Puck (ACE TRavi) a happy dog!!!

We got our new dog, Puck, on January 2nd 2018. What a wonderful Christmas present he has turned out to be.  It was an emotional day the day we brought him  home. Not only for us, but for him as well. He had barked himself hoarse on his travels from the refuge to his new home. We were a bit concerned that we were bringing a dog we had never met, and more importantly had never met our other dog, but those concerns were baseless.  Puck was immediately respectful of Owen (our 14 year old Dachshund mix). From the first meal, when we told Puck NO WAIT, he has always waited for Owen to walk away from his bowl before going over to clean it out completely!! It  is amazing how respectful he is. By day 3, Puck was attuned to our schedule, when he would be walked, fed, when it was time to chill out and when we were going to go to sleep.  He watched us and Owen and adapted to life with us. Now, he and Owen snuggle on the couch during nap times and sit in the sun together in what used to be my reading chair in the front window 😉

He was a bit insecure when he first came to live with us, no surprise there. But his natural confidence and curiosity flowered with a bit of guidance from me when encountering new things on our walks (like concrete statues in yards), greeting people and meeting dogs. He is happy to meet new dogs and people, but he likes to say HI and keep on walking. When we discovered that he loves tennis balls, we walked to a local dog store and bought a Chuck-It. His favorite thing to do is to walk to one of the nearby dog parks and chase the tennis ball until he is tired. Luckily there are 3 dog parks within walking distance and we go to one almost every day. 

About once a week I take him for  long off leash rambles with some neighbors and their dogs. We live very close to farm-land so there are lots of paths to enjoy.  From the very first walk I was working with him on recognizing his name and coming back to me when I called him.  I had the goal of letting him off leash in the fields by the end of summer. I was super happy to reach that goal by April.  He and his dog buddies (a pack of 5 dogs who are all bigger than him) have a blast running around in the fields. 

He loves training, loves to learn new things and overall wants to be doing what is expected of him.  He is a pleasure to have in our family. There hasn't been a day when he has woken up without a smile on his face and some serious cuddle time before we get out of bed.  His tail didn't stop wagging for the first 3 days he came to our home and that is pretty much his default tail. Wagging. wagging. wagging. He is one happy dog.