First night alone with Cheese

I'm shortening Cheesecake's name to simply "Cheese." Last night was his first night being separated from his littermate and it was a textbook example of why littermates should be separated at an earlier age. 

He started out in the one of the crates in the kitchen where he had been next to his brother. I had Bear occupy the second crate so he wasn't there by himself. Cheese didn't care for Bear, he wanted his brother. We finally got everyone quieted down until about 1:00 a.m. when Bailey had to go out. That woke up everyone and Cheese proceeded to express his displeasure. I stuffed some meds into him to no avail. Finally, in order to allow at least Clay to get some sleep, I got up and went downstairs, took Cheese out of his crate, put him on a leash and I settled into the recliner in the front room. Being on leash and close to me, he finally settled down next to the recliner and that's how we spent the night. I didn't sleep much, if any, but the drugs finally kicked in for him. 

Today I've kept Cheese close to me most of the time, although I think I'm really just substituting me for his brother in that co-dependent relationship. But it had the benefit of keeping Cheese around the other household dogs all day, out of the crate. He doesn't know how to relate to other dogs and he vacillates between barking at them and crying like a hurt puppy if someone tries to engage with him. The other dogs are all giving him space for now but once he calms down and makes an effort I think they will accept him. I took him out on a leash for a walk around the yard and even gave him some off-leash time in the dog yard this afternoon. 

Although I don't want to be a substitute for his dependence on his former littermate, I think it's necessary for Cheese to learn to trust and bond with me so I can introduce him to a lot of things he should have experienced at this point in his life. Toward that end, I took him for a walk late this afternoon at Pleasant Grove. We did a short one, just over two miles, but it introduced him to leash walking and to a part of the world beyond his immediate home. Once I convinced him to walk on my left we got along pretty well and I know he enjoyed it even if he didn't know what was going on.

I think tonight I'll leave him in a crate in the office with Norman, Bear, and Maze nearby for company. We can't have another night like the last one, so if I have to get up I'll take him to the guest room and the two of us will sleep there for the night. Wish us luck.

Bette (above) and Maze (below), in the pasture this afternoon.