Jude, our Irish Setter puppy is home
What a few days! Jude the Irish Setter puppy is safely home and we can’t believe how he’s taking it all in his little stride and settling in.
He is a truly beautiful puppy. Inquisitive, affectionate, über cute and, thanks to his very conscientious breeder, has already learnt to toilet outside. For sure we’re expecting an accident or two indoors but early signs indicate he’s going to be an intelligent boy and eager to learn.
Irish Setter puppy travels
As we drove to Nottingham to collect him, I had butterflies of excitement and a weight of anticipation in my tummy. Will he be travel sick? Will he be afraid? How will Rosie react to him? So many questions, so much responsibility, so desperate to do right by him.
The journey was almost faultless. I say almost as while Jude snuggled happily up against my side with his head on my leg, Rosie gave us both very haughty back treatment, making it quite clear she wasn’t impressed. This is the closest she allowed him to get and if we’d opened the window I think she would’ve quite happily jumped out.
Initial puppy bonding
In her book, The Pet Gundog Puppy, Lez Graham discusses bringing a puppy home. For 8 weeks, Jude has lived with the nurture and security of his mum, Wilma and his 12 littermates, all watched over by his highly experienced and loving breeder.
Rather stinky
Graham explains how smell is one of the puppy’s first instincts and as his new pack leaders, how Jude needs to learn our unique scents to begin to bond. This really resonated with me, particularly the phrase “don’t wear strong smelling products such as perfume or deodorant, we want the puppy to smell the ‘real you.'” Needless to say, by the time we’d walked Rosie, travelled in a warm car and dealt with my butterflies, my natural body odours were kicking it!
I think it worked! He’s a cuddle monster and seems perfectly content with his lot, and talking of scent, omg he smells delicious. Can you remember that puppy smell? Almost doughy, sweet and malty. Yummmmy!
A whole new world to explore
Jude is loving his new garden, just look at his big paws and bandy little legs. He had his first set of vaccinations yesterday and melted the hearts of the fabulous team at The Grove Vets. It will be a good 4 to 5 weeks until he can safely explore beyond his home boundaries, so to enable him to join Rosie on her daily walks, we’ve bought him a dog sling. I’m loving carrying him, and at just over 6kg already I’m getting a good workout too 🙂
Eat, play, sleep, repeat…
Jude is eating heartily and has been weaned by his breeder on a raw diet. This is great as Rosie is fed raw as were our 2 Irish Setter boys before and we truly believe in the benefits. I’ll cover more on this in future blogs.
After eating, it’s wee and poo time, then a sleep, a play, another sleep…Puppies sleep a lot!
But boy, he’s a live wire whilst awake. Everything is a massive adventure and needs to be explored. His teeth are like miniature razors and he wants to chew everything he comes across, including my nose and fingers.
Barking practise
Jude’s also found his voice, a cute little bark, with attitude 🙂 We too are practising our own bark, an ‘AHH’ command to guide him in some initial safety boundaries. Understanding what it means to be a dog is key to our relationship. There’s no need for a variety of words or unfathomable sentences, a simple bark and a gentle nudge away from a wire cable, interesting plant or pebble seems to be doing the trick.
Sisterly love
It’s going to take a while for Rosie to adapt to Jude’s arrival in the pack and learn to accept him. However, I’m confident sure she will and we’ll keep you updated.
Don’t forget Jude also has an Instagram and Facebook site for daily pics and updates.
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