Meet Gus

running_dog

running_dog

Honored Member
Gus is my sister's puppy, a border collie/labrador. He's 9 wks old and we are "fostering" him for her for a while.

We weren't really set up for a puppy and have actually never had one before. We only knew we were having him on Sunday night so we've had to try and get things sorted rather quickly.

Zac is pretty insecure about it all. He's not sure he can do tricks with that horrible black thing in the same room. Look at him... you can see how unlovable and scary he is...

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Aww so cute:p . I love Border collie lab mixes they are great dogs very intelligent. A wonderful mix my Missy in my profile pic. is a Border collie lab mix. :D
 
Thanks everyone :) I'm glad you like Gus.

I just wish Zac liked him too :(, we'll take a step back tomorrow and try to give Zac a bit more space. It is so sad seeing the pup wanting to be friends and Zac just wishing he was on another planet.

Southerngirl - you are right Gus is seriously clever. We only started calling him Gus yesterday and he already comes running. He has a beautiful sit. He carries things around too, a real bundle of potential. Maybe the breeder worked on sit to greet - he certainly knows this is the best way to get attention.

We had some issues with Gus always pooping in inconvenient places then finally we figured out that the breeder had put newspaper down in a conservatory area, LOL the poor little mutt poops in front of windows! Sure enough once it got dark and the curtains were closed he stopped going there :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:. Dogs are marvelously logical!
 
SQUEAL! TOOOOOOO CUTE, cute overload!!!!! Just 100% cute as can be!!
How fun! Bet Gus will bring a lot of laughs around the house!

poor lil Zac, having to live with such a horrid lil creature as Gus! :ROFLMAO:

P.S. Rdog, don't forget to stock up on those enzymatic cleansers to help reduce the lingering scents which can trigger a "reply" ...............HAVE FUN!!
 
:love::eek::eek: :love:

Oh my my, so cute. ^^ At least Zac just wants to be away from the little puppy monster. Mudflap hates puppies. If they ignore her, she's fine. But how many puppies ignore other dogs? :ROFLMAO: My happy-go-lucky, loves every living thing girl turns into a growly grump with puppies. I think if she actually lived with one she would learn to tolerate them, but as far as just meeting one she doesn't have any patience with them.
My bf's girl, Dixie, so far is the only puppy Mudflap has been infatuated with. She's a little over a year old now, but when Dixie was a pup Mudflap was just crazy about her. She followed her around and played with her and was actually very nice. Lol!
Zeke on the other hand loves puppies and is the picture-perfect surrogate mum. :)
 
Tigerlily - Zac just looks even more embarrassed and sad when I hold the pup and averts his eyes. If he suspects I'm holding the pup he has to look to be sure then he looks even sadder. If anyone else holds the pup he doesn't react - I think he's already consigned them all to the Darkside.

tx - that is reassuring about Mudflap. Zac gets really growly and even snappy if the pup goes near his toys but honestly he would sooner be elsewhere so he doesn't have to see the pup near his toys, he doesn't want to hunt him out and attack him he would just like him not to exist. He's happy as long as he's in a part of the house the pup doesn't go otherwise he is really freaked. I'll post another thread about it in behaviour problems anyway.
 
You're right running dog- Sooo "unlovable and scary". How can Zac not like such a pretty face?:rolleyes: Ha, ha, Maybe he thinks he's being replaced?? Or maybe he's just jealous. It was always you and him after all.....
 
Lol, don't worry, Zac's not the only dog who turns a bit Cujo on adorable puppies. xD Mud's pretty snarly too with them normally, but I've never let her get close enough to one for her to be snappy...with the exception of Dixie, who she was abnormally in love with. I'm sure if she was ever close to a pup that wasn't blatantly ignoring her she would be snappy too. Normally if they are just ignoring her, keeping their distance, meandering about she's okay. Watchful, but okay. You leave me alone, I'll leave you alone kind of thing. But if they act like a normal puppy--playful, bouncy, mouthy, etc, TOUGH LOVE. No puppy license, just "you're going to learn some respect right from the start you little brat!" :rolleyes:
 
I hope Zac will accept little Gus, so he can see that puppies are not just pests;)

I remember when I brought Jinx home... For 4 days Cooper growled at her. She was not allowed to do anything, play with any toy, not even the one she got from the breeder(with the smell of the nest). I was really beginning to think, we made a mistake... But Jinx had her way. She accepted all the growling, all the corrections, kept asking for some love. And after day four, she just lay down besides Cooper, curled up against his backlegs and fell asleep.
I remember my poor boy looking at her in dispair and then looking at me. I swear he was thinking, oh lord!! Well alright then! And from that moment on, she wound him around her little finger(if she had one:D) Now she is boss in the house(well, Cooper lets her think she is boss:LOL:)
 
This is what Gus has been learning in training sessions over the last couple of days...

understanding the clicker - click means a treat, click marks what I want,
sit - duration, default behaviour, not jumping out of a sit to grab the descending treat, he also seems to have the idea that sit means eye contact (that's kind of good and bad at the same time :confused: )
down - luring down, still has no real concept but he does go down instead of looking confused now.
loose leash - We have a reward (chicken, person, toy) at one end of the house and he has to keep loose leash walking to the reward. He only started this yesterday and he's come on really well, we're working with some distractions now (people, open doors, toys, Zac). He loves his lead as it usually means chicken. He bit the lead at first but he stopped in the first session. We've got about 3 weeks to work on this round the house and yard before he can go out. I'm keeping the leash in my pocket so no one can put it on him and let him pull:rolleyes:
leave it - Gus scratched my hand raw for a dry treat the first time I tried "leave". That was about 3 days ago, now he will give one sad sniff of my closed hand and then sit quietly for a count of 20 (I'm guessing that's 8-10 seconds as I know I count fast). That is with chicken in my hand.

Training wish list for next week
touch hand
stay (I guess we've started that with duration in the sit)
look at me

Gus is very food oriented and pushy, it seems really important to teach him self control.
 
all right, i'm curious, how is it going now?
Maybe Zac will cut Gus some slack for Valentine's Day??? ;)

plus, like everyone else, i just looooove how Runningdog words things! When you have time, please post an update on the saga of "Zac is not sure about Gus".
 
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