Our latest service pup in training has finally arrived! Her name is Siena and she’s a Great Dane.
We were taken by surprise Friday afternoon when we were told we might have a pup that weekend. It had been too long without a pup as it was, so there weren’t any complaints from us!
We’re so used to a new puppy to train that it felt like eons since we’d had a pup, even though Caysun was turned in only seven weeks ago. This pup, Siena, is being raised for Service Dogs of Virginia, the organization for which we’ve raised most our pups. We’re fortunate to have found such a fabulous organization with which to work.
It’s very exciting to train a pup — Siena is our 12th service pup and we’re thrilled to have another Great Dane in the house. Our last Dane, Talos, went on to do great things with his new partner and we’re hoping sweet Siena can follow in Talos’ footsteps.
Siena is 11 weeks old and we’re working hard to get in all the puppy socialization before the 18 week mark, which is when the socialization window closes for pups.
What that means is: I’ve got my work cut out for me! No, really, what it means is that you have to get your pup out and about to expose to in a happy and fun way to a variety of things before they are 18 weeks old. At 18 weeks, pups become less like sponges — they stop accepting everything as normal and begin to look at new, unknown things as potentially scary.
Siena hasn’t seen much in her 11 weeks — almost everything is new to her and she hangs back a bit. Thankfully, once she’s seen something once, she integrates it into her repertoire as if she’d never thought it was strange.
We’re very excited to have another pup and we’ll be sharing a lot of puppy training stories as well as puppy socialization and puppy training ideas!
OMG! So excited for you! Can’t wait to watch Siena grow up & mature into a service dog!
Wags, wiggles & slobbers
Murphydog
Congratulations on your new puppy!
She is BEAUTIFUL! And sure to be a lot of fun. And work. 😉
Yeah another Great Dane! I sure do miss Talos stories but look forward to reading all about Siena, she’s such a cutie.
Thanks for training another pup for those in need.
Another Dane pup!!! Cant wait to see more about her. I saw your instagram picture and thought/hoped for a second that it would be YOUR new Great Dane. 🙂
I miss Talos!
I thought service dogs usually started with their raiser at 7 or 8 weeks. Curious to know why Siena is coming to you at 11 weeks.
She’s lucky to have such a dedicated raiser. I’m sure it will be no curse for you to take her out and show her off.
Pamela,
Thanks for the comment! In MD, it’s illegal to release a pup before 8 weeks of age, so we get all of our pups at 8 weeks of age (or older). Some breeders like to hang onto the pups until they are 10-12 weeks of age for even more socialization with their litter mates. It’s great for bite inhibition and helps their communication skills with other dogs. It’s a fine balance, though — hopefully the breeder is also exposing them (in a positive manner) to lots of environmental changes, too, so they can benefit from both being with other pups, yet still getting “real world” experience.
Laurie- Congratulations on your new pup! I look forward to following her progress in your blog!
Thank you, thank you! 🙂 We’re not sure yet if she’s going to stay in the service dog program. We’re giving her a couple of weeks to settle in and to see if she can overcome her timidity…It’s hard to make it as a service dog! 🙂
If she doesn’t stay in, do you have to give her up? Where would she go? 🙁