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On Saturday, Sam, Burton and I made the 1 hour drive up to Barrie and knocked on the door of some people we’ve never met or even talked to other than through e-mail. The door opened and dogs growled and barked at each other. About 15 seconds later though, it was over. For the next two and a half hours straight, Burton and his brother, Gibson, wrestled and played as if they had never been separated.

Everyone had been wondering for the past week whether or not they would recognize each other as siblings, or even the same breed, but it was unmistakable that there was some kind of connection. They played exceptionally well and balanced, both taking turns to dominate and never needing any separating or intervention from us. They play, while at times quite animated, was very quiet for the most part.

Gibson was definitely taller and weighed more, but Burton seemed to be a little.. I suppose.. chubbier. I suppose it’s time to exercise him more! Likewise Gibson’s parents have vowed to feed him more! It was fun to discuss training progress, methods, similarities and differences between them. We’re definitely looking forward to future play dates!

Burton looking VERY mischievous.

The morning started off around 7:30, Burton and I went for a run around in the little field area downstairs, when an 11-month old sheltie came down, who we’ve bumped into a few times. Venus, her name, wanted nothing to do with himl, but Burton was quite smitten! Eventually she ran around in circles with Burton trying desperately to catch her. He would bark at her as he ran.. but could never quite catch up. As it continued, his barks began to combine with a sort of whine until he was whining at her rather than barking. It was pretty amazing that when she did stop and still didn’t really want to play in typical dog fashion, Burton didn’t try to goad her on or jump on her etc. He also stopped and sniffed at her and was quite gentle. They’re about the same size, but Burton probably outweighs her already and continues to grow like a weed.

We did manage to go to the Yonge + Finch area and using cheese, Burton’s new found ultimate weakness, we distracted him from all the garbage along the street. Luckily (for us) there was a fire alarm in one of those big condos right next to where Futureshop used to be, and three fire trucks came right up to us with sirens going, perfect socialization opportunity! He didn’t even flinch, very fixated on the cheese. We had to stop feeding him just to make sure he was paying attention to things around him. He continues to grow like a weed, and seems to be progressing on most fronts, but training is about consistency and patience, so we’re not expecting him to turn into an overnight sensation.

It’s a little harder now that his pen doesn’t provide a very effective timeout. Time to upgrade.

If you look closely, he has a few tan coloured hairs under each eye. It makes it appear as if he has rosy cheeks. Yes, I realize 90% of the photos of Burton are of him sleeping. This, we have learned, is most of a puppy’s life.

Whew, finally have a second to post! I’ll try not to ramble. The visit to the breeder was excellent and couldn’t have gone better. All my worries have been erased and I fully recommend them for any PON seeker (because everyone is looking for one of course). We got there around 10:30am and after the rush of dogs came, Lynne brought out Burton and he was adorable! Much like the video he’s pretty quiet and easy going but not too shy. Definitely not afraid of checking out new people and things.

We ended up staying for 3 hours talking about PONs, giving Burton a bath and some grooming tips as well as feeding. He was the pick of the litter and Lynne was saying how she would keep him and how much like his father he was (head structure, not too long), good legs (not too leggy) and generally very PON-like, also with his general laid-backneess and easygoing nature. I hope she’s right! While he’s extremely adorable, I can’t help but feel like he’s always so suspicious of us. Maybe he hasn’t had time yet to settle in since it’s been really less than 24 hours.

We’ve mainly been focusing on house training and nipping, playing with him and gaining his trust. We’re teaching him sit/down in very short bursts (like 10 minutes total so far) and he’s done one sit without being led into it and a couple of downs being led to it.

He’s had a few accidents, mostly predictable. We were afraid of him screaming his lungs out last night, so we were too chicken to close him in his crate and it resulted in him peeing all over himself last night which meant a 2am bath. He was up again at around 5 and then again at 8:30. As today is progressing, its getting better and hopefully he’s getting the idea after we bring him out, and praise him when he does his thing, open sesame, or “Open sezme”.

We took him to the vet, to Bark ‘n Fitz and to Petsmart to pick up a few quick things and so while at these places, met 6 or 7 “dog people”. All of them were all “aaawwww” and usually have no idea what he is. We’ve gotten one “is he pure shitzu?” and another “what kind of mix is he?” The Bark ‘n Fitz girl thanked us for bringing him in and one Petsmart employee kept popping up in our aisle asking us if we needed help and then proceeding to play with Burton.

Anyway.. he’s definitely not a complete pushover, but we push him so we can teach him the rules and who’s in charge.. and that we’re not bad guys 🙂