At 7 weeks he had already mastered the sit command and learnt to sit before he was going to be fed. At 8 weeks, we began taking him to Puppy School weekly. Initially, he was terrified of the other puppies! And kept hiding from them, but in little over 10-15 minutes, he was excitedly playing with them.
Kyuubi was a super star at puppy school. I don't want to boast but how could I not, I felt like a proud mum. He already mastered sit before attending puppy school, while all the other puppies there were still struggling. Over the course of the next few weeks, he learnt to lie down on command as well. A skill which won him puppy olympics in the final class hehe. He also got to wear a tiny little graduation hat and received a certificate.
At 12 weeks, we took him to get his second vaccination. He was fairly calm during the process and it didn't seem to bother him too much. Prior to his injection, we met a very friendly almost fully grown german shepherd. Kyuubi was uncertain at first, as he had not had any close encounters with larger dogs but just like at puppy school they were soon playing together. I stress how important socialisation is, if we never took him to puppy school, he would have been terrified of the german shepherd, furthermore he might not know proper etiquette which could lead to a disaster.
At 14 weeks, he was around 14 kilos I believe. And to think, at 6 weeks he was barely weight 5 kilos. Talk about fast growth! Being quite the food vacuum, I bought Kyuubi a slow feed bowl. It worked to some extent. Unfortunately around his 15 week mark is when I broke my toe. I didn't get to spend as much time with him in the weeks following and he grew into one giant puppy.
Now he is just over 5 months old, weighing nearly 18 kilos, at 6 months he should be at approximately 2/3 his final weight. So he still has growing to do! He is now full of energy, yet still loves his long naps in the sun. Daniel takes him out for walks daily, taking him to a local primary school with a fenced off oval. Here he gets to socialise with other dogs and run as much as his heart desires.
Oh oh, how could I forget, on one of our walks we met Danny, who was walking his Shadow, anEnglish Pointer and coincidentally is Daniel's neighbour. So Kyuubi often goes on walks with Shadow.
Things to work on, proper leash walking and recall. I also would love for Kyuubi to be friends with Daniel's neighbour's cat, but I think the cat is less enthused about the idea. Besides from his occasional mouthy behaviour, which has improved considerably over time, Kyuubi is still one big baby. Although he is incredibly handsome and looking quite dingo-like these days, don't you think?
I love you Kyuubi.
Love Lisa.
