Introducing our newest addition!

Our new addition to the family is a female Greater Swiss Mountain Dog named River. We picked her up October 12th on her 8 week old birthday.

The breeder’s facility was run out of her home and very clean and all her dogs seemed very friendly and happy. We met River’s mother, father, littermates and a 1 year old male from River’s father. We had always adopted our pets from Rescue organizations or Shelters, so going through a breeder was a new experience for us. Our primary concern was that the breeder be well-established, reputable, professional and be equally invested in her dogs’ physical as well as emotional well-being. We wanted a professional, knowledgable breeder who had her litters in a home environment and had limited breedings (1 or 2/year) so we knew that she could dedicate herself completely to our puppy’s litter.

We researched her line and knew one dog well (he came to Kelly’s Training Doggie Daycare until he and his mom moved to NYC!) from her champion sire (River’s grandfather) . We spoke several times with the breeder over the phone and she was very well educated and always willing to talk extensively about the pros and cons of this breed and her specific line. Once we picked River up, we drove for 2 hours from the breeder to Debra’s parents. Debra held River in her lap in the backseat where River proceeded to pee on her! Luckily we were prepared and laid an extra large wee-wee pad at her feet and River went to sleep for the majority of the trip.

Once we arrived, we implemented the potty training program. We placed an x-pen in their dining room with a crate inside. She was allowed to play in the backyard with Doc and Amber (see photo) if a human could be watching her. As a bonus, if she pooped, she was allowed to come in to their sunroom and play for 20 mins., then let outside to pee, then to the crate for 1-2 hours of nap time. This routinue was repeated religiously until bedtime.

The crate door was closed for naptimes and left open at night where the x-pen kept Doc contained so that she had a warm body to sleep with. Our only accidents occurred when we stretched our 20 mins. indoor playtime or were too slow to wake up in the middle of the night. Once we got back to LA, we visited our vet, who instructed us that River had a bladder infection, so the medication is helping her need to be a little less urgent! She is a pro at puppy push-ups (sit/lie down,sit/lie down,etc.) and is learning the name game and sit -stay in crate with door open until release word is given. Doc absolutely adores her and we often feel like we are cheating when she is having a bout of puppy mania since Doc gets the brunt of her zoomies and alligator chomping! We are constantly swapping out our arms for an appropriate chew toy and implemeting Ouch! for really painful bites!

She is amazingly gentle with Kelsey although we are ever vigilant with their interactions. Her socialization program was started the day after we got her. We went outlet shopping and put River in Kelsey’s stroller (and Kelsey was happy to explore using her new found ability to walk!). Debra’s mom was worried that we wouldn’t be able to enter the shops! Instead, nobody wanted us to leave!! Everyone was doing a double-take at the stroller! Ha, ha! And River was very good at staying in the stroller. We still take her in the stroller down to Tujunga Village, but she has almost outgrown it! Our goal is 100 new people every week. So far so good! We’ll keep you posted!

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