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I picked him up at 9am and after about 25 minutes at the breeders (where I got his papers, vacc records and signed the updated contract) I loaded him into the crate and off we went!He cried and yelped off and on for about 10 minutes (new car, new crate, new smells, away from the breeder, etc.) I put the snuggle puppy in his crate with him right after I left the breeder (I forgot to do that ahead of time) and he started chewing in it's ears and tail, digging in the crate blankets and chewing on them. It was a bit of stress and frustration. He seemed tired and fussy and when I was holding him at the breeders I noticed he seemed quite tired. He perked up and bounced around and explored when I put him down to go potty outside in her front yard though.
During a quiet time (these were getting longer) I put my fingers into the crate. He snuggled up to my hand and flopped down in contact with it. I scratched his neck as best I could with my fingers pinned between him and the crate door, but he relaxed and started to fall asleep.
He kept getting up, changing positions and flopping back down like he couldn't get comfortable. But within 20 minutes of leaving the breeder, he was asleep. He woke up every time I hit a patch of rougher road though, so he didn't get a very restful sleep.
When I got home, I came in to greet the dogs while Mike met the pup in the van. I let the dogs get settled and sniff me fully before Mike took them outside and I carried the pup through the house to the front yard to go potty. He did so fairly quickly, to lots of praise, and then I took him back inside to his pen in the office.
This is where I let the boys come in one at a time to meet him. I knew Coyote would be better if the pup was already in the house when he came in, so that's why I chose to do it that way instead of meeting on neutral territory. I let Bear in first and when he saw the pup he got very excited and started doing a little beagle jig. He got so excited racing around it spooked Dazzle a bit. So I had him calm down and sniff and all was well.
Next I let King in and he did a quick sniff and then ignored the pup as I figured he would. Buster came in next and did a more interested sniff and watched the pup for a bit. Coyote came in, postured, hair up, and barked. He wasn't sure what to think, but I'm pretty sure he was saying "Oh no! Not ANOTHER dog!" :-) He wasn't aggressive to the pup, just very vocal. Thankfully Dazzle seemed to ignore his noise after the first few barks.
I put Bear in the pen with the pup to see if they would play, but neither was ready for that just yet. Everything is still too new to Dazzle and Bear wasn't sure why he had been separated from the rest of the dogs (and now Coyote was staring at him.) So Bear came out.
Mike had to leave, so it was a good time to just let everyone adjust and give Dazzle time to sleep again. It's clear he's still tired. He slept for about an hour while I got caught up on email. When he started to stir and play with his toys it was almost noon so I gave him some food. He just picked at it. I'm hoping it's just because he was still a bit stressed in his new home and not that he's a picky or light eater. He had a food filled kong in his crate the whole way home and he completely ignored it.
After he ate a bit, I took him outside with just the beagles (who ignored him.) Coyote and Buster occasionally barked through the door and gate. The farmer was using a huge combine to harvest the corn in the field behind us. Dazzle wasn't too sure about it but wasn't overly spooked. He was still willing to play as long as it was near me. After the combine passed, he played with the corn husks flying around in the breeze and found a corn cob to gnaw on for awhile.
He found the baby pool and got a drink. He was quite hot so I dunked his front feet. He didn't seem to mind. He wasn't as comfortable with me dunking just his back feet, but didn't panic or struggle, just kicked his feet. The water was tepid from being in the sun so I know it wasn't too cold for him, just unusual. He kept looking at the water as though he might try to get in on his own, but didn't.
Mike came home shortly after I brought Dazzle in the house and he wanted to go back out with him so we did. He got some photos of me with Daz and I took some of him. All the dogs were loose and Coyote was still vocal but it wasn't an aggressive bark and it wasn't directed at anyone in particular. Sounded more like the bark he uses when he thinks it's too quiet in the house and he has to hear himself bark. Dazzle was curling up next to me and trying to go back to sleep so I brought him back in to his pen in the office and I started working on this entry.
Right now, Dazzle is sound asleep in his pen, Coyote is in his "cave" under the table in the corner of the office, Bear is under Mike's desk, Buster is lying in the doorway and King is napping with Mike. All is right with the world.
I took several photos (below) and some video. The video editing takes awhile so I'll get that uploaded as soon as I can.
Proud mom:
Dad and "Da Boys":
Dazzle Come!
Sneaking up on the corn stalk:
Chasing corn husks:
