Sat, 28 Nov 09 - Jax comes home

Jax arrives home in the arms of Liz. Just a passing resemblance to Fozzy Bear!

We collected Jax late morning and he was fabulous on the drive back to his new home. He whined and was restless for the first 15 minutes, but wrapped in a blanket we had left with the breeder, and sat on Liz’s lap, he soon settled and fell asleep for the rest of the journey.

We arrived home and popped him straight into his pen and crate. After a sniff around he had a drink and some food and then a wee and pooh on his open pen area on the paper. Perfect! Time for more sniffing round the pen and crate, a wee play and then he crashed out in the crate. What a great start.

Jax settling in to his new pen. Is Liz meant to be in there?

On waking he made himself heard pretty quickly. When he had quietened down I went to him and made a fuss. Once he’d had a wee, I opened the crate door and he trotted out in to the room for the first time. Whoops! That floor is mighty slippy Jax! He never been a polished wood floor and his little legs were all over the place! He soon worked it out though and went for a snip round. Next new experience was the carpet. His claws immediately snagging. Again, he soon worked it out. We played a wee bit with some of his new toys. He hadn’t had any toys up to now, just his siblings and blankets to play with. He didn’t seem too bothered with the pink puppy chew Kong we had bought him! Ah well.

It was time for our lunch and time for Jax to meet Mum (90 years). He was very keen to follow me into the kitchen where he had not just a new room to explore but a new person to sniff and lick. Mum’s not too mobile and can only just reach down to him, but acquaintances made, he was more interested in the room! He was still playful, so after a sandwich, Liz and I were on the floor to entertain him.

All these new things, smells and all that play makes for a tired pup, so it was back to his crate and pen area. He was born and brought up until now in a crate and fenced off area, so this clearly felt little different to him, and he was quickly popping in and out to drink and wee on his papered area. The afternoon soon passed with a combination of play, exploring and sleep - lots of sleeping! He still didn’t seem too bothered with the couple of chew toys we had given. He has a great set of gnashers and is soon chewing your fingers, so whenever he started this we presented him with one of his chew toys, but he remained little interested in them. Not to worry, its still only his first day with us and there will be plenty of time to get his chewing sorted.

Come the evening and another test. Penned whilst we had our dinner. He wasn’t keen and was soon whining. Again, once he had settled down I went to him (so he didn’t associate the his whining with me coming to him) and opened the crate door and out he came. He just wanted to be with us and settled under the table as we ate.

Dinner over and he was up and wanted to play. He was clearly over-excited and soon puddled and poohed on the floor. His first mishap. He was keen to help us clean up though, as found an instant game chasing the moving kitchen towel!

That mishap aside, he was as good as gold during the evening with more play, exploring and sleep. He’d been given his final feed of the day earlier and was back on track with him using his pen area to toilet. Good boy Jax!

During the evening he was nervous of the TV – changing pictures, flashes, colours and all those different sounds! I don’t like that right not was the message, but he was relaxed and soon set his own distance and stuck to it!

We arrived at the dreaded hour – bed time. We’d decided that he would sleep in the crate where it was. Others start pups off in their bedroom, but we thought we would start as we meant to go on. I played with Jax to tire him and he eventually wandered in to his crate and snuggled down by the wrapped water bottles we’d put in his bedding. He had a pile of snugly stuff for bedding – an old removal blanket, the blanket we’d had with the breeder, the towel he travelled home on (which he has immediately taken to) and a t-shirt of mine I had been wearing all week – nice and smelly! Jax seemed nice and happy and was soon asleep. Fingers crossed!

We we’re in bed by 11.30pm but shortly after Jax woke and began whining. This lasted around an hour. He’d fallen asleep again. But for how long?

Jax at four weeks old (above) when Liz and I went to meet him. Below, one of the breeder's sons holding Jax up for a portrait shot at five weeks.

I'll no doubt stick some more picks up on here once we get him and he starts chewing the palce up! Here is what Jax will look like when he's full grown. Click here for a great site about these great dogs.