Sprout came to our home in early April. She has settled into our house very quickly and did not show any sign of fear. Sprout and our resident dog (a 6-year-old Lab) first met in the yard. Neither showed any aggression towards each other. Sprout found the toy basket only a few minutes after she came inside the house and started playing with them comfortably.
We put Sprout in the crate at night and when we're not home. The first few nights she would whine in the crate for long periods of time. However, that is getting better and better every day. Now after a week, she goes to sleep after whining for about 10 minutes or so.
Sprout is basically house-trained, only a few accidents every now and then. We usually let her go to the yard with our resident dog about every 1 – 2 hours. She would go potty by herself without any verbal encouragement.
Sprout walks well on a leash but does pull a little. However, she does not show a lot of resistance when corrected to heel with the walker. She showed no aggression to children, adults, runners, bikers, or other dogs on the walk.
One interesting thing we have found is that Sprout drooled excessively on car rides. She had non-stop drooling on our way back from Minnesota to Iowa, as well as on her vet trip. She would drool badly enough that her hair would be soaking wet.
However, this does not seem to be a health issue. Just something she has when she is nervous and uncomfortable. We are trying to get her comfortable about car rides by taking her and our resident dog together for short trips. She did well on the most recent few trips.
Sprout likes to jump on humans and is friendly for attention (more of like standing against humans by putting her front paws on people's legs). This does no harm to most people, but it does make us think that younger children could get pushed down given that Sprout is 25 pounds and growing.
Another behavior issue we have discovered is that Sprout likes to vie for attention. She chews on our hands when we pet our resident dog. It is not a real bite (not hard enough to leave any marks) but it could hurt a little bit sometimes. This is also a contributing factor to the requirement for older children.
Both of her ears show mild ear infections that are under 7-day treatment. It seems like she's recovering well from the treatment.
Overall, Sprout is a very sweet puppy that likes a lot of attention. She does have some small typical puppy behavior issues but I believe she is very smart and trainable. She will be a great companion for any family who loves to cuddle with their dogs and can spend a decent amount of time training and playing with her.
