Puppy musings

We are loving having a puppy in our family! R was our last true puppy who arrived so very young. Shyla arrived at age 9 months so she was almost grown up.

This little guy has the most amazing puppy breath, a magical potent that I'd almost forgotten!

He's learning lots of things very fast. He's starting to understand house training already, and he slept through the night without a whimper. Also, I used a clicker and treats to begin to teach him to look at me when I say his name, how to walk on a leash, how to sit, and how to touch my hand with his nose. He's smart!!! (As an aside, I videoed our training in case anyone is ever interested in seeing it.)

The Duo are gradually warming up to him. Just this evening, Shyla shared a bed with him and even let him touch her for the first time. Surprisingly, R is more concerned about the little guy than Shyla is. He pointedly gets up and walks to the other end of the room whenever Hachi comes close to him.

This isn't our first rodeo so we know to let the Duo figure out that Hachi is okay on their own. We supervise but we implicitly trust both of our elder dogs not to hurt Hachi. Each of them moves someplace else if they don't want to try to interact with him.

Since I'm not rushing the dogs toward hanging out next to Hachi if they don't choose to on their own, I have almost no photos of them together. This one shows R's leg and how much bigger he is than Hachi. Hachi routinely walks under the bellies of both dogs, as if he's going under a bridge.

We are keeping our normal routines with the Duo so Shyla and I were out at sunrise today. First, we saw an incredible psychedelic sky.

Then the sun found a gap in the clouds to shine on Shyla.

We had fun despite frigid cold that made me lose all feeling in my fingers. I keep reassuring Shyla that she's my best friend. I think that she believes it.

Then, we returned home to Hachi. Some of you asked about his name. He is the eighth dog we've had since getting married, and "hachi" means "eight" in Japanese. Also, we love the loyalty of the famous Japanese dog named "Hachiko", who was called "Hachi" for short.

We already love this little guy. He's one of the best Christmas gifts ever. I say "one of" because R also arrived around Christmastime!

Happy Christmas Eve. Thank you SO much for your enthusiasm about Hachi. We are over the moon with happiness.