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Starting to get along. 

Introducing dogs in a household is a complicated task, and can be a long-drawn-out process. Our goal had always been to adopt dogs so that they were four or five years apart in age. Wishes, however, aren't don't always come true. As much as we would have liked Iris to have a companion to play with earlier in life, after our other pets passed away we were never in the right place to adopt again. Until now. Only now Iris is over ten years old, and she's a pretty lazy gal, pretty set in her ways. So when we brought Gimli home we knew Iris wouldn't be head-over-heals for the new family member. We did things by the book—we introduced the pups outside the house in neutral territory—twice—before even bringing Gimli inside. We made sure to feed, pet, treat Iris first, and give her primary access to us, and everything else, for quite some time. The initial days were no slumber party, but they weren't an all-out dog fight, either. 

Iris was not thrilled, but she exhibited no undue stress—nothing that made us fear for Gimli's safety OR for Iris's basic comfort and happiness. So we remained patient, consistent, and steadfast in our efforts to reconcile the two, and, failing that, to at least keep them each safe, healthy, and happy. And for the past month Iris has done her best to ignore the little monster we brought into her midst, but lately she's started to come around. A week or so ago she started allowing him to cuddle with her at night. Then just a day ago she started making play gestures when he was nearby. It's still no slumber party, but we're going in the right direction.

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First snow, and although he was originally reluctant, he ended up loving it. Or at least he loves to eat it, which is a potty training nightmare since he's supposed to go out 30 minutes after he drinks, only he's essentially drinking every time he goes out because he's ingesting so much snow! Oh well.

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A training update. Gimli is now 12 weeks old and has been with us for four weeks and I'd say things are coming along swimmingly. We have been following the training methods of Zak George, mainly through watching all his YouTube videos, but also by reading his book and becoming active members on the facebook group. His main tenet is that the biggest value in training, especially this young, is not just in getting ahead of bad habits, or in laying solid foundations for good ones, but in building a strong relationship and sense of communication with your canine family member. Having done that, he says, almost anything is possible. 

To this end we train with Gimli at least three times a day, one session with each human member of the family, and I'd have to say that I'm pretty impressed with his progress so far.

First, the big one: Gimli is potty trained in-so-far as he will always ask to go out...when he knows he has to go out. At only 12 weeks there are certainly times when we are playing and he forgets he has a full bladder. Such is the life of a puppy. But we have had no purposeful accidents (no squatting, no full release) in the house in over a week now.

Next, all the necessaries: he knows his name very well! And deigns to respond to it...whenever he isn't too busy. He also knows the big four in commands—sit, down, leave it, and look at me—with moderate distraction in the house, and minor distractions outside of the house.

Lastly, the fun stuff: he knows spin, roll over, play dead (we call it "chill out"), and shake. And as far as tricks go, his "leave it" with three treats, where he will leave all three and take only the one you point to when you point to it is probably his most impressive at this time. Calvin calls this the "trident", and it is today's picture.

Also, will you just look at those ears?