Second day: first encounter with a child, and visit to Safeway (10/13/12)

Intense socialization begins!!

My part-time roommate was home and his eight year old daughter was visiting. She reacted to Chimera as one would expect an eight year girl to react -- super excited, wanting to pet him and play with him, and repeatedly squealing, "He's so cute! He's so cute!" Cai liked playing with her, especially when she started crawling around on the floor and making high-pitched noises and he got to chase her around and jump on her. The beginning of a beautiful friendship, and a great start to socializing with children.

New friend!

You play like a puppy!

I spent much of this morning redirecting him when he tried to chew on loose pieces of carpet and electrical cords. Forunately he's developing a strong interest in his bully stick and dehydrated duck foot.

Mmm, bull penis.

I left for work early and drove to Safeway for a Puppy Field Trip. We walked across the Safeway parking lot and one block down a busy street of a shopping district, then back the same way. New socialization experiences:
lots of people, many of them carrying shopping bags or wearing backpacks
shopping carts moving and rattling
lots of cars driving by at a close distance

At work he played with his Cavalier mix friend again and a new Jack Russel Terrier friend. There were three dogs behind the lobby counters again, ranging from forty to about one hundred pounds. He had more energy and spent some time yapping at them and playbowing and bouncing around.

With Belgian Sheepdog.

Trying to play with a Leonberger mix.

Chilling with the Boxer.

One of my coworkers noticed a flea on him. I gave him a bath after my shift was done and found one more flea and one red spot of flea dirt. I bathed him thoroughly but moved through the process slowly, to make it as least stressful as possible. First I placed him into the tub and started filling it with lukewarm water. He paced and tried to jump out. When the water was a couple of inches deep, I got his body wet by scooping the water up with my hands. He didn't mind this part. I then used a shower head to spray him thoroughly. Shampooing again was slow but thorough, and then the final rinse off. We have a blow dryer at work but I just towel dried him, again slowly but thoroughly. He seemed to like the massage.


New socialization experiences:
Meeting more dogs and more people who fed him cheese.
First bath.

At home, he still whined and then cried if I left him behind a gate, but there was a short pause between my leaving and his starting to worry. He really doesn't like being gated into the kitchen and wants to escape to the living room. (Interestingly, both Dragon and my previous dog before him hated being gated or tied down in the kitchen as well.)

Only a few quiet whimpers when put into his crate for bedtime. No potty training accidents on this day. Left ear was still floppy. Something about the California air or water?

Look at those shameful ears.

Chimera's feats of strength and agility:
At the beginning of the bath, he launched himself about eight inches over the side of the and onto the floor four feet below. I grabbed for him and partially broke his fall. He landed on his side but was unhurt. I placed him back into the tub and he immediately tried to jump back out. (I was ready that time!)
Frustrated at being stuck in the kitchen, and seeing that jumping against the gate and crying wasn't working, he grabbed the metal xpen panel with his teeth and dragged it backwards six inches.