Chaos and Mayhem, Puppy Style

This week, I have an adorable little puppy staying with me.  Aspen is a 14 week old GSD who was shipped from Germany.  Right now he is all paws and sharp little teeth, topped with massive bat ears...

 Cute, right?  Aspen is living with the manager of the pet care center where I work, so that her husband can train him to do this when he grows up...

Now, I'm not a fan of protection training for a number of reasons.  But at least this little pup is going to be trained by the top company in New England.  Around here there are quite a few "protection trainers" who ultimately teach dogs what they are capable of doing without ever teaching them self control.

The down side is that for the first 6 months of Aspen's life, he cannot have any negative experiences or training.  Sure it sounds kinda nice, but puppy teeth are sharp, and it's tough having the little devil running around with your shoe and do nothing.  It's tough catching him ripping up a sock and just walk away.  When I have a puppy of my own, I'll be clicker training from day 1.  The idea is that when Aspen begins training in bite work, he is completely confident and totally driven.  Well, I'll give him an A+ on the confidence- nothing phases him.  Including Parker and Skye's subtle hints that he is pushing them too far.

Since Aspen is not totally house trained, I had the pleasure of waking up every 3 hours to let him outside for a potty break.  So when I got to work today, I thought I'd had a rough night.  Then I noticed that Parker and Skye were also not acting like their usual energetic selves.

 

I tried to ask them what was wrong, but didn't get a whole lot in response.

Shhh... don't tell the puppy where I am!

Mom- I'm running away.

Sunday suddenly feels like a looooong way away.  And that's all I can write for now.  A certain fluffy someone just discovered the remote control.  Soon he will sleep, and we will all be happy again!