Time is flying by and now little Holly is 6 1/2 weeks old. She is doing very well, very active and loves to play with either her toys by herself or with me. When she’s out of her pen, she likes to chew on momma Joy or Maddie or run around exploring the rooms. One thing I’ve noticed when playing with her is that if she “wins” the toy, she runs back to me with it to continue the game. My husband has been taking her out for walks for about a week now and has taken her to the shop a time or two. She’s pretty quiet and not really demanding. Sometimes she does get a bit vocal if she’s in the exercise pen and wants out, but usually quiets down and falls back to sleep without too much fuss.
We noticed that she likes to do somersaults like her momma and grandma do on the couch. In the last day or two, she’s improved her coordination and jumping skills enough to be able to climb on to the futon by herself.
She seems to have a nice, bold personality so far. If she hears a noise that she’s not familiar with, she’s been interested in checking it out to see what it is. The vacuum doesn’t seem to phase her now. She enjoys coming to us and frequently follows my husband around the house and sleeps beside him as much as she can while he’s on the futon watching tv or working on the computer.
All of the dogs are doing well with her, although Maddie especially seems to be taken with her and is frequently found playing with her. She comes pretty well when you call her name. Now that she’s a bit older I will start doing some basic obedience training with her like “sit,” “come” and “down.” Also will have to find a small enough harness and collar so she can get used to them and do a bit of leash work, although she’s so tiny I don’t want to hurt her! She does seem to come when we call her pretty well for a pup. I’ll continue working on her with that, giving her some tasty treats when she comes to see me when I call her name to reinforce the “come” command.
We are working on her natural biting habit and she’s learning that biting people is not something she is supposed to do. We’re also starting her housebreaking, taking her out when she wakes up as often as possible.
She went in for her first set of shots on Friday. She did super well. I took her to a vet that gives canned food and a bite of food to distract them when they give the shot, so she didn’t even react to it. She was pronounced healthy and sound, although I think the vet was expecting her to be chubbier since she’s a singleton. Her weight is 3.6 lbs., which is in line with my previous litters.
Here is a video I took the other day when I took her out with me to walk the dogs.
A slide show of her out on her walk the other day.
Here are some photos I took of her in the house.
Rat Race Rat Terriers 