Yesterday started off well with lots of exercise in the hallway followed by food and sleep. We attempted to try and get him used to the lead but Merlin just thought it was another chew toy and whilst he was able to correctly walk approx 10 steps with it on, he found the sensation alien and refused thereafter to have anything to do with it. This will definitely need more work in the days / weeks to come.
When he was calm, I decided to clip his claws down as they appeared to be getting quite long. I did manage to cut one claw slightly too short and it bled a little but other than that, Merlin was very open to me holding him down and trying to find his claws in the mass of hair he has on his paws.
Merlin has a habit of getting over excited and whilst mouthing can be tolerated, when he gets into a biting frenzy we have to snap him out of it. Taking Cesar's advice, I managed to get Merlin to submit whilst lying him on his back. This technique was so effective that he soon fell asleep in the same position. Later on, he tried to push the boundaries again and soon learnt that he was to calm down and promptly submitted. This is a HUGE breakthrough in us setting boundaries and limitations for him and he is now starting to understand that we are his pack leaders.
When Merlin gets excited he whines for our attention and whilst it may sound harsh, we cannot reward this state of mind because he will soon learn that to get our attention all he has to do is whine. Therefore we have taken the approach of active ignoring. We stand firm with our back to him and only give him affection when he is settled and calm. The first time we did this, it took a good 20 minutes before he was able to settle, but we are definitely making progress as it now takes only 1-2 minutes before he calms down. Merlin is certainly a clever little chap and is learning fast. This technique is especially good at 3am when he wakes up for a wee and thinks it's time to play.
He also enjoyed cuddles with Dan on the sofa for a couple of hours last night. He has found his lap to be very comfortable and was clearly having some exciting dreams as his feet and nose were twitching for a long while... it was so fascinating, we even paused the TV to watch him and try to work out what he was dreaming about.
After he had woken up and was still in a dozy state, I took the opportunity to give him a little grooming. I started off on around his eyes where the fur had clumped a little. He let me brush this out and then I continued to brush his furnishings. This is the first time that he has let me groom him properly since he arrived home. All the other times I have tried have ended up with him trying to eat the brush or comb. Note to self - groom when dozy!!!
We also took the opportunity to leave Merlin at home alone while we popped to M&S to get a special New Years Eve dinner. We were gone approximately 25 minutes and returned home to a sleeping puppy... this exercise will be one that will be repeated in the coming days to ensure that we don't have any separation anxiety issues going forward.
Merlin is having a visit today from our neighbour Becks who lives downstairs with Tinks, her Jack Russell. Merlin will have to wait another couple of weeks to be able to meet Tinks but fingers crossed, he will have a local friend to play / walk with.
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