First All Nighter

Venom went into his crate and right to sleep last night with no whining at all.  Then, he slept through the night for the first time never having to go out at all!  Yay!  It is amazing at how powerful it is to just ignore that initial whining in the crate. 

Yesterday, he went to meet Manny, our other little neighbor on the other side and he did great! 

Venom is still learning to use different toys and chewies.  In the mornings, while I sit on the couch and drink my coffee, I put him on the couch with a bunch of his toys and I play with them with him.  He is learning to chew on nylabones and play with his little stuffed toys by my sitting next to him and interacting with him with them.

I have several other dogs and some are considerably bigger than Venom so while I do allow him play time with the other dogs they are closely supervised and his playmates are carefully chosen.  Ribbon, my 6 year old standard longhair Dachshund does great with him.  She does get excited, but plays pretty carefully.  Jenny, my 1 year old Basset/Eskie mix also really loves playing with Venom and does well with him.  Winnie, my 11 year old longhair Dachshund plays with him a little bit, but mostly just likes to see him and lick him.  Ivy, my 14 year old standard smooth Dachshund doesn't play with him but does great with him.  Having had two litters herself she is incredible with puppies.  She lets him climb on her but will gently reprimand him when she wants him off.  Dickens, my 2 year old Cavalier, is very interesting to watch with him.  He likes him on the ground, but on the couch, I can see that Dickens doesn't want the puppy to come near.  Most people would not notice this subtle body language, because it is very subtle, and he doesn't do anything, but when he watches him, he is slightly tense, he is not loose and welcoming.  For this reason, I do not allow Venom to walk up to or climb on Dickens while Dickens is on the couch.  It is up to me to set all of the dogs up to have good experiences with Venom but also to make sure that their comfort levels are protected and that I watch closely and listen when they are telling me that they aren't comfortable with something.