We finally got Ameya a leash and collar yesterday and we tried them out last night for the first time. Boy, was that an adventure! Let's face it though, almost everything with this puppy is an adventure. haha. Almost everything about her is night and day different than it was with Jimmer - more on that later though...back to the leash story.
She handled the collar okay - her only reaction being the occasional scratching of it with her foot. But to say that she freaked out when we put the leash on her would be a gross understatement. She cried louder than we have ever heard; and that is saying something. Not only did she scream, she pulled with all of her little weight to try her best to get out of it. Honestly, you would think we were trying to kill her with the way she was acting. Walking her on it was also a joke. The screaming only got worse and worse the farther we tried to take her. I will say this though, her tolerance has increased exponentially as she is now able to successfully walk on it without freaking out for the most part. Our theory is that watching Jimmer helps her to know that it is normal.
Our leash experience with Jimmer was nothing like Ameya. It is almost like he is empowered by his leash. He will take bigger risks and do things that he would otherwise not do when he can see that we are holding his leash (while he is attached of course).
We have decided that most of their differences stem from the fact that Jimmer was a Pet Store Puppy and we got Ameya straight from her litter. Shortly after we got Jimmer, we read a lot of things that made us shy away from getting another pet store puppy, which is why we got Ameya from the breeder. We figured that there would be differences, but not as many have manifested themselves. Some examples (besides the leash one) include:
1. Ameya is LOUD. Granted, I am sure some of that is genetic and some has to do with personality, but I think at least some of it comes from the fact that she wasn't separated from her litter mates for x amount of time before getting a new home. That first night we had her she cried so much. Even now she is so much more vocal. Jimmer tends to suffer in silence whereas Ameya is a bit of a drama queen and lets us know when she is even feeling the least bit of discomfort. We didn't hear any noise from Jimmer for about a month. We celebrated the first time we heard him bark. We heard Ameya bark within the first couple hours of having her. They both growl and snarl, but again, it took Jimmer a lot longer to get comfortable enough to do so. Ameya makes more noise in an hour than Jimmer makes in a week.
2. Ameya has no irrational fears. When we first got Jimmer, he had a lot of fears - some that he has overcome and some that he still struggles with. The best example of this is linoleum/tile. Ameya has no hesitation and walks right through the kitchen, the bathroom, and the entryway. In order to get Jimmer comfortable enough to walk through the entryway I had to trap him in the kitchen with me anytime I cooked those first few weeks. He still doesn't like it, but he can stand it without cowering or shaking. A couple other examples include walking on the road and various other surfaces and jumping off the couch/other high places.
3. Ameya is a lot more hesitant around other dogs and unfamiliar people. From day one, Jimmer would be so excited to go up to other dogs and even people. His little tail would start wagging and he would make (still makes) a concerted effort to go say hi. Ameya on the other hand, takes time to warm up before she is comfortable. She has fully assess the situation before she is willing to jump in and enjoy herself.
That is a synopsis of our experience with pet store vs. home grown puppies. I don't think that one is better than the other, but each have their own set of quirks. It is interesting to see how much of a difference it makes.
Lastly, I wanted to mention some of the nicknames we have come up with for Ameya. Besides things such as Diva and Drama Queen, we often call her May-May or Meya or simply May. Who knew Ameya would have so many options for nicknames? haha.
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