Goose in the World

Goose has been out in the world, despite not being fully vaccinated. Puppies receive their full set of puppy vaccinations, three rounds total, around 16 weeks, and Goose is due to receive his third and final round next week.

It’s a delicate balance, or rather it feels like a dicey game of Russian roulette every time he ventures out. Goose’s vet recommended not bringing him into the shop, because we sometimes have neighbourhood dogs coming in for their stationery needs, and they might be tracking anything in, along with mud. Parvovirus and distemper and leptospirosis and various other things I know nothing about are all over this busy city, and it seems everyone has a story about a puppy barely recovering from Parvovirus or some other terrible and tragic happening. Why risk it?

On the other hand, there is also socialization and exposing your puppy to sounds and smells and people and surfaces and lights, so they can hopefully grow into a well-adjusted and confident dog. A shop dog? Yet another thing I know nothing about! But I do know that I’m worried my barky dog will turn barkier and try and eat the wheels of shopping carts and turn into a werewolf.

So in addition to letting him hang out in the shop, we’ve been venturing to MEC and Staples and Home Depot and Value Village and also various small shops, like Good Egg out in Kensington Market, for a bit of socialization, a bit of shopping. We sometimes hang out at the edges of dog parks, scared to go both because of vaccinations and the dogs inside them. How did we do this with our last dog? The last dog used to be really into fetch, but also it seemed like most dogs just left him alone because he wasn’t into playing. But our Goose is just a little turkey! These dogs seem big and rough and tumble and boisterous and there seem to be lots of scraps in the school yard.

Goose continues to be freaked out by these portals to other worlds, where dogs who look strangely just like him peer into our world, just to spook him.

This little Goose. He is stubborn and he barks a lot and chomps on everything and attacks my hair and drops the ball too far from me during fetch and howls in the crate when he’s left for too long i.e. more than 30 seconds and costs a lot of money, and yet I love him so!

While in many ways I can’t wait until he finally calms down (will that be in…six months? 2 years? 10 years?), these puppy days go by so fast, and for now he is just the bee’s knees.