Samson’s Story: Part 2

I can’t believe our Samson has been home a week already! I swear he’s gained 3lbs… Here’s how the rest of his 1st week with us went…

[Waking up with Knox on his first morning here.]

Samson and I went to the vet first thing after dropping the kids at school on Wednesday. Dr. M was referred to me through my neighborhood moms e-mail group. He is an older, very wise and experienced vet, and actually lives right down the street. It was a slow time in the clinic so he spent a full hour with us, which I was so grateful for. This is my first dog to have real responsibility over and I had a million questions. It’s all new to me…

He really enjoyed seeing Samson since OES aren’t very common around here. He talked to us about feeding, crate training, house breaking, and the importance of establishing good training now, especially since we have little ones and S will be such a big boy.

  

He weighed 15lbs (7.5wks) and is projected to outweigh Hadley in just 2-3 weeks… So yes, Samson and I are going to puppy obedience school!

But the general report was that we have a well-bred, good looking puppy. S also got his micro-chip and shots while we were there.

I swear Samson spends 85% of his time sleeping!

And eating…

Sleeps and eats! Right now he’s getting 1.5c large breed puppy food mixed with 1/2c canned food and a little warm water, twice a day. Mm-mm-MMM! He thinks Mommy is the best cook ever.

I found an old tennis ball and it quickly became one of his favorite toys.

S loves being outside! I think he’s really enjoying the 75 degree Texas days, as opposed to the 20 degree Kansas ones.

We’ve attempted several walks, but it’s a bit of a challenge. S is living up to his breed legacy as a head strong herd dog. If the kids are with us all he wants to do is herd them, especially Hadley. It’s a little comical so I tried to get a video clip of him in action last week…

And if I get on to him he just plops his fat bottom down and pouts… Head strong! That’s ok though, he fits in well with our crew ;)

Nights and potty training have been a bit of an adjustment, but we’re improving!

The first couple of days he pretty sort of mopey and timid - missing his mommy and litter, I guess - but now he’s really come out of his shell. He’s so playful! I need to get a video, but he really took to one of Hadley’s Fisher Price baby toys - a small plastic puppy that you pull by a string. He pulls it all over the house and outside. Just about the cutest thing ever!!

Knox has been pretty good about giving S his space when he needs to nap, eat, or go potty, but Hadley is another story…

She loves him *too* much. She throws a huge fit whenever I try to separate them and poor S just passes out.

See what I mean?

I tweeted this, but Thursday alone Hadley renamed him Mary (I have no idea?), locked herself in his kennel, fed him carpet freshener, and insisted on crawling on all fours outside.

Oh and this happened.

…And this.

Look at that face! I bet he’s looking forward to outweighing her in a few weeks, although I’m not sure it will make much difference. Hadley is INTENSE!

Samson also had his first park playdate last Thursday. We were able to show him off to our friends and it was a good socialization experience for him. He was such the little gentleman!

Riding along to pick up the kids from school last week.

More sleeping pics…

Some nick names he has earned? Lazy Bones. Samsonite. Fat Baby. Panda Booty.

We hit another milestone this morning…

First Bath! Not sure how much longer I’ll be able to bath him in the tub with Johnson’s… He didn’t love it. But he did love getting blown dry after.

Handsome!