Sara, Zip is so cute! I am so excited for you to have him home with you.
Nina is doing wonderfully. I have a feeling that as much as I didn't want it to, that name is going to stick. She already as quite a few nicknames that go with it too haha. I keep trying other names on her, but I can't get Nina out of my head. I suck at renaming dogs that come with names.
She is such an awesome puppy. She is being a little out of the ordinary with people starting last night for some reason, but it's probably just a stage. She's not freaked out, but she just seems indifferent suddenly and doesn't really want to approach. Which is fine - I like an aloof dog. But I don't want her to think people are scary so I just reward and treat (and give people treats) for approaching happily. It's just strange because all weekend she was so into greeting people and loved everyone. It scared me a bit at first because of how Dance is, and I don't want that again, but I've seen her react happily to people and it's not like she's barking or totally weirded out. So hopefully she'll get over it.
Other than that, she's amazing. I am so in love with her already and feel like she's always been here. She's different than other puppies I've had. For as crazy and shark-dinosaur like as she can be, there is just something that seems much more composed and thoughtful about her than prior puppies. She's so focused and not everywhere at once. So far tug seems to be her favourite game and hopefully I'll get her enjoying fetch too. We've done a couple of training sessions and I'm trying to shape everything but so far all she offers me are sits and eye contact haha. But she's just learning.
She stares a lot. She's always watching me. The Dobermans do too, but it seems different with her. She's just so curious and wants to be involved in everything and right now I am her whole world. I've never had a puppy latch on to me so quickly before. It's weird. But I think it's probably just because I spent the weekend with her and am the only familiar thing in her life right now. I don't mind at all. Just not used to such attachment from a brand new puppy. The only time it's a problem is when she's sleeping and I need to go somewhere for a second. She always knows and comes bounding after me all wiggly and excited, so if she's napping I just pretty much stay where I am if I can haha. Otherwise she'd never sleep.
She likes the other dogs. She hasn't met anyone else's dogs yet (puppy school starts in a couple days, and I'll get her out with a few friends' dogs too), but she had no problem with my other three.
She is very bossy and likes to demand bark at me and the other dogs. She gets mad when she doesn't get her way and has to tell the world about how unfair we are haha. But really, all in all, she's so easygoing. And thank goodness for breeders who crate train. She has zero problem with her crate at all. It's made things super easy when compared to past puppies. She sleeps through the entire night as well. Not a peep.
Today is her first day at work and she handled the trip here really well. We've been here for a couple of hours now and she's been super relaxed. Just napping and checking things out.
One thing I find strange is how much she pants. I thought it was stress panting, but she shows no other signs of being stressed, so I'm guessing she's just hot underneath that puppy fluff (she feels hot too to touch). makes me feel bad.
Anyway, I'm sure you all didn't want/need a whole novel of puppy's first couple of days LOL. I can't help it though! She's so adorable and so much fun.
I have better pictures on the camera at home, but for now here are a couple quick ones from my phone: