Knightley is home

8 weeks 2 days old

So, we've had our Golden Retriever puppy Knightley home for a full 48 hours or so now. It is definitely hard work, but he is such a gorgeous pup. We picked him up around midday from Sydney, and from the beginning he behaved like a dream. He was already tired as he had come down from the Hunter Valley earlier than morning, so pretty much just slept on the way home in the crate we've bought for him while he is a puppy.

This is Knightley asleep in his crate.

He was starving by the time we got home, as the breeder hadn't fed him due to not wanting car sickness etc, so he got a toilet stop outside then got his first meal in his new home. Then he conked out and slept for a while. My brother came home (my husband and I live with him) and he met Knightley which went very well. Knightley appears to love people - so far the temperament testing definitely has worked. He has a very sweet, but curious and intelligent temperament. We had little accident the first night but that was arguably our fault. He'd woken from a sleep, and I was just saying he should be taken out when it was noticed he was doing a 'number 1'. He was whisked up and taken outside.

Knightley that evening, relaxing on the couch
(lucky dog!!) with us.

Our first night together, he slept next to our bed in his little crate. There was some whining for maybe four or five minutes, but then it was over. I got up twice in the night, and he immediately did his business both times, and then my husband got up early in the morning and I slept in some. Our first full day went well. The was one more accident, but once again our fault because I wanted to eat because food was ready but Knightley should have done his pee, but was messing around without doing it. I said to bring him in and we'd put him in our pen until after we'd eaten, and he went as soon as he came in!

Knightley is very playful, and looooves his stuffie elephant kong toy. He really loves anything that squeaks, and is also happy to play tug and gets quite into it. He chews on his leash though, so I'd like to get on top of that soon. He's been barking while I've been making his meals, and every time he barks I've been turning towards him and looking at the ceiling and just stopping the preparation. It certainly stops him barking but I don't think he likes it! I think he's starting to get the idea, last meal time there wasn't one bark.

Knightley with his Elephant Kong on his
first night with us.

I've been doing quite a bit of work on priming/loading the clicker, and I think he's starting to get it. He's definitely easily distracted at the moment, so our sessions will be short at first. I'm getting focus before giving him his food, and am getting a nice second or two of eye contact before I give him his food. The breeder was feeding two main meals and one smaller meal per day. I have changed it to at first three equal meals, and today, four equal meals. I'll also be swapping him onto some 'better' food.

Today Knightley visited the vet. He was very well behaved and got a clean bill of health. I also got the vet to trim his nails as they are very long and my nail clippers for him are in the post. I fed him a couple of treats, letting him lick them between my fingers for a few seconds before actually getting them. Then vet managed all his nails without any trouble, and was fairly impressed with that. The power of food!

I can't believe that it is finally happening, that we have the puppy who we hope will grow up to be an assistance dog for me. He is tiring me out at the moment, last night I slept better than I have for months probably! He is so gorgeous though, I can't stop looking at him. I can't wait for him to grow up a bit, even though he is so very cute right now.