So, the first thing we found out about Sebastian, our new 11 week old bully is…. the bastard bites… A LOT! I mean, yes he’s a puppy and I’ve been around plenty of puppies but damn! We couldn’t pet him because his way of loving back was BITE BITE BITE! Those little razor sharp shark puppy teeth and bully jaws… OMG, this is going to be an adventure but before I get too far ahead of myself….
Our friend told us that we could use our carrier for a bit as a crate until we had time to purchase one. We put him in it for the night on day one. Ahem, night one. Nope, this isn’t going to work. It was tighter than a horse in a transfer trailer… poor guy. He dealt with it on night one but the next day we got him one. We made sure we got one that would be sufficient when he’s grown to full size but has an adjustable partition wall to keep him in a smaller area for now. While crate training any puppy you do not want to give them too much room. Dogs that are training need to feel that they do NOT want to relieve themselves in their own home. If you give them too much room, they will feel that the other end of the crate is sufficient for a bathroom and WILL take advantage of it instead of holding it for when you walk them next.
Now back to Sebastian and his wicked ways…
The little turd burglar wouldn’t let us pet him without feeling his love through his razor-like mouth. Although he picked up ‘sit’ immediately, the only time we could reward him with a pat or rub was if he was eating his treat (2 seconds) or if you had him completely engaged with a chew toy. Now don’t get me wrong, this pup has NO issues with being touched. If occupied orally, you can grab, tug, pull and pet anywhere on his body pretty much. He has no qualms with you handling his ears, tail or paws. That is a good thing. He just wants to ‘love’ you back and doesn’t understand that his mouth and teeth aren’t the only way of doing such.
In the last week we’ve taught him ‘sit’ a bit better so you don’t HAVE to have a treat handy, and ‘down’ (lay down) is coming along nicely. The most important thing we’ve taught him is ‘kisses’. This is where he licks your hands, etc instead of gnawing on them. Don’t get me wrong. The little asshole still has his moments when he just wants to be a butthead and nibble but we’re down to maybe 30% of what he was before and most of the time now you can pet and caress him freely without being used as a chew-toy yourself. I consider this a great accomplishment!