I love these Wildflower Updates, and hope you do as well. We have two today — the first is from Penny and Caleb about the puppy formerly known as Mallow…
We met Jennifer and Alex in Ritzville, WA last Monday to meet Zeus (Mallow) and Lupine. Zeus really handled the 5-1/2 hour car ride home in his crate very well. Our children, who are 5 and 8 years old, and their grandparents who also live with us, were all overjoyed to meet Zeus and welcome him into our family.
We settled on the name Zeus because of our home here on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, with the Olympic Mountains in our backyard. They were named by Captain John Meares because the Mountains appeared to be like the Greek Mount Olympus, a home fit for the gods. And hence the name, Kaibab's King of Olympus...our Zeus. He even has a white lightning bolt on his forehead!
Over the last week, Zeus has really shown off his Mr. Congeniality spirit and is full of love to give, curiosity to explore, and confidence to engage in new experiences. We have an exercise pen in our living room, in our bedroom where I telework, and outside. Zeus has done really well with using his potty pad when necessary and also definitely understands the rewards of potty outside. We have a couple tunnels and a splash pad (not a big fan) we have introduced outside for fun, an array of toys which we have been changing out, and he has even been getting used to a balance beam Caleb set up! We have also been working on Sit-Down-Stand and he is a quick learner, especially since treats are involved.
Zeus is also doing great with his crate. Last night, he slept from 10pm to 5:30am without waking up. Up until last night, we have been getting up with him once around 3-3:30 am to go outside then back to bed.
He definitely looks forward to mealtime and has enjoyed all of the BalanceIt recipes that Mary-Ann has sent. He is eating a rotation of those meals, raw food patties, and Orijen kibble. He does not discriminate! According to our bathroom scale he weighs 16.2 lbs. He goes to the vet on Thursday morning for a checkup.
One minor struggle right now is the excitement of children combined with the excitement of a puppy and his main method of interaction being teeth-based. We are working with the kids on understanding Zeus's needs and energy level and redirecting with a chew toy. We tried the Puppy Pong game and the Name Game and both are a big hit with all involved. It's a great way to combine the kid's desire to play with Zeus and his desire to play with them in a fun, rewarding way. And we're really looking forward to meeting Patty and Buttercup for a play date!
We are so happy to have Zeus as part of our family!
Thank you so much, Penny and Caleb, for the photos and wonderful update. I am excited to see photos of Buttercup and Zeus together again :)
We interrupt these Wildflower Updates to bring you this photo of their almost 12 years old great-great auntie Maddie — she lives close to Zeus!
Thank you, Barb — Maddie looks amazing and ready to celebrate her upcoming birthday!
Alex sends our next report — but first some context. When Alex was 11, I gave him Mesa from our H Moon Litter…
Sadly, Mesa died of Leukemia before she was six years old.
Alex has been waiting for a puppy that was closely related to Mesa and that puppy is Lupine…
Alex sends us all this report:
Wildflower Fan Club,
Lupine is doing great! She continues to be incredibly intelligent, engaged, and confident -- our family fell in love with her the moment she got home. Lupine reminds me of her great-aunt Mesa; although unique and different in many ways, she carries Mesa's same energetic and very much alive energy.
Lupine loves to terrorise our adult dogs (she's perfected guerilla tactics) and rough house with me. She also loves to chase water bottles, play in water (baby pools were sold out so a small bin is acting as placeholder), and sleep in the most uncomfortable looking positions.
Oh, and did I mention eating? She LOVES to eat. On that note, she has grown quite a bit since she arrived here. She wasn't able to drink out of the big dogs' water bucket but now, a week later, she does so with ease as long as it's full.
She sleeps in my room in a crate and with the exceptions of one or two rough nights, sleeps around 8 hours with one potty break. She was a howler on our way home from Montana but eye contact made her calm down -- I think she has some separation anxiety but we are working through that.
Lupine has kept up on her socializing -- we estimate she's seen a bit more than 25 new people in the week we've had her. She loves meeting new people and receiving their love!
In terms of training, I think the first couple days of Lupine's stay here were marked by a little bit of overconfidence and ambition on my part. She picked up on anything I was teaching her incredibly quickly, leading me to think of future titles and great things that she might do in the future; this thinking started adding a little stress to training because I wanted to live up to Lupine's potential. I didn't hold that mindset for long, though, as I caught myself and corrected it -- but I think it was a mistake nonetheless. The theme of this litter, from my perspective, has been strong foundations. Mary-Ann set these puppies up for great success -- Lupine and I decided we're going to continue this theme and make our mission just to have fun and be engaged while working on basic foundational behaviors and a minuscule amount of scent work (she really enjoys it!).
Lupine is already provides such a great presence in our household and we are grateful to have to her!
Thank you, Alex! I love your self-awareness and your willingness to own a tiny misstep.
Alex identified that he was feeling some pressure to make sure Lupine lives up to her potential and he quickly recognized the dangers of that mindset when it drives us to do too much, too soon. Of course Team Lupine will do wonderful things — in fact, they already are because what matters most is that a puppy is valued and loved and clearly that is happening.
Have a Happy Wednesday!
