer.

The girls are adorable and are getting along pretty well with the other dogs. We have a couple exceptions that we're working on. They are, however, little hooligans who need to learn some basic manners. Rob and I have been trying to teach them a few things, but they need to hear it reinforced by another dog. Sebastian has voluntarily taken on the job of teaching Syd and Mac how to be good little dogs.

The little girls have a nasty habit of jumping in the faces of the other dogs. None of the others like it, but they've been very patient. I've been correcting them when they do this, but they really needed a dog to tell them to stop. In the last few days Sebastian has decided to teach them.

Here they are greeting Fudge and Sebastian in the back yard.

They immediately started jumping all over Sebastian.

First he warned them to stop, but when they didn't heed the warning, he decided to convince them. Some of these photos may look scary, but we watched closely and he not only didn't hurt the puppies, they never even squealed. What's more, they came back for more.

He actually has Syd's head in his mouth, but he didn't hurt her. He did exactly what a mother dog would do, took her head and firmly pushed it down to show dominance.

These two are tough and didn't give up easily, so he repeated the lesson until he got the result he wanted.

Finally, submission.

 OK, now that you know your place in this pack, we can play.

All in a day's work.

Sebastian's lessons are starting to pay off. The girls are beginning to show some respect to the older dogs and though they forget now and then, they are starting to be calmer and easier to live with. Thank you Sebastian, you're a good foster dad.