Thoughts as our first foster experience comes to an end

Matador is going to his furever home today! It's a great family with a backyard, experience with dogs, and kids who are old enough to help out and appreciate puppyhood. We are definitely sad to see him go, he is an awesome puppy, so smart and curious, not to mention over the top cute!

We're really glad we did it, and we plan to do it again, but it was hard having a puppy and Bubba!

Bubba is a very passive dog and Matador was treating him like a giant chew toy and Bubba never appropriately corrected him. We would separate them frequently and redirect Matador to toys or bones, but there was also the part of me that really just wanted Bubba to learn to stick up for himself. He's 80 pounds! Matador is 10. I think that as a result of this, and that Matador was taking some of the attention away from him (Bubba was jealous of how often we went outside to go to the bathroom, even though it was just a quick in and out, and also of the sleeping arrangements because we needed Matador's crate in the bedroom so we could hear him cry, but if Bubba was also in the bedroom Matador would stay up whining to play with him, so Bubba got the boot to the living room), Bubba got a little bit depressed. He wasn't really eating as much and just seemed sad (also probably tired because Matador wasn't letting him get his usual 8 hours of daytime naps).

I think that our next foster will be a little bit older and that will hopefully make a difference, but it definitely makes me think about what Bubba's relationship would be with any new forever puppy we got, and how we would handle it.

Chase was 6 when we got Lark, who was a 12 week old bundle of energy. I don't remember him ever correcting her for being annoying, even when she hung on his neck like a little vampire bat. Poor Chasey had scabs around his neck from her attentions. As she got a little older she was less of a pest to him but her energy level always outstripped his. He also never did anything to stick up for himself that we ever saw. We had to be very intentional with making sure Chase got some time and attention away from little Vampira.

I hope Matador does well in his new home! That has to be a bittersweet experience to see him go but you've given him the best chances for success, so good work!

Timely comments as we're starting to discuss how we'll manage puppy time with Thor time. He's passive like Bubba, but he also has had a lot of fun playing with puppies and smaller annoying dogs. I'm really interested to see how he takes to it when he realizes puppy is here to stay and not just for a visit. For a while, at least, Thor will still get 1:1 time with me on our daily hikes and 1:1 time with the husband in the shop, and puppy will get 1:1 time with us in training classes and some socialization outings. But together, we'll have to pick up behaviors to reassure Thor that he's still #1. Interesting about Bubba being jealous about the crate in the bedroom and the time you spent taking the puppy out. Thor sleeps with us all snuggled in the bed so we may have to adjust if we have the same situation.

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Originally Posted by MightyThor

Timely comments as we're starting to discuss how we'll manage puppy time with Thor time.

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I think that having both of you home will definitely help out in making sure that Thor gets his 1:1 time. The times where my boyfriend wasn't traveling for work it was much easier for one of us to take Bubba through his usual routine while the other person watched Matador. Also lesson learned, don't have family stay with you for 5 days in your 700 sq ft house while you have a new puppy haha. That was chaotic.

I'm not sure how I would do the sleeping arrangements differently in the future. Normally Bubba has no issues sleeping on the couch or one of his many dog beds instead of in bed with us, but instead he would lay right outside the bedroom door on the wood floor and I could hear him doing his "sad sigh" (he's not really a whiner).

Regardless of my qualms, we miss Matador so much and are excited to decide on our next foster!

Oh man, we have 4 people coming to stay with us for 9 days a week after puppy pickup. But we do have 10 acres and a four story farmhouse so it's easy to spread out. Trust me, it wasn't planned this way just happened to be the timing with the breeder's litter and where we were on the wait list.

And oh those sad sighs! I know exactly what you mean. I just banished Thor from my office because I'm hopping on the phone with a customer in a few minutes and he was having too much fun growling at the birds outside my window. Now I'm just hearing annoyed sighs from outside the door.