Today is our first day with Pazzo, our new Canine Companion Puppy. He is a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix. He is three and a half months old and already weights in at 30 lbs. He is pretty calm for a pup and is settling in nicely at the house.
CCI (canine companions for independence) uses puppy raisers like us to raise the puppies until about 20 months of age. The puppies are then turned in to training centers across the country for advanced training. Hopefully the puppy does well in training and is placed with a disabled person in a forever home.
Pazzo is our third puppy and I wanted to keep a diary of what we do and how we raise the puppies.
In Pazzo's case, he was with another puppy raiser during the last month and a half while we did some Christmas vacationing. According to our friend, Pazzo has been really good. He slept all night the first night and became house broke very quickly so we have it easy with this puppy. Most puppies don't sleep well the first few nights and have to be watched carefully or crated in order to help with learning where to go to potty.
I should also mention that Pazzo also has an eye issue called entropion which means the eye lid, either the top or bottom or both turn in to the eye causing irritation and can scratch the cornea. So for the time being, Pazzo has staples in his lower eye lids to control the entropion. His staples are due to come out soon and he does not seem to mind them at all. No scratching or itching of the eyes as if they are bothersome.
Our job over the next few days will be to begin work on basic commands and learning the new house rules. We have already begun training with waiting at the door or in kennel before going out, there are certain areas of the house that he is not allowed in, having to sit for dinner and coming when called. Training in a more formal way will begin tomorrow morning for about 10 minutes starting with sit and down on command. Then another session in the afternoon for about 10 minutes. We will also begin short walks to help Pazzo get used to his new neighborhood as well as traffic and people. Getting Pazzo out early at this age is critical so that he learns that the larger world is not out to get him. He seems pretty confident so far so I don't think we will have a problem with any of this but he is entering a fear period for about the next 5 to 6 weeks so we need to keep an eye out for any problems outside the house.
I will try to post a little bit each day about what we do with Pazzo and how the day went so most posts will not be this long. Thanks for reading about Pazzo and please keep up with his daily adventures.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have a new puppy with entropian as well. We are concerned about the period of time he will have his staples. We were told he will have them for about 4-5 months until he is old enough for surgery. Our vet said he will have to wear a cone the entire time. Will you elaborate a little on Pazzo's experience with the staples and how it impacted it was on his puupyhood, development, play etc. Thank you.