Happy “We-Found-A-Pit-Bull-Puppy” Friday!

If you haven’t heard the news a la Facebook, we found a puppy yesterday.

Underweight, malnourished and friendly as all hell.

Meet Vagabones (Bones) Magillacutty, our newest addition. It’s likely this past week of his life had him wandering through the woods like a vagabond and he’s just a bag o’ bones, so voila! Vagabones.

We’re not really sure what his future may hold in our home (are we fosters? adopters?), but we’re not really concerned with those details yet. We just want to get him healthy.

He’s about 7 1/2 months and only weighs 20lbs!! We think we may be looking at a pocket pitbull!

The trainer in me is disappointed; as far as socialization goes, 7 months has us already behind the power curve. By this age, he’s already got his mind made up about certain things and now it’s my job to play Doggy CSI by figuring out what life has taught him so far.

Here’s what we’ve learned about Bones in the 18 hours we’ve had him:

He is an excellent co-pilot. He got into the car on his own, looked out the window, then curled up and went to sleep.

He doesn’t have food issues…yet. For a starving dog, he was very willing to allow others near his food. I didn’t want to overwhelm him, so I let him have moments to eat in peace in his crate.

He’s kind of afraid/curious/unsure of bright things. This flashy pan scared the pants off the little guy and when we took him out to the bathroom once we had him home, cars driving by piqued his interest while he wasn’t quite sure what to do about flashlights.

The crate is going to take some patience. Saying that can be such a “duh” statement – puppies tend to be whiners in their crates. And who knows how much time he spent crated in his previous 7 months. But he doesn’t like it…yet. Through a Dog’s Ear worked wonders (yet again!) last night.

He kinda likes toys. Not knowing his background, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever played with a toy before. I gave him a stuffed toy and he grabbed it, wildly flung it back and forth, then dropped it to go on a hunt for food.

The clicker works on everyone – even wayward souls. Oh come on. You should know me better than that – you knew I’d introduce him to the clicker as soon as possible. And it’s working. (as if there was any doubt…)

I just figured if I’m going to be giving him food, he might as well learn what gets it! He tried jumping on me a couple times, which didn’t pay off [note to self: nail clipping is next on the agenda]. His default is “sit” 90% of the time, so we are working on making that stronger.

There were also a lot of moments for counter-conditioning and desensitization (CC&D), like when we were at the vets’ office, people rushing in to pet him, cars driving past, moments of quiet, etc.

For those folks wanting to rush out and get a puppy: the above  and then some are a MUST for a healthy pup, not just food, water, and shelter. We have a lot of catchup to do if we’re going to make sure this guy has a good shot at life. 

Behavior problems are the number one reason for owner surrender to a shelter. Behavior issues are also the main cause for euthanasia; not diseases like many people think.

Keep this in mind when you’ve got a puppy. They sure are cute but DAMN are they a lot of work. We’ve only had the guy for 18 hours and we’re exhausted. But it’s worth it.

Whether he’s with us to stay or just passing through, we’ve got a lot of work to do to make a perfect pint-sized pittie.