Quest Does Something Completely Unexpected When He Meets California

Quest Meets Cali (Actually snoozing)

Now that Quest had met my Dalmatian Farley, it was time to introduce him to California, my three-year-old Border Collie / Lab / Pointer / Dalmatian mix.

Introducing a puppy can go many different ways. I set the dogs up for success by having my apprentice Tara take the adults out for a short walk before I brought the puppy inside. This way we can be sure the adults have burned off excess energy and the puppy can check things out without feeling overwhelmed.

However, it was extremely hot that day so when tara got back with Farley and California, we had to give them a few minutes to cool down before we could do the introductions. You always want things to be as smooth as possible and a greeting with an over heated dog can go awry easily so take a couple of minutes if necessary.

California is the more sociable of my big dogs; loves to meet or play with other pooches and is a sucker for a little puppy. But as soon as she came into the room, Quest had a little something to say to her!

Im thinking Quest was a little bit thrown by seeing a mostly black dog as up until now, he had only seen his litter mates and mother who all had spots. This is a great example of why early puppy socialization is so important. Each new experience helps prepare them for new and unexpected encounters for the rest of their life.

Fortunately the one bark was the totality of Quest’s protests when it came to California. In fact, a couple of minutes later Quest did two things that were totally unexpected.

Whenever either of my adult dogs sniffed, played with or interacted with Quest, I made sure to pet them or give a treat. This way they start to associate interacting with the new puppy as a positive.

Many adults get their noses out of joint at first so adding in a little positive reinforcement can really help when you bring a little puppy home.

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