Being a Doggy Mama - Routine, bonding and a rookie mistake

 

We're starting to develop a routine:

• 05:00: Puppy Girl cries to be let out of her crate to pee, I take her outside
• 05:10: We come back in, I put her on the bed to sleep with me.  Yes, I know this is wrong, but I can't stand 15 minutes of her screaming at 5 in the morning
• 07:30 - 08:30: Puppy Girl is awake, and squiggling, making little whining noises  
  • I take her outside, closing the puppy gate between the dining room and the passage to the bedroom, because Puppy Dog does not like her first thing in the morning
  • I go back inside, and take her crate out to the dining room.  During this procedure, I have to try to keep her away from Puppy Dog, who growls a deep bass when she comes anywhere near him
  • I put her in her crate.  She screams
  • I let Puppy Dog out, to pee in peace
  • I get Puppy Dog his breakfast, and he eats in the kitchen
  • I get Puppy Girl her breakfast, and she eats in the crate in the dining room
  • I let Puppy Dog outside, closing the back door so he can poop in peace
  • I let Puppy Dog back inside and back into the bedroom, closing the puppy gate
  • I let Puppy Girl outside to try to concentrate, with her ADD brain, on pooping
• 08:30 - 9:00: Puppy Girl comes back inside and starts to play in the living and dining room.  When I see Puppy Dog at the puppy gate, wagging his tail, he is allowed in to play with her.

I totally get where Puppy Dog is coming from.

It's the same as those people who only talk in a low grumble till they've had their morning coffee, and the last thing they want is a little baby pulling their hair, trying to get them to play.

Our little routine is still developing, but we're getting there.

The aim is to minimize the bigger dog's irritation at the baby because, if she really pisses him off, he'll nip or bite her.  Or so the books say.

Yesterday, while they were playing, he put one paw gently across her body and pinned her.  It was pretty relaxed, and she submitted.  I watch them all the time and he is learning to be gentle, while still making his dominance clear.

He is also clearly teaching her things.  She pooped in the large area of ivy we have on a bank in the yard yesterday - his preferred poopy place.

He comes up to her with toys, initiating play.  Each day, they seem to enjoy each other more.

Except for yesterday, when I totally screwed up.  

One of the training techniques taught at our puppy class is to get the dogs excited and running around, then ask them both to sit, and give them a treat.  This is so that they learn, even if they are in the midst of rambunctious play, to listen to you, stop and sit nicely.

They do it very well - as long as they see/smell that I have treats in my hands.

Yesterday, I gave Puppy Girl her treat before Puppy Dog.  I had the small piece of treat, which I wanted to giver her, at the front of my fingers and, in that instant, I just didn't think.

Big mistake.

He spent the following 3 hours chasing and humping her.  

He can't exactly mount her - she's so tiny compared to him that all he has to do is stand over her.  She fits right under his torso.   His penis wasn't actually touching her as he humped, and he didn't have lipstick - it was all about dominance.

But there were a few slightly disturbing times when he walked over her and she was facing the other direction.  He'd hump and she'd lick his penis.  

I paid a lot of attention to him and, after he was fed first at dinner time, like he always is, he calmed down.

Thank God.

I don't want to watch a child-molesting, incestuous 69.