Pazzo on Jan 15

Pazzo is.....special.  The longer we have Pazzo the more calm he is, the more he shows us his real personality.  He is still a puppy that still loves to zoom through the house from time to time and still wants to use his mouth a little too much but all in all Pazzo is showing a basic personality of a calm puppy but very aware of his surroundings and where we are.  He focuses on us and approaches respectfully unless he has his "game" on. 

Pazzo is still having bowel problems however.  We have tried several different possible  combinations to this point and we still have other things to try but this is the first CCI puppy that we have had this type of problem with.  I am beginning to worry that there is some other underlying problem. I am not a vet so I am not sure what it would be but I am beginning to have my suspicions.  We had to get up twice last night just when we thought that we were getting a handle on the problem.  So now we are back to square one. 

Pazzo is picking up his commands.  We have not been real structured to this point.  To help with his focus I have been trying to reward him for looking at me.  He gets rewarded for sitting, downs, waits, being calm at meals and sitting still until called.  The only problem we have at the moment is a little too eager to eat.  I know that sounds funny as all dogs like to eat and really look forward to meal times.  But Pazzo is a little over the top.  In fact he growled as I put my hand in his food to test out just how focused he was on his food.  Food guarding, toy guarding, or other high value possessions or resource guarding has to be controlled early as it will only get worse.  Teaching a young dog to control guarding is easy with some and can be a challenge for others.  In the case of food guarding, one way to help is to hand feed the dog several times until the puppy understands where the food comes from and who actually has control over that valuable resource.  Getting mad or frustrated with the guarding will not help.  A calm consistent approach has to be used or the problem with continue to worsen.  We will have to keep an eye on Pazzo and evaluate any other guarding problems. 

I think we will also have to increase his activity level.  The walks we are taking do not seem to be wearing him out too much.  At four months he can probably safely handle about double the distance.  I don't want to over work him but I also want to get him used to exercise and working enough to help him relax more.  Tired dogs are better dogs all around.  They relax better in the kennels, are easier to work with during training, and develop a closer pack relationship.