Two steps forward, one step back!

Or is it 'One step forwards, two steps back'? anyway............

Towards the end of last week there had been some improvement to the amount of interest Neo took in things but I still wasn't happy with him, he still wasn't as 'puppyish' as I thought he should be and was still suffering from diarrhoea.

I went to work on the Tue morning but asked hubby to take him back to the vets.

Two steps forward............

It seemed that he (Neo, not hubby!) was running a slight temp so the vet gave him an antibiotic jab to kill any 'bad gut bacteria' and sent him home with some 'good gut bacteria' powders to put in his food.

Within a few hours hubby was reporting a much livelier puppy who had also regained his appetite, he'd just finished a bowl of food for the first time in 7 days!

Excellent.

By the time I got home on Wednesday afternoon he was full of beans, in fact he was a different puppy....................

By Thursday lunchtime I wanted the old puppy back!!!

He was relentless, playing longer and sleeping less. Now he has got his energy back and is starting to settle in and find his feet he is also starting to push the boundaries a little so Thursday was a bit of a battle between him and me.

One step back........

In the morning I gave him his breakfast as normal, I've been stroking him and putting my hand in the bowl for every meal since he arrived and have not once had a problem...... until yesterday!

While stroking his ears (which he usually loves) he growled, this was a warning growl not a rottie rumble. At the time I had no idea why this had happened, we had a sharp lesson in submission, he ate the rest of his meal without incident but we've gone back to basics for now as I won't tolerate guarding, I know its an instinct for them but that would not be a good enough excuse if a child or anyone else was to get bitten. So now every meal he has he is required to sit and wait, the food is put in his dish one spoonful at a time and each spoonful he has to sit and wait for, my hand stays in the dish the majority of the time and he is stroked all over. There has not yet been a repeat of Thursday morning. I win.

We've also had a couple of growling instances when I've gone to take something out of his mouth, again up until yesterday its never been a problem. Again it was dealt with firmly and swiftly and we've stepped up the training, he doesn't get anything without sitting first and we've increased the times we tell him to leave something, when he does he gets praise a treat and often the item returned to him, again we've not had a repeat of the bad behaviour. I win.

I am determined to nip any unwanted behaviour in the bud as when hes older and braver I don't want to be having a constant battle of wills, having dealt with the above instances calmly and firmly I'm already noticing a difference in his attitude towards me, we are definitely building some trust and respect which will go a long way in his training.

He really is a very bright little thing, hes learns fast and loves being around people but he is also happy to do his own thing which initially worried me a bit as I felt he was too independent and would be hard to train but as time has gone on I realise the independence is a good thing, he doesn't need constant attention, it gives him some character and so far hasn't interfered in his training at all.

Heres to 'Two steps forward' and forward, and forward.............