The First Signs

Between 4 months and 5 months, Mosby's personality began to change. He started pushing the boundaries of mine and his "father"'s dominance. He started barking back when we asked him to do tricks. His "crazy runs" up and down the stairs, through the kitchen to the sunroom, weren't so playful anymore; they seemed more urgent, like he might explode if he didn't do 5 laps through the house right this second.

12 weeks old, Christmas vacation. This was a great weekend.

Nothing stood out to us as a marker for this change. His diet stayed the same, our work schedules stayed the same--our routine was the same. Sure, we traveled about 600 miles over 5 days for Christmas. He was neutered in early January, shortly after that big statewide trip. The first big snow of his lifetime fell a couple days after he came home from the vet's office. And he was hitting the start of puberty. We figured all of those stressors came together to give us our mouthy "teenager", so we didn't sweat it too much.

Our greeting card picture, Christmas 2011. Maybe this was the turning point.

But, just before the 5 month mark, we hit a milestone I wish we'd never reached. While his father was doing what good friends do --serving as an usher in a wedding a thousand miles away -- Mosby and I spent a long weekend with my parents. When my youngest sister dropped a tissue paper snowflake she made at school on the floor, Mosby pounced on it. And when my dad tried to take the snowflake away and spare my sister some tears, Mosby chomped. Not a play nip. But a real, I-think-you-are-stealing-my-food bite.

My alpha instincts kicked in immediately. I jumped to my feet, stood over him, and shook my finger while, in a stern voice, reinforced the NO my body language was signaling. In an instant, he went belly up, acknowledging my dominance. And then I sat down, consulted with Google, and enrolled him in puppy kindergarten. We were not going to fool around with his attitude anymore.

 Finding a forest snack.

But, puppy kindergarten was not what we needed. We went to the first two weeks of class, but after relearning the things my smart puppy already knew (sit, lay down, etc.), and countless instances of conflicting advice from a group of middle-aged women who all had their own way of tackling even the simplest of tasks, we dropped out. And now, we were stuck again.

 

The First Few Months

Mosby's first few months were pretty normal. Doing battle with sharp puppy teeth; making too many trips outside on dark, snowy nights; finding far too many stray turds on my new carpet. In retrospect, teaching bite inhibition was more difficult in our house than it needed to be because we added him to our family probably a couple weeks too soon, but we did eventually teach him it wasn't nice to nip the humans.

8 weeks old. Ready for a game.

Really, we didn't have much trouble teaching him much of anything. At 8 weeks, he learned to sit on command. Shortly after, he would lay down. Rollover was tricky, and we still get some attitude, but he'll do it on command - especially when there's cheese involved.These are the days I think of when I need to remind myself why we fight so hard to keep him.

Mosby at 10 weeks. This is his first trip to the park. We walked a half mile to the park. He was pooped three houses from home on the way back and had to be carried.

Looking back, we had a fairly smooth go of raising Mosby. Sure, at the time each little obstacle seemed insurmountable, but our puppy has been extremely smart his whole life. He picked up on tricks very quickly, understand not peeing in the house after a couple of mishaps, and was eager to learn anything we could throw at him. The time from he came home with us until he was about 4 months old is my base level for measuring his happiness.

 

Mosby at 11 weeks. He grew so quickly!

Meet Mosby

Mosby is the spitting image of the Internet's favorite dog. He's 2 years old and displays his father's Miniature Australian Shepherd markings while wiggling through life shaped like his mother, a purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He came to us from a farm two hours from our home, the first in his band of 5 brothers to find a forever home.

Mosby at 6 weeks, 2 days. Leaving the farm for the first time.

Forever home is the key word here. When we scooped up that 6-week-old little ball of cuteness, we meant forever. We had no idea how many times we would be tested on that promise in the short time he's been with us.

First night at home, posing with his first toy--the only one to survive puppyhood.