We got a toy poodle puppy from a breeder a few days ago. She was about 10 weeks old. She was a little shy when we first met her but I knew we were unfamiliar and probably a little scary. The home she was raised in had about 15 other dogs and the breeders said they handle and play with all the puppies daily. They really seemed to love their dogs and their adult dogs seemed to have good temperaments.
We had a 4 hour car ride after picking her up and we were expecting a lot of antsy crying. Amazingly she hardly moved and just dozed in our arms the entire time. Though pleased at how easy the trip was, we thought it was a bit unusual.
The next day she came alive a little. When provoked with toys, calls, etc... she responds fairly well. She'll chase us, play fetch, tug of war. As soon as we stop interaction though she goes to the bed we set up in the family room for her and dozes. Her crate is upstairs in the bedroom, but she can't go up stairs on her own yet. One of us is watching her almost 100% of the time she's not crated, and she'll complain when one of us leaves. But when we come back she hardly seems excited and will just continue dozing no matter how much she's already slept during the day unless we initiate play with her. Even after crating her for a few hours and letting her out.. she's not excited - sometimes it's even hard to get her out of her crate.
She's very affectionate, though. If we sit on the floor near her, she will almost always come snuggle up next to you. She's just not very energetic unless we really try to elicit a response. She hasn't been eating much. We put her bowl down with food 4 times per day for about 20 minutes at a time and she will eat a little most times but sometimes not at all. The vet told us that the puppy won't starve itself so we shouldn't just leave the bowl there 24/7 or feed her from our hands. We've tried a few treats that she will eat but it's an understatement to say she doesn't go crazy for them.. I basically have to put it right under her nose for her to take any interest in it at all. It's been effective enough to get her to sit though.
The vet said the dog was in good health but seemed poorly socialized by the breeder and that she's not good with one on one human interaction as evident by poor eye contact. We've been working on eye contact and she's been improving, but it hasn't affected her energy level. We've been trying to expose her to as much stuff as possible... different people and environments. She's not scared of people or other dogs at all and has no problem being picked up or pet by total strangers... she just doesn't get very excited about anything.
I might be overreacting since we've only had the puppy for a few days, but puppies that I've interacted with before have been crazy and hard to control and calm down so this isn't the experience I was expecting. So I'm a little concerned and don't want to regret not doing anything when this is such a critical age for the dog. This is our first dog and my wife and I are very serious about providing the best possible home for it.
Thanks in advance for any advice that you have.
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