[Baggins]

Sagan has had a big couple of days. Yesterday we went to the dog park in St Anne’s again, but left sooner than we’d liked, as there was a husky there that led the rest of the big dogs into more or less ganging up on Sagan. However, it proved that he really hasn’t got a lick of dog aggression in him, and he was back to his usual happy self within seconds of leaving the section for the big dogs. We spent a little while longer in the small dog section where he was having a nice playtime with two female boxer puppies.

After that we went up to the IKC St. Patrick’s Day show at the National Show Centre, and again Sagan was a perfect gentleman the whole time with other dogs, even a tiny little dog that really was about the size of a plump rat. We also met his fan club there, a couple that recognized him from these boards and even took his picture. Please do share them if you’re reading this.

Today it was time for Sagan to lose his testicles. Brought him to the vet at 09:00 and picked him up in the early afternoon. He’s still feeling a little loopy and is really not a fan of wearing a cone, but he’s trying to lick his wound, so the cone will have to stay on for the time being, even though he’s miserable wearing it. On the plus side, he’s had a meal and some water after coming home, so I’m sure he’ll be back to his old self again in a few short days.

Since my last update he’s also starting to come out of his shell a bit more. He will now bark if the door bell goes off or if there’s a loud noise just on the street outside, but it’s just a short bark and not a full on "tantrum". We’ve been working a lot on his manners when walking too, and he’s a lot less strong on the lead and will listen to us unless there’s a scent nearby he really wants to get at. Still a ways to go, but the improvement is readily apparent from walk to walk.

More updates to follow. Now for the pictures:

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[Baggins]

Hi all.

I’m Per, Lorraine’s boyfriend. Sagan, formerly known as Flynn and named after the famous astronomer Carl Sagan, came to us yesterday.

Sagan was a bit wired in the car on the way from the kennels, but he did behave himself for the most part in the car on the way in to Dublin. He will need to be restrained in the car on future trips, so a harness or a car crate is a requirement to keep him safe.

We have been on three walks so far, and Sagan is very strong on the lead. He doesn’t try to run away, but he’s very determined to lead the way. We’ll be working on this so he’ll be more inclined to walk without having the lead taut at all times.
He is not dog aggressive at all, even when meeting a couple of very aggressive JRTs that wanted to get in a scrap. He stared them down for a little bit, but left them alone and continued walking with just a gentle tug on the lead to move along. When meeting other friendly dogs he’s been very polite and no trouble at all.

He has no apparent food aggression at all. On a walk last night he found a pig snout that he really wanted to eat. To be on the safe side we tried to take the snout away from him as we wasn’t sure if it was safe to eat or not. He resisted a bit, but there was no signs of aggression or anger, and once we got it away from him and out of sight he seemingly lost all interest in it and we could continue walking without incident.

Sagan is very good in the house. No accidents overnight and beyond a couple of huffs he hasn’t made a peep. He is very excited when meeting new people and likes to jump on them as a greeting. We’ll be working on this as well to see if we can persuade him to be more gentle with new people. He can also be a little bit nippy when he gets excited.

He knows how to sit and we’re pretty sure he knows stay, drop and stay, but we need to spend more time with him to make him more comfortable with us and to make him realize we’re in charge.

It’s obvious that Sagan is a really bright and intelligent dog, and he is just amazingly gorgeous. More updates will follow.
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[Baggins]

What can you tell me about Percy’s general activity level and how he acts around cats?

[Author]

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