u/ttcmama6

I love him so much. He’s shown me what life can be like with a dog that doesn’t struggle with reactivity or resource guarding.

I don’t think I realized how much my brain had adapted after years with our german shepherd mix. She was attacked as a puppy and has been reactive ever since. She was also taken from her mom way too young, so I think she missed out on some important early social learning too.

For years I’ve constantly have had to think ahead. Is there a toy out? Is there food nearby? Is this space going to trigger her? How do I set everyone up to be safe? It’s kinda become second nature to always be scanning the environment??

Now boone came along, and it’s been soooo eye opening and kinda sad tbh! We still train him of course and give him structure, but living with him just feels… calmer? (speaking to when our other dog is crated)

There’s so much less mental load with him. I didn’t even realize how much stress I’d been carrying until I experienced what it’s like not to.

Getting the two dogs to coexist has definitely not been easy. Right now we’re doing a crate and rotate setup while we work through our shepherd’s resource guarding that has recently started within our household since getting Boone, with our trainer — (shepherd does no resource guard outside of our home).

I’m really really hoping we can make progress because I genuinely love this boy so much, and I’d love nothing more than for both dogs to be able to live together safely and happily.

ETA context

hey yall! i’m sure alot of you have seen my weim pup in here since I post a lot lol. my 6 month old pup has had to have a lot of structure since my old lady (german shepard husky mix) took a lot of warming up to do (about 3 months)

they’re doing so much better now. puppy respects my older dogs boundaries, older dog is now more comfortable with pup.

but since he’s had to have a lot of structure ei: crate, eat, play, rest in his place (bed) then crate — he isn’t the most cuddly. I think it’s a mixture of him being a puppy but also because we don’t allow him on the couch quite yet because he goes crazy over our cats (just wanted to play) and I want the cats to feel like they have a place in our home they feel safe in.

anyways.. i’m worried i’m not offering him enough cuddling moment that i’m going to take the cuddle/affection out of him.

sounds stupid writing it out??? but what do you guys think?

he slept through each night in his crate and let mum and dad have a camp fire and play games after bed time!

(yes we brought his big ass crate with us we have a big tent and he loves his crate!)

he’s 19 weeks!

first photo 15 weeks, second photo 10 weeks

my weim is doing so good!!!! i’m an experienced working breed dog owner and this guy right here has been on it since I started training him. fully crate trained 4 days after being in our home! potty trained after 7 days! he now knows leave it even with food! does he have the zoomies and rip around the couch in the morning? absolutely. but we’re getting places!