WATSON - MINIATURE POODLE
4/18/23-Watson is doing really well adjusting to his new life. I see more of his playful side coming out. After our morning walks he loves to run to the living room and grab his favorite cat toy and do a little zoomie around the room with it. When I go in to watch him he stops and just looks at me from the couch with a quizzical look on his face as if to say “What? Nothing to see here.” Every time I walk into the living room, Watson has rolled over so I can rub his belly. That is how he greeted me this morning when I was getting him out of his crate, too! House training is coming along. No accidents this week, but I am not confident that he is housebroken just yet. He knows to go potty when we go outside though. I am just not confident that he knows not to do it inside. He is doing better on the walks. I think he is enjoying them a little more. He is comfortable in walking in either a collar or a harness. Watson goes back to the vet tonight to have his second ear treatment. They are still bothering him, but I don’t think as much. They are still sensitive to touch but allows me to clean up the gunk that is coming to the outer ear. I can not stress enough how much Watson likes being around his human. He doesn’t quite follow me around the house, but he likes to know where I am. He does not like being confined to the kitchen area for some reason. When I gate him off in there to eat, he wants out. If he is free to roam the house, he will not try to seek me out. He either wants to be on my lap or on the couch.
We had beautiful weather here in Central New York for Spring Break. Watson enjoyed sitting outside while I was doing yard work or reading. He would sit in the shade of the rhododendron which quickly became “his spot.” He was not intimidated by the leaf blower or lawn mower either. Nor is he easily spooked by traffic. Watson has not mastered my stairs yet. They are hardwood and pretty steep so I think he is still intimidated by them. I do try to have him walk up the top 4 or 5 and he gets really nervous. He is light enough to pick him up and carry without an issue.
Overall, Watson is making wonderful progress. He will be a heartwarming addition to any home. I do think he would prefer a home where people are home more. Not necessarily all the time, but just not always on the go after work hours, unless he can tag along. He rides well in the car and doesn’t make a peep.
4/12/23-Watson continues to learn what life is outside of the mill. He is still nervous, but I do see that easing as he learns to trust me. He will drop to his belly when I am walking towards him still, but he will also roll over a little to have his belly rubbed, too, which makes me smile. I know if he is doing that then he must really trust me. Watson is doing okay in his crate. I did have to make the one he hangs out in during the day when I am not home smaller because he did pee one time in it, but he goes through the night in the medium crate without issue. I have enabled the “Dog Barking” skill on my Alexa device. It sends me an alert if one of my dogs barks and I can “drop in” to hear them and even talk to them. Most of the time it is my dog barking at something outside: the mailman, someone walking by, a leaf blowing in the wind, etc., but I have heard Watson on it. He does a whine, to a mournful little howl, to a bark. It is not an all day occurrence indicative of separation anxiety though, but he will do it periodically throughout the day, and sometimes it will go on for a few minutes or longer. I cover the crate, put treats and toys in the crate with him, and leave music on for him while I am away. When I come home he is sitting quietly waiting for me to let him out. If I bring him upstairs with me while I am getting ready for work, he hangs out in his crate of his own will and he goes right in the crate at night when we go to sleep. When we are downstairs, however, he avoids that crate and prefers to hang out on the couch or a chair. Watson is coming along on potty training. He had an accident during the week, so I know he is not housebroken yet. When he does his business outside I praise him and give him a treat. Sometimes he eats the treat and other times he spits it out. He always gets an enthusiastic good boy and pat on the head. Watson has been introduced to friends, family, and another dog. As nervous as he is around people right now (shaking), he allows them to pet him, pick him up, and show him love. After that, he is quite content to sit on their lap and hang out for days. He is the epitome of a lap dog! He was fine with my brother’s dog. No issues whatsoever, but I have not seen the playful side of him yet. Watson has some ear issues going on. I have been cleaning them out 2 times a day for the last 10 days. We finally saw the vet for his pre-neuter appointment, and he took a look at them. He plucked the ear hair out so more air could get in to dry his ears up and examined the gunk that was in there. As painful as it was, Watson was great! I think he knows people are trying to help him out. His ears are so bad that he is always trying to shake what is in there out. The vet gave him Osurnia Octic Gel which goes in each ear and that treatment will be repeated in another week. I can’t wait for his ears to be better so his true personality can come out. Watson is still not a fan of leash walking. He picks up his pace when he knows we are heading home, otherwise he is always lagging behind and trying to bite the leash. We will continue to work on it and make it a positive experience for him.
Watson completely melts the hearts of all those who meet him. He is low-key and loves to be around his human. He hasn’t really been too playful or outgoing with my dog and is fine with my cats. We will see if any of this changes once his ears are feeling better. If I were ever allowed to be a “foster failure” it would be with this guy!
Watson is a unique looking poodle. He is a blue merle, which I have never seen before in a poodle. He has 2.5 brown eyes and .5 blue eye. Yes, one eye is half blue and half brown. I tried to capture it in one of the pictures. When we got home Saturday morning, we went for a walk so he could meet his foster sister and he did okay. It took a while to get him to walk on the leash, and he fought it every step of the way, but we successfully completed a mile walk and he got to sniff and get to know his new housemate. He met the 3 cats as well. He showed absolutely zero interest in them and was nervous when my male cat cornered him, hissed, and swatted at him. I of course scolded Gus for doing that, but Watson was not retaliatory at all. He didn’t show much interest in eating Saturday night. He took a few bites of kibble, but that was the extent of it. I did put some wet food in with his kibble Sunday morning and he finally ate. We hung out on the couch Saturday night. I set him on my lap and he stayed there. If I moved him to get up, he remained on the couch, but was waiting for me to come back. Again, the cats were around us all night and he did not show any interest in them at all
Watson slept the night in his crate without any accidents. He didn’t make a peep either. I have yet to hear him bark. He is a quiet, nervous, chill dog.
We went on a 3-mile walk early Sunday morning. He did his business on the walk, but is not a compulsive marker like my dog, yet. He was better on this walk and kept up with our pace without any problems.
I made an appointment for grooming earlier in the week for him, but when I picked him up he was already shaved right down. Not wanting to cancel the appointment and have the groomer lose out on that commission, I modified it to a bath and nails treatment. She was in love with him. She trimmed up the areas that were unevenly shaved, cleaned out his FILTHY ears as best she could, and gave him hugs. She said she would love to see him again. She was smitten. He didn’t move at all and let her tend to him as she needed.
Watson is snuggled up on my lap as I type this update. It has been quite a while since I have had a small dog to sit on my lap, I had to pick him up and put him there. He seems to be quite content.
More updates on Watson coming next week. He will have met more people and more dogs by then so I will have more information in that regard, but as for now, he is perfect in every way!