The animal rescue lady told us that we could imprint our "smell" into Aslan's memory because puppies remember the first 2,000 smells or so...so she taught us how to put our thumbs on the top of his mouth to "mark" our puppy...
Eli is VERY proud to present his baby....little baby Aslan...a St. Bernard/Great Pyrenees puppy...Eli rescued him on April 10th from an animal rescue in Missouri. When we brought him home he was only 5 weeks old and hadn't even started eating real food yet...and when he opened his mouth to bark...there was no sound...but he was a rolly, polly, ball of fluff and we all fell instantly in love! He crawled under the seats in the van and slept all the way home and only weighed 8 lbs...and the next week he weighed 12 lbs...and the next week 18lbs...and the next 22 lbs....and I think you can see where we are going with this. His parents were 130 and 150...so we will have a big boy on our hands...
Here is Eli with his new baby...rescued with his lawn mowing allowance...I think it means more when you save a puppy as opposed to shopping for a puppy. I also love the personalities of mixed breeds! They really make the best pets!
Since we made the decision to move last month we thought it was a good idea to get a big dog for our new neighborhood...thinking he would be a great guard dog...and while I think he will be....he is currently a lover and not a fighter...he doesn't like loud noises...hides behind Lady Bug or between your feet if he is scared...or the smallest space he can manage to get his big ole booty in to... He still makes baby noises when you pick him up and he will lay his head on your shoulder to cuddle for a few minutes before he tries to wiggle away. His booty (haunches) are so big that he is a little bottom heavy and it is quite entertaining to watch him try to back up or even jump up. He is still cute and fuzzy but growing every day! We taught him how to sit his first week home and within 2 weeks he was ringing the "potty" bells. It has been harder to train him because Lady Bug wants to show us that she knows all the commands and she gets a little jealous but so far he is doing pretty good. I have decided it is harder to train boys than girls and we have another stubborn, smart puppy on our hands.
The boys' like to compare their pups (they have 3 between the 2 houses) and the different characters and "smarts" in each one. They are shocked at the differences in training and behavior but if you are not consistent it will kill ALL of your training. I have decided you must first TRAIN your KIDS before you can successfully TRAIN your PUP! Eli has begged us to let him bring his baby to his other house during the week but I convinced him that wouldn't be fair to his mom. Because Aslan grows so much during the week I send him pics so he can keep up with all the exciting milestones. Eli likes to say that Aslan has his eyes and his personality! They are best buddies and he does an amazing job taking care of him. There is no question that the kids LOVE their puppies even with all their differences in personalities.
I now have 6 children to take care of....wow....
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