Well, surprisingly, Copper is still here. Which honestly doesn’t bother me, but hubby is frequently asking if I am selling him! Sadly, yes, I do need to find the right home for him, but I’m in no hurry. He has been a very sweet pup, still very affectionate and loving. The pack has accepted him in with no problems and have made him feel at home. He is pretty much house trained, having had no accidents in the house for awhile. Billy the cat is one of his all-time favorite playmates, but he leaves the older cat, Tori, alone. While he has grabbed a hold of a chicken a time or two, he has not killed any…yet…! I take him to work with me when I can, and sometimes my boss has her Shelties there too. I have taken him to the small town that is close by and walked him around a bit, and when I am down in the larger town, I take him there too so that he gets accustomed to other things. I took him and Maddie into Tractor Supply the other day and he was soooo busy checking everything out I had a heck of a time not getting tangled with both leashes!
I have been working with training him on a daily basis. I am working with sit and down mainly, and a non-verbal watch me. Here is a video I took of him a few weeks ago on what I am working with him on. For fun, I’m training him some fun scent work like putting a treat in my fist and having him chose which hand holds the treat. Today I introduced him to the tea bag that I train the other dogs on. He walks well on leash, the only problem being his curiosity and desire to check things out. But that is a good thing. He hasn’t shown any particular fear of anything he’s been introduced to yet. Currently I use a harness on him when walking.
He goes on regular walks with the rest of the crew, so has been introduced to hunting for varmints. While I don’t believe he has actually caught anything by himself, he has been there when one of the other dogs has caught a mouse, vole, prairie dog or rabbit. My hubby has taken him on his four-wheeler a few times when he takes the dogs out to check on something in the fields. The other day he texted me and said that he had his first taste of rabbit. Seems that a rabbit ran straight into Chance, and Chance was obliged to send him on his way home. Since Chance wasn’t interested in eating, Sammie shared a bit of the rabbit with Copper.
At night he likes to climb in my lap when I finally get a chance to sit down in the evening. He still sleeps in the crate at night, which he does with no problems, and usually wakes up around 5:30 or so. I let him out to go potty, then we both climb into bed with the girls for a bit longer.
He is as tall or just a bit taller than my girls and his feet have grown a bit. I still expect him to be around 16″ and 25 lbs at maturity. So a nice size dog without being too big or too small.
Rat Race Rat Terriers 