Ferris Update: October 2020

Ferris took another trip to the vet today, this time for a scheduled visit. He’s 16 weeks old and 24 pounds. Overall, things are going so much more smoothly with him than they were even a month ago, it’s night and day.

These days, he gets very tired by around 8pm, but we do our best to keep him up, because we’d rather be able to sleep a bit more in the morning. (And when I say “we,” I really mean Tomas and Daniela, who have proven themselves to be very capable dog whisperers. More on that in a minute.) He wakes up around 6:30-7:00, with no accidents at night, and none during the day. (It’s been weeks since he had an accident, and that was because he was sick.)

Walking him has become much less of a sled dog situation as well. He does a fair job walking by us and not pulling us along, and he’ll come when we want him to. (More or less. There are still times when he’s just too interested in whatever it is he’s smelling. Probably poop.) We’ve found that as long as we take him on a couple of walks a day (a mile or more), then he’s generally well behaved and not too exuberant. He’s got a lot of energy, but that’s okay. It gets us out of the house more, and I count that as a good thing.

He still can get a bit carried away with wanting to show his love through his teeth, especially with MC. But he generally knows not to nip now, and those situations are limited to times when he’s feeling particularly excited. He likes to jump more than he used to, which is a new problem, but we’re working on that as well.

Really, however, I’m nothing but happy that we got him. He feels like a real addition to the family, and he loves to be doing whatever the rest of us are doing. It’s fun watching how excited he gets at even the smallest of things. It’s also great to see what he’s done for the kids. I think having a dog has really helped Daniela and Tomas up their responsibility game. My girls have both learned how to say “no” forcefully, which I’m very pleased with. MC has a friend who always has time for her. I’ve watched her and Ferris playing with a ball outside for long stretches of time. She’ll get the ball, throw the ball, and then run with him (he’s on a leash) to go get the ball and repeat the process. They think it’s a blast.

If I were to do this again, I would see if I couldn’t get a puppy that’s a bit older than Ferris was when we got him. Even a few weeks makes a big difference. 10 weeks might be perfect. You still have some training to do, but a lot of it is already done. Those first few weeks were definitely rough, but things have improved so much that it makes you forget the rough parts. (In that way, much like having a baby. Though I do feel this is very much the “baby lite” experience. Yes, babies don’t have teeth and aren’t mobile, but they require so much more attention . . .)

Anyway, just wanted to give an update on the little bounder. If you see us around town, he would love love love to say hello. He pretty much loves anything that moves. (Or smells like poop.)

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