Living with a French Pug so far... ( 9 weeks - 5 months old )

Sophie's Story - Living with a French Pug ( 9 weeks - 5 months old )

Born on 16th October 2017, Sophie entered the world alongside her two brothers. Mum (A French Bulldog) and Dad (A Pug) had made a litter of gorgeous pups.

Fast forward 9 weeks and it was time for me to meet my new little member of the family. 23rd December 2017 was the day I was heading to go pick Sophie up to bring home. It was a very exciting car ride to the next city one hour away. I had never had a dog before (always hamsters, rabbits and more recently, cats) so I couldn’t stop thinking about where I plan on exploring with her, what she’d be like personality wise, would she be playful or grumpy.. And how introducing her to her two older brothers, Vince and Moon (my two cats) would go.

I arrived, it was a little family home where she had had lots of attention and love. The children were playing with her in the living room, I couldn’t believe how small she was. She was this tiny little black puppy that was just running all over the room. I couldn’t believe she was going to be my little buddy, I couldn’t wait to get her home. In her new carry case ready for the car ride, all set with her blanket with her mums scent, a toy from the children and her puppy food. We were off to begin our new little life!

Arriving home I took her into the bedroom where the cats were sleeping, I wanted them to be able to get her scent so they knew there was a new little animal in the home. Of course they we not impressed, Vince ( 3yo and is shy but super sweet) puffed up and stood back, Moon ( 1yo is basically Bart Simpson in cat form and also mummies boy) also puffed up but kept sniffing at Sophie. Once they knew she was there I put her in her new bedroom. Fenced off from the cats, new fluffy pink bed, toys, she had the whole set up.

Obviously being a puppy she didn’t stay awake long and when she was awake she would be on 100% hyper mode until she crashed again. She also had to still learn to hold for the toilet… so began the 11pm, 2am, 4am and 6am toilet alarms. I managed to get through the first two weeks of waking up all night until I decided to make the alarms further apart. About 1 month later I noticed even when I would wake up through the night and when she cried she started holding it in or didn’t need to go. This was perfect for me to now start getting more sleep meaning I would have more energy to go on more exciting walks with her/play more. She now sleeps in her pen (which I call her bedroom) on a night, plenty of room for her to play with toys if I am not awake when she is and a puppy pad for any night time needs to go to the loo. Finally, a full night sleep by 3 months old!

Another thing I had yet to challenge was walking with Sophie. Obviously at 9 weeks old when she came home she was still too young to be able to walk outside touching the ground. Her second injections were due around 12 weeks of age and then it is still a further 2 weeks on top of this for her immunity to build. So she could walk outside at 14 weeks of age. Knowing it was important for her to become used to the outside world, noises, smells and people I had to think of a way to take her out without walking… I took to amazon and found a puppy sling. It was the perfect size for her, very comfy and even had a little pocket on the front for a phone with an earphone hole. We began going for little walks to the shops, she would get very excited about it every time. And I knew we could get away with going into the shops as she was so small no one knew I had a pup with me (although there was one occasion where we were kicked off of the tram as dogs were not allowed to travel. This resulted in me hiding her under my huge coat and hoping no one would see her again. We were only travelling one stop but that’s a long way when you’re carrying a puppy around).

The only obstacles I had to avoid were overly friendly people trying to pet her, whilst I had her basically strapped to me. I would often feel very uncomfortable about strangers petting my pup whilst she was so close to me. I certainly felt an invasion of space a few times, I know these people mean well but its not nice to pet without asking, especially when the pup is attached to someone's torso. A few times when I would be busy paying for something or on a phone call people would put their hand basically in my face petting her. And most times I would step back from the person, Sophie would get overly excited and nearly fall out of the sling and the person causing this wouldn't even notice what they're doing. Oblivious to my personal space and Sophie being safe.

I am not a people person, I try my best to be polite but still get very stressed when in public. I have sometimes had panic attacks whilst out or even taken a good few hours to leave the house. One reason why I was so excited to take Sophie out and about everywhere with me, she calmed me down. It felt like we were little travel buddies. But what I didn’t realise was the amount of attention you attract with a dog. It was very overwhelming to be noticed everywhere, people wanting to come up to you, talk and pet, random comments or whistling etc. I found it hard to get used to, I can sometimes feel fine but other days I may feel myself about to freak out and want to run away back to my home.

When it was time for her to finally walk on the ground it was difficult. She was very stubborn, she wouldn’t walk at all from the house. She would sit and cry looking back to the front door. When this would happen I would feel that anxiety kicking in again, feeling like everyone is watching and someone is about to approach us ( which always seemed to happen). I would give in and carry her, try and set her down in a street she didn’t know. Sometimes she’d walk, others she wouldn’t. I began to use treats… this worked until she learnt to walk for the treat, take it and then sit right back down again! I then decided to see what would happen if I would walk away from her, she would follow me. Perfect I thought I cracked it! But no, again a few weeks later she realised when she finally caught up with me she could sit back down. And this for me was so frustrating because not only would she refuse to move but people would think that was the perfect time to distract her from me. They would always come running over to pet her when she was sat there, which she loved! Of course, it was positive attention for her, again learning that if she sits, someone will pet her. So she would start sitting when someone would pass by. I would always tell the person not to pet her but 80% of the time, they would ignore me. I would get very upset about people like that. Because of their selfish behaviour they were teaching my dog the wrong things, whilst I would helplessly watch being ignored.

One day it had taken me one hour to get her to cross a road and walk a street away from the house. I tried the treats, she is now disinterested in them… tried the walking away, there were no people around that I could see, no cars as it was a quiet street, perfect. But then suddenly a middle age lady came out of nowhere. To my horror she was walking straight up to Sophie to pet, I was too far away at this point to quickly stop this so as I walked over I said to the lady not to pet her as I am trying to get her to walk. The lady ignored me, Sophie was going wild and stopped listening to me altogether. I again said to please stop petting her, the lady continued petting and looked at me and responded with, “I have a puppy, you should probably take her to puppy training”... still petting her and distracting her. I was planning on taking her to training but after seeing the price of lessons and not having a car at the time to travel to lessons I knew it would be a few months until I could go. So I was trying my best from puppy advice sites and books. I got between Sophie and the lady and told her to stop and that I would do puppy lessons but I couldn’t currently afford them or get to them. The lady gave me a filthy look up and down (she was so offended I had stopped her petting MY dog) and responded with “what a shame” and walked away. After this I picked Sophie up and walked home, she was obviously tired from being out, no longer listening to me and I could feel a panic attack coming on.

So I had two problems to deal with from now on, getting Sophie to walk and avoiding people who would mess up my training. Some days Sophie was brilliant, other days she wouldn’t go. Many times when I was training her to cross roads with me people would whistle to her from across the street, stop cars and shout something or pet her. All times she would get distracted from me and try running to the distraction. I became very on edge taking her out, I no longer enjoyed it. She wasn’t getting any better and I knew it was time for expert help. I had enough saved and found a home dog trainer in my area.

At 4 months old it was time to have a doggo that was a walker not to be carried around. Our dog trainer showed up and worked wonders! After the first 30 mins Sophie began to see me as the one in charge of the pack instead of the other way around. Just by a few simple tricks! It was time to take her out. My trainer took the lead and walked straight out no problem, I was in shock. Why has she never done this for me? She walked away without looking back at the home, she walked confidently and un-distracted. Typical. He passed me the lead, I felt myself expecting her to stop, she did a few times but mostly carried on. Wow. I felt a big weight taken off the situation, Sophie may finally get to walking stage quicker than I thought. She picked up everything very fast. The next step was now to train her to stop pulling on the lead, which at first didn’t bother me at all as she was walking. The second visit from the trainer, it became obvious this part of the training was going to be tough. She’s a nosey dog, she sniffs EVERYTHING and eats anything. Still jumping at people she sees wanting love, pulling me all over the street and refusing to move when it was somewhere she didn’t want to go. Of course she wants to go run off and play in someones garden, shes an excitable little dog. But she needed to learn to follow me, I am leading. A few more tricks from the trainer and I am expecting it to be another couple of months from this point for her to be walking to heel. We’re working on it daily but still find myself avoiding people, which is ok for now but you cannot always stop someone approaching (especially at points when you yourself are distracted at a cash machine or answering a call). I’ve become more confident in the situation though, I simply say “No Sophie” loud enough for the person to hear it isn’t welcomed right now or explain she’s being trained not to stop and be petted by everyone walking by. Its 50/50 how the person reacts to this. Responses to this include “I don’t care, I love dogs” or dirty looks and offense that someone said no to them. I’m not being mean, I am training her for her own good. It is important to me that my pup can behave in public places and to her, the more she behaves the more places she can come with me.

She is best behaved on trains or on my knee in a cafe/restaurant. That’s my favorite time with her, I love it. She LOVES to sit on my lap. She always sleeps on the train on my lap, she has been to a lot of places on the train in her short 5 months. She’s visited the beach, different cities and new parks. She is in her element around other pups too. And I love seeing her so excited about other doggos, so started taking her to doggy day care some days. She would always love going and playing all day, come home and sleep through the night. It certainly gives my cats a little break from the ruff and tumble play Sophie likes. Everything seemed fine, I could take her there twice a week to play when I couldn’t. One week they said they were fully booked and I could not take her. I found out later that day they didn’t want to take her anymore as she would get too excited to handle and they couldn’t keep on top of her when she needed the toilet. She would often get runny poops when she’s not eaten or when she gets excited. She is very fussy at eating, it can be hard to get her to munch down and then setting off for walks sometimes the excitement would get to her and that's it… trying to clean up after that would be difficult. So I could understand their frustration with this special need she had to be watched like a hawk. But I felt sad for Sophie that she had been kicked out of the day care where all her dog buddies were because of this reason. It isn’t really something that can be fixed easily and we are working on it, so taking her to a dog park as much as possible was the next option. It would be less dog on dog time than the day care but until we fix the problem and/or find a better day care that can handle a pupper like her that's the best option.

So, so far in her story...

Sophie is a social butterfly. She loves every other dog (even if they growl at her), person and stick. She gives tons of kisses and wags her little tail like crazy over anything that excites her, a leaf flying by, playing with the cats at home or even just looking at her sets her off. She’s a happy little pupper and I am happy to have her in my life. Even if sometimes it is overwhelming or difficult, she’s my pup and I promise I will be there for her. We finally have a car and her place is in the passenger seat next to me. She has a little seatbelt and a car seat, she loves the car rides. It sends her to sleep like a baby would and it is the sweetest thing when she looks at me with her little sleepy face. This is a little snippet of Sophie's life so far, 9 weeks to 5 months old. She’s grown a lot, learnt alot, played a lot and made me laugh a lot. I am excited to see what the next part of dog ownership will bring to us on the journey of doggo and mum…