Time sure flies when you are having fun and we are having tons of fun here in the PNW, home of the Original Teddy Bear dog, ladies and gentlemen, the Habibi Bear puppy! Our loving and playful pups are learning, exploring and growing every day before our very eyes and it is a true joy to witness and experience.
Last week, we talked about
Stable traits, parts of a puppy’s personality that are fixed and most likely not subject to change as they mature and get older. This week, we wanted to talk to you about those traits that are able and, with awareness and coaching, able to transform before your very eyes, like a bit of canine magic, with you as the Magician! Let’s do the big reveal, drum roll please….
The Adjustable Traits that we have found over three decades of raising Habibi Bear dogs are:
Confidence, Resiliency (Nerve Strength), Sound & Sight Sensitivity, and Touch Sensitivity.
The first adjustable trait, Confidence, is probably one of the traits that is the easiest to influence by you, the Habibi Bear puppy parent, with your guidance, patience and love.
Confidence in a puppy looks like the curiosity and interest a puppy demonstrates when entering an unfamiliar environment. What type of body language is puppy exhibiting when entering? Is puppy’s tail up or down? Is puppy overly cautious when presented with objects they’ve never seen before? Fearful or Fearless? Does puppy look to tester for help, either physical or emotional, or does it rely on their own abilities to problem solve the new situation?
Taken as a whole, these responses can demonstrate to us a fairly accurate level of confidence and allow us to make the best recommendations for a proper family ‘fit.’
The next adjustable trait, Resiliency, or nerve strength, is how the puppies handle the stress of the test and new things. Is the puppy drooling excessively, displaying a ‘whale’ eye, or “slinking” (when a dog holds their body unusually close to the ground and seems to crawl instead of walking with a normal gait), when placed in an unknown environment or situation? How many new things can puppy be exposed to without throwing puppy into a fear response? When those objects are removed, how quickly does puppy revert back to a normal state and lower stress level? A puppy with low resilience will easily be put into a state of high alert, whereas a puppy with high nerve strength will adapt and recover quickly from gentle testing.
The last three items tested are sensory in nature: sound, sight and touch. Sound and Sight sensitivity follow along the same criteria as Resiliency, testing puppy for startling noises or sudden, unexpected movements and monitoring the level of stress and the period of recovery time needed to regain their Habibi Bear puppy swagger. Touch sensitivity, or more accurately, touch tolerance, observes how puppy reacts to being handled (inspecting toes, ears, tails, teeth, etc) and if the touch raises or decreases their stress level, or if they remain neutral and unbothered by being handled. This helps us determine their level of overall sensitivity and awareness, and helps us identify puppy’s super-duper healing power (We’ll go over that topic in more detail in future blogs) and make a better match for you.
Remember, your Habibi Bear puppy is a loving little fur ball of powerful potential, and you are their biggest influence! When you work in partnership with your Habibi Bear guy or gal, you are helping them achieve everything they were born to do, to walk alongside of you and share the highs and lows of life, a pint-sized sidekick who brings you the love! After all, Habibi means my love. Won’t you join our Habibi Bear Tribe and expand love, peace and good will into the world?
Share with us how your Habibi Bear puppy, the Original Teddy Bear dog, has brought love into your life. We love hearing about our super-pups and remember, we are always here for you, cheering you on!