Feeling nippy

When the urge is too great.

“Must bite!”

During the first three to four weeks we had Rudie — the very tiny, very funny Spaniel/Chihuahua/Something-or-Other puppy we adopted in early June — we imagined, if she had a vocabulary, these were about the only two words running through her head.

No matter the situation, she always managed to punctuate the moment with that puppy mantra.

Sitting in your lap? “Must bite!”

Walking alongside you? “Must bite!”

Taking a nap? “Must bite!”

Eventually, by consistently using the tactic of squealing like we’d been mortally wounded and then turning our back on her, we broke her of the habit.

But as with many addicts, she has swapped one addiction for another: “Must Eat!”

Tiny and tech savvy -- Rudie at about 8 weeks old.

It has been such a trip watching this little pooch grow and change. When we got her, she was barely a pound and I could carry her in one hand. Now at a 5 months old, she weighs a massive 4.5 kilos and is reportedly roughly two-thirds of her adult size.

The pup that once shivered with fear when I carried her outside the apartment has grown into a friendly pooch with a hummingbird tail who plays fetch, rides on trains and goes to work with Barrett. Of course she has her moments — she is still a puppy — but overall, I think we are on the right track with raising her.

Beyond her daily development, the biggest surprise is how much time and energy goes into having a dog. Sure, you hear how “a dog is a lot of responsibility,” but it was only when I got one did I realize the extent of that statement. While I’ve wanted to get a dog for years, I hadn’t done much research about training.

So surprise, surprise to me when I quickly learned that — especially with a young puppy — it’s not just feeding and walking and playing with the dog. It’s molding, conditioning and leading the dog. It’s throwing away almost every Hollywood-tinted reason you got a dog in order to raise a happy, balanced companion.

Rudie at 3 months.

I had relied on the fuzzy memories of how my family’s dog were raised (I obviously wasn’t remembering the extent of my parents’ work to bring up five well-adjusted dogs) to color my impression of what it takes.

Only after Rudie arrived in our home did I have that “Oh, sh*t” moment. I came into the situation completely unprepared and needed to putting together a framework — and fast. Not necessarily the easiest thing when living in a foreign country. It wasn’t as simple as heading down to the local dog training school for some face-time with a trainer — my language skills aren’t quite there yet.

But thanks to that thing called the Internet, I not only convinced myself that Rudie had parvo, kennel cough and separation anxiety, but I also picked up lots of great tips and advice.

We based our crate training schedule on a mix of advice from the Monks of New Skete’s “The Art of Raising a Puppy” and the Humane Society of America.

For basic commands (plus some really great tips on how to praise effectively), we looked to videos by Expert Village’s Melanie McLeroy.

Socialization came during puppy play sessions at a dog park in Friedrichshain and meet-ups with friends and their dogs.

As it stands, our training style (if you can call it that), much like our little pooch, is a mish-mash. Bits of advice pulled from here and there, that when applied as consistently as possible, seem to have an impact. It’s been a lot of work and at times pretty frustrating, but so far so good with Rudie Toots, who is right now quietly sleeping at my feet.