He's getting bigger, faster, wiser, stronger

haidinyak
Nov 10, 2018
5 min read

Why do puppies always grow up so fast? Obviously because in the wild they need to survive, however, he has a safe home so I wish my little cute bundle of puppy would stay small for a little while longer. Alas, that is not to be. He is growing by the day! Just last night we put his harness on for a walk with no issues, then today when it was time to go for his vet visit all of a sudden the harness was too small. He literally grew overnight! The good news is that he is growing the right way and his vet visit went very well. It was his 16 week booster shot and check up and another $120 since we brought him home. Thankfully, the rush of expensive vet visits is over until he reaches his one year.

Today at the vet we got a lot of socializing in. Everyone who worked there came out of the back to visit and make friends with Zeus, which he loved. He is becoming a little celebrity around town apparently, which is why I'm so happy he is still enjoying getting attention from everyone he sees. There were two dogs in the clinic today that came over to meet him as well and he did great with those dogs even though they were bigger then him. After his social hour was his weigh in which I had been looking forward to for some time. Zeus gained 12 pounds in 4 weeks and came in at 35lbs! The vet feels that he will probably double that and max out at around 70lbs, so just like his dad. After a good job with getting onto and staying on the scale we headed over the the vet table for his check up and shots. Zeus did such a good job letting Dr. Holmes check his ears, teeth (he has lost 2 teeth in the front already and his adult teeth have started to come in), and listen to his heart with little to no fuss. And the whole time Zeus would give Dr. Holmes kisses and cuddles, he really is a sweet boy at heart. When it came time for the needles I was a little worried because no mother likes to see her baby hurt. But like always Zeus surprised me and didn't seem to notice, didn't whine or get up from his sit, just continued to give loves to Dr. Holmes. These shots were the same as his 12 week ones except he also got a rabies shot this time. Next we talked about getting Zeus neutered and when would be a good time to get it done. There is so much info on the internet in regards to the right time. With our Danes we were told to wait 1-2 years so they grew properly and to their full potential. Well I am not worried about having another big dog so that wasn't an issue with Zeus. And I want to continue his positive socializing with other dogs, which having the family jewels can make that an issue between some males. So the advice we got was to wait until he is 6 months to a year. I talked it over with Mike when we got home and we decided to aim for the 8 month mark. Not too young but also not old enough to be a bother in other areas of his life.

Zeus has also started his puppy classes at PetSmart now. The first lesson went well (no accidents on the floor yay!) and it was really just an introduction and get to know the other people and their dogs type of class. There are 10 other dogs in his class with him, so lots of new friends all around the same age. It was so much fun to see all the puppies and how they wanted to play together. Zeus is one of the bigger pups in the class next to a labradoodle and a poodle. There is even a regular English Bulldog named Winston who is 2 weeks older then Zeus but he is much smaller. It was neat to see them together and really notice the differences. There is also a French Bulldog named Meatloaf in the class, my goal is to get a photo of all three together at some point. The only new thing we learned in the first class was the command "Watch Me". It's where you say the dogs name and then the command "Zeus, watch me!" and place a treat on your forehead between your eyes. Once the dog looks at you where you placed the treat you say "Good boy/girl" and reward the dog with the treat. We have been working on this all week and Zeus seems to have picked it up pretty fast, I'm really proud of him! The only time he seemed to struggle with it was when he saw someone on a walk and wanted to greet the person so badly he didn't care what I was saying. Once the person was far enough away then he listened to me. So a work in progress but I have high hopes!

Our other big adventure was finally getting to meet his other new best friend Hank the Newfoundland Dog and a new human friend named Victoria. Of course his other best friends Latte and Abby were there with Kelly to make a really fun morning hike. Even the two Dachshunds seemed happier about hanging out with Zeus so I think they will be good friends one day soon too. We all met up at Orono Crown Lands, a lovely green space with lots of hiking trails to pick from. Here is a map in case you want check it out yourself: We did a mix between the blue and orange trail, which equals out to about 3km.

https://www.clarington.net/en/live-here/resources/Maps/Orono-Crown-Lands-Trail-Map.pdf

The dogs all did great hiking together and even stopped to pose for a photo. I'm so happy Zeus has all these friends to enjoy adventures with in the future and Hank and Zeus even got a little playful, so I think with some more visits they will be good friends.

And of course Zeus and Ares are continuing to build their wonderful bond. Zeus finally got his dog tag so he looks just like his older brother now and the two play often now inside and outside. The other day I was able to rake the yard while the two dogs played together around me and it was so nice knowing Ares finally has that brother bond again. I couldn't love my boys more and my family just feels so complete with little Zeus in it. I'm so happy he picked us.