Swagger had his fourth play date with the Labrador puppies.

 

It was by far the best to date. Many “firsts” were shown during yesterdays play date. For the first time in four visits he actually allowed the Labs to put him on his back and play with them from this position.

What was really cool was to see how when he first came into the group, he didn’t try to beat all the Labs up like he did on his first date. Likewise he didn’t freak out and become traumatized by all of the puppies’ attention like he did on trip three. He actually make some very wise moves, playing it cool until everyone was over the novelty of him being there (as shown in the video) before he started the play sessions. I have highlighted 10 calming signals (I now see 11) I am sure there are more . . . see if you can pick them out without reading my notations the first time through this video clip.

Besides the good calming signals, what I really liked was how Swagger worked the room. Being on top of one puppy to wrestle.

Then immediately allowing that puppy to be on top of him. It was a great give and take interaction that he shared with at least 4 of the Labs that I observed.

In the end is was a great session that ended with a big pile of tired puppies . . . this time including the Border Collie!

My initial vision finally coming true. Swagger curled up with the Lab babies.

Today I am grateful for Susie Bell and her great litter of PineBank Lab puppies. It takes a very experienced and laid back breeder to allow their litter to go through the torments of this Border Collie puppy has unlesahed. In the end it has become a Lab Experiment that has become beneficial to all of the puppies, not just the Swag-man. Next visit scheduled for this Thursday!