Its been a long time since I've posted anything regarding Blaze. Sadly, we decided to give him back to his breeder. We had him for eight weeks, and it just seemed like no matter what we did, he continued his aggressive tendencies towards the children. As I mentioned previously, he was the alpha dog in his litter. I wish now that we had observed him with his litter prior to getting him, but that wasn't possible since there were only three pups and one was taken before we got there.



It… Continue

Wow-- hard to believe it's been a full month since we got Blaze!



We are LOVING him... no regrets whatsoever getting this little pooch.



He seems to be housebroken already! He knows to either jump up and down in my line of sight or come up and BARK in my face and I will get the hint and take him outside. When he does that-- he pees/poos right away! He is one smart litle bugger.



No other approach has worked for us with stopping his nipping/biting except... *drum… Continue

Well.



Mild hiccup in Blaze's first month at home. Last night he seemed really quiet (which is a huge red flag). I took him outside for the final pee/poo of the night. He threw up... it seemed to be mostly solid food, so I thought maybe his stomach just wasn't agreeing with him. He had been chewing a lot on a bully stick I bought for him two days ago. His stomach was really bloated, so I figured maybe between the bully stick and his regular food he just consumed too much?? He did poop… Continue

Do any of you have a microchip in your dog?



If you do, at what age did you have it implanted?



I am seriously considering implanting Blaze with one, just for the peace of mind of knowing if he ever gets lost, the chances are good for him to come back to us.



I found this website:



www.homeagain.com



and there's a vet close to me that does the implantation for $40.



What do you think? Good or bad idea?? It doesn't seem to hurt the dog,… Continue

How interesting.

I've never actually had a dog that hid treats.. usually they snarfed them down as fast as I handed it to them...

Imagine my surprise when I went to Blaze's crate for the purpose of getting his mat for washing.. and found a puppy bone underneath, dead center....

How cute!! Seriously, folks-- he was saving it for a rainy day.

Do your dogs do this?? I think it's ADORABLE! I wonder where else he's hiding his treats...

We have given Blaze the wrong name. We should have either called him Twiggy or Hoover.



1) Twiggy because the boy loves, loves, loves, loves twigs or other pieces of wood.

2) Hoover because he is a true vacuum-- he picks up EVERYTHING indoors or outdoors.



It is DRIVING ME BANANAS. I have learned to speed up when I take him for a walk and keep him close to my side becuase if I don't, he picks up EVERYTHING from twigs (big or small), cigarette butts, flowers, ROCKS (omg… Continue

Well, as of tomorrow morning we will have survived Blaze's first week with us!! I am exhausted!!



We never let him out of our sight. The one time I let him out of my sight for more than 30 seconds, he managed to destroy a section of berber carpet next to my bed. It was the section where the seam is... he found a "hook"-- pulled.. and zipped up an entire row and half. *sigh* You just have to laugh...



He has a quirk already! Actually, he HAD a quirk. He's sorta… Continue

Blaze has been doing so well at home for the past three days!! I took him to meet his vet on Monday (he isn't due for shots, but figured I'd get them off to a good start) and everything checked out fine. Got his flea/tick/heartworm medication on, and the vet showed me a strategy to assert my dominance over him, which I really liked, since I wasn't having much luck with the "turn back on him or walk away" approach. Blaze would just happily run along and nip me all the while.



Soooooo,… Continue

So....



We got up early yesterday to drive to Auburn and get Blaze.... he has surpassed my wildest expectations. He is SOOOOOO intelligent, playful, stubborn, adorable, loving, and sweet. He has adjusted VERY WELL from being a free-roaming puppy on the farm to being an inside dog that is being crate-trained. I had to leave him for two hours yesterday for a meeting, and I was SO worried about him- but no problems... he did not pee/poo in his crate, and nothing was destroyed (I was… Continue