Raising Wyatt
I am very excited to announce that I will be getting a Belgian Malinois puppy from a breeder in Oregon, and I thought I'd send you all updates and pictures once in a while of the puppy's progress. I always get males, the litter has 8 puppies and 6 of them are males -- I couldn't have been happier.
My last name is Erp and so I will be naming this puppy Wyatt. Nobody gets it at first, but I decided that I had to name at least one puppy of mine Wyatt, and this is it. To keep this kind of short, a brief history: both parents are AKC champions and the sire has advanced agility titles and does herding. I'm getting a male primarily for the performance events that I do: agility, obedience, rally, tracking, and maybe a little herding thrown in, we'll see. Plus of course he will be a constant companion to me and 7-year old Swedish Vallhund Finn and almost-14-year old Malinois Jesse.
The breeder is excellent at keeping us informed of all events, via pictures and daily diaries on her website of the litter, individual pictures, etc. I haven't chosen mine yet -- I will let the breeder give me an idea of who she thinks has more drive, energy, play, willingness to work than the others. Plus I am visiting them, weather permitting, at the 6-week mark, to get to know the boys and maybe get an idea of which one or two might suit me best. I pick puppy Wyatt up at 8 weeks of age, Easter weekend.
I have TONS of pictures. Let's see if I can figure out how to do more than 1 at a time. This is the first test:
Pregnant mama with HER mama:
My last name is Erp and so I will be naming this puppy Wyatt. Nobody gets it at first, but I decided that I had to name at least one puppy of mine Wyatt, and this is it. To keep this kind of short, a brief history: both parents are AKC champions and the sire has advanced agility titles and does herding. I'm getting a male primarily for the performance events that I do: agility, obedience, rally, tracking, and maybe a little herding thrown in, we'll see. Plus of course he will be a constant companion to me and 7-year old Swedish Vallhund Finn and almost-14-year old Malinois Jesse.
The breeder is excellent at keeping us informed of all events, via pictures and daily diaries on her website of the litter, individual pictures, etc. I haven't chosen mine yet -- I will let the breeder give me an idea of who she thinks has more drive, energy, play, willingness to work than the others. Plus I am visiting them, weather permitting, at the 6-week mark, to get to know the boys and maybe get an idea of which one or two might suit me best. I pick puppy Wyatt up at 8 weeks of age, Easter weekend.
I have TONS of pictures. Let's see if I can figure out how to do more than 1 at a time. This is the first test:
Pregnant mama with HER mama:
Comments
First week puppies:
Another nephew picture:
In just a few short weeks I may very well be wondering what WAS I thinking, though, when I try to handle a new puppy, my still-rambunctious 7-yr. old Vallhund, and one very blind, very old, special needs 14-year old Malinois.
Another picture from the office visit:
I enjoyed hearing about all the enrichment the pups are getting.
(Mama malinois' face reminds me of my Reilly.)
So, which color ribbon is yours?
They've done more in 8 weeks than *I* have in my life! LOL
Very cute! ~
The Malinois are gorgeous, smart as can be, but a bit too intense for me.....:)
And I can not wait to see which pup is going to end up being yours! If it were me, I would take them ALL!!!! haha.
Catherine has some wonderful dogs, she mainly shows in AKC and performance events but her dogs can also get working titles and she'll breed to working lines. There's good balance in her Malinois. We have quite a few of her puppies (older dogs now =]) here in California, mainly doing AKC stuff.
I think you'll be very pleased with a puppy from her and he should definitely suit your needs!
Thanks for the killer photo updates, they are darling little Maligators.
Lots of people ask me that, but I can't pick yet. I want the breeder to choose one or two for me based on personality, drive, energy level, based on what she knows I want (and she knows those puppies better than anyone). Mainly a performance dog that I can do lots of different things with, an athletic, sound, handsome dog. I don't need for him to be a top show specimen, although I do think most of these pups will be quite beautiful in coloration. And I don't need the highest drive one either, since I'm only getting older.
Here's a pic of my devil dog Vallhund Finn.
Mommy Cayenne went back home and 3 puppies went to their new homes...
...did you pick up your pup, yet? -grins-
Hi Corina and everybody,
I've been off for awhile, but yes, I have my puppy!! Royal (purple), aka Wyatt. I drove back to Oregon and picked him up at exactly 8 weeks of age, and we've been busy doing puppy things.
But first, the bad news: I had to put my beloved Jesse Malinois down at just one month short of 14 years of age. I put him down on a very peaceful, quiet Monday at my vet's, with my arms wrapped around him. On Friday I drove to Oregon to pick up the new puppy. The timing was amazing. My neighbors were away on spring break, and when they came back, there was no Jesse but a puppy in his place -- I'm sure they figured I hadn't wasted any time, but in truth, the puppy had been in the works for a year, and I would have gotten him whether Jesse was still with us or not.
The good news: Wyatt and Vallhund Finn have become the BEST of friends, playing with each other inside and outside, and the puppy is making him run and be more active. Wyatt sticks his head in Finn's food bowl, grabs him by the neck skin and fur and pulls him unmercifully, and Finn just takes it all, very good-naturedly. I have been astounded at how well he has accepted this puppy.
More later on beginning puppy training and some of this puppy's particular traits.
The picture is captioned, Can you hear me now? The Schnauzer belongs to a training friend of mine. The picture doesn't really do the puppy justice color-wise, and you can't see his blackening.
But congrats on finally bringing Wyatt home! He looks great, and I am so glad him and Finn are getting along so well.
I demand more puppy pictures, so please update us again soon!
Sweet thread and I'm sorry to hear about Jesse not having a chance to meet Wyatt. Not sure if you found out already but the way to add multiple pictures to one post is to just keep editing that same post and upload additional files as necessary.
Cute pictures and what an amazing socialization regiment by the breeder!
Jesse
Oh goodness, thank you, thank you. I knew it was something ridiculously easy....
Perhaps things worked out for the best? Mali pups can be a bit much...even for a senior Malinois. Rest well dear Jesse.
Thanks, Corina. It was indeed a blessing in disguise -- I was already starting to worry about how I was going to keep the puppy away from old man Jesse because Jesse never DID like puppies to begin with, and once he went blind, he wanted nothing to do with ANY dog and would have snarled or growled or rolled him a couple of times. Which isn't all bad but when a blind dog lashes out towards something he can't see, there is too much danger of a tooth going where he hadn't intended, like into a puppy's face, or eye. But as it turned out, they never met each other.
Now here's the interesting part that might be relevant to new nihonken owners (and perhaps a comment on the nature vs. nurture issue). I visited that litter at 6 weeks and had my pick of 3 males when I went back at 8 weeks. At all times those puppies were happy-go-lucky, lick you in the face, individually and of course in a pack, in the house and yard and play yard. I've described the kind of set up the breeder had, lots of stimulation, different toys and things to climb on and over and through, thorough socialization, tons of visitors from 3 weeks of age onwards, from men to children. I spent 2 days driving home, and at the first rest stop, a small family (mom, dad, 10-12yr old child came over and asked to pet the puppy. I expected the same reaction I'd gotten from the puppy towards me, and indeed from all my past puppies of a few different breeds, i.e., happy how-are-ya type of behavior. He backed away, wouldn't have anything to do with them. Second rest stop, same thing. By then I was cursing under my breath. We arrived home, wouldn't have anything to do with my husband. More cursing. Did I get a shy puppy after all this effort? I gave him ONE DAY to get acclimated to Finn (who ignored him), the house and yard, and then we went to Murdoch's with tiny cheese cubes. Same thing, backed away from the greeter -- I had everybody and his brother in the store feed him quietly out of the palm of their hand. Second day home we went to Home Depot but by then my brain got into gear and I said, this puppy needs a little confidence, he'll go in with Finn and can watch Finn's reaction to being petted and fed tidbits. He walked in MUCH more confidently this time, I handed him to a couple of people who he licked, and once put down on the floor, was quite friendly and by now knew what the outstretched hand was all about, and walked towards people just fine. By week's end, he was greeting everybody that he met looking for the handout, wagging his tail, crawling on their lap if they kneeled down, and just in general behaving like a different dog. Whew!
However! He's obviously not the kind who throws himself into anyone's lap. He's turned around 100%, loves my husband, has been a little tentative around some equipment but once conquered, you can't keep him OFF of it. He's played tug with several other people, nobody has done anything bad to him, and he now acts like he likes people. He's backed away slightly from one person with black gloves on, and another man with a hat, but recovered quickly both times and is not now backing away at all, only greeting with a wagging tail.
So what I am deducing is that since I know what his background is, his slightly tentative nature is a core temperament trait that I will have to take into account. Plus he may take a little longer to mature, but bottom line, those of you who say that socializing isn't EVERYthing are absolutely RIGHT!! You can go a long way by doing everything you can with him from 8 to 16 weeks -- but basic genetic temperament is always there. He's taking daily car trips, going to the club building, starting a class. I hold him in my arms at the vets and don't let him touch the floor, but other than that, with this kind of temperament in particular, my thinking is that I had to get him out NOW and big time, and risk catching parvo (which is the only thing I'd be worried about. I've had some comments about never allowing a puppy to take food from strangers, and I just think this is so misguided. Most everyone I know with dogs with reactive or aggressive or iffy temperaments who are into performance venues will hand food to everybody they meet -- there is nothing that establishes trust in a puppy's mind more quickly than food.
Physically I think he will be small and he seems light-boned -- I'd predict topping out at 50lbs. His mother is small but I don't care -- if he's large enough to show to a championship, I'll show. If not, been there done that don't have to do it again. The smaller and lighter, the better agility dog he will be. He's beautifully marked even if I do say so, and will change colors monthly for awhile, but I think will be very dark.
More later on what I've been doing with him so far.
I have pictures downloaded from my camera into iPhotos, and although I can email them out into individual emails, I haven't figured out how to get them onto this forum format, other than put them in an email and save the attachments. Picture with ball in mouth was taken Sunday at 11 weeks of age.
I've been doing some socialization for my new puppy Panda too, but no-where near a much. I guess I feel a little limited because I've decided to keep her at home/or other safe friend's houses until she's fully vaccinated. I do plan on taking her to puppy kindergarten and a local pet food specialty shop for some socialization, which will involve a little risk, but I think it's worth it for the long run. Hopefully that will be enough until she's 16 weeks old and fully vaccinated:)
Keep the pictures coming! It's great to hear how Wyatt is progressing!