A lot I know...not going to be trend.

IT’S OFFICICAL.  Thor Superman has come home to Virginia Beach.  Thor was born August 7, 2017 to Mia and Mayhem in Dunlap, Tennessee and was #4 of 7 in his litter and 1 of 3 males.  The anticipation, excitement, and questions were in full swing, even before the 14hrs round trip drive.

A week has felt like a month for sure.  The drive home was a long one indeed, and although he wasn’t a fan of the travel carrier, he was a good sport and we made a compromise.  He stayed in the carrier, but I let him have the front opened.   To my surprise Thor slept like a baby, literally.  Other than the pit stops for restroom breaks he slept the entire 7hrs drive home.  That was in deed a good thing because I was tired after working the night prior.  This is on characteristic that hasn’t changed, we have driven twice in the past week, one the vet, and once because we had a busy Saturday where I wasn’t going to be home, so he got o run errands with me. He is a car ride away from sleep.

When it came time to meet the family, I knew what I was getting into and that was a headache LOL.  My 3 yrs old twins are not friends of dogs by far, but I was totally convinced that’s due to them not being around dogs, liking the loud barking, and most importantly, the see them as big and scary (my twins were preemies and are well below the size of the average 3 yr olds, heck on can still wear 18month clothes). The weeks leading up to bring Thor home the twins were super excited and talking about “my puppy”.  When I got home with him last Saturday night, the twins were having none of that.  I took him out the carrier and immediately they yelled a-lined it for the back of the couch. Sunday was the same; they wouldn’t come within 5ft of Thor and didn’t force the issue.  Figured give them a week and they would start to come around once they got see how he interacted with me.  

To my surprise I woke up Monday morning to take them to school and they were both sitting in front of his crate talking to him and patting him from the inside.  By Thursday were helping with his food, water, and walking him outside to potty. Almost too friendly, I have to keep telling them not to play with his face or be rough with him in their hugs.  He’s a good sport and plays right back and haven’t barked/howled at them or tried to nip/bit them.  I almost feel sorry for the poor guy by being doubled team by these two.

Sleeping is cake, he gets to run around the house and I got a fun toy he LOVES.  He eats well and at 11 weeks weighs 20lbs. He has a eating schedule for three times a day at 1 ½ cups of food and a bowl of water.  He’s updated on his shots and had to get him a prescription for worms, found some in his feces on Tuesday.   The breeder says he was de-warmed at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks.  His teeth are healthy and after changing him to IAM’s 2 for large breeds, his feces it self has a better solid texture and isn’t runny.  He’s got good energy and the best temperament I could have asked for.   He likes pouncing on the grasshoppers in the yard and of course chews and chews and chews; this new toy does re-focus much of that behavior.

Both parents are AKC registered and I don’t know much about that. I plan to register him, it was part of the packet I got, but that’s about as far as I know to go with that. I have read up on it on the website, but I’m not sure if it worth it or just how “special” that makes him.  I know the breed itself is very popular.  Thor was getting all kinds of attention at a Halloween event. Does it matter if he goes to a regular vet in the area or an AKC certified vet?

Of course the biggest headache has been house training.  He refuses to use the training pads.  I’ve cleaned my carpet three times and my kitchen twice.  Not too mention his crate what feels like every other day.  He has a good size crate that he can grow into.  It has a divider, but when he sits up, you can fit two of him in there, however laying down it’s the perfect size.  He was really stubborn about not going potting in the designated area in the yard. I gave in the first two days and just wanted him to go outside vs in my house.  The next couple of days I put my foot down and we walked that designated area until he went.  He will go outside when I take him, but only literally right along the fence line.  I don’t get it. The space about 3 feet wide and 15feet long.

Oh, did i mention he worked his way into two baths in one day...UGH
What color would everyone say he is? Markings?

Here’s to  another week, entries with less words, and more photos.

Color - I'm gonna guess wolf gray but these guys have a habit of changing as they grow

Welcome! He's a cutie. You are one brave Daddy - 3 year old twins and a husky puppy! You are in for the ride of your life times 3!

I would also say wolf gray. He is adorable! Have fun!!!

Clark, that looks like an acceptable addition to the family - you now have three puppies, two human and one canine - you're a glutton for punishment!!

I, for one, enjoyed your "book", you can do that as often as you feel like it. It was a great way to start my day!

Now, how about some pictures of all the puppies?? I'm impressed that he hasn't "grabbed" either of them when playing. I think that's just a natural thing puppies do - but then he may be picking up you telling them to be gentle so he's being gentle too. That will change --- when they all get a little older --- I'm betting on that!

Glad the anticipation is over. You look like you got yourself a nice looking pup there. Let the fun begin.

Aww, Thor's a cutie. Good luck with ALL of your kids!

Awww Thor is so cute. What an awesome story!! And you definitely have guts to take on a pup plus your twins! *Bowing Down*

Good luck!

Amy, Al, and LoA:
The combination of twins and a pup is definitely a hand full. Like with brining home a new child, the twins want to hold, hug, pat, and do everything else under the sun with him. It's crazy how fast they went from horrified of him to obsessed with him. I was think more like a month to adjust, but they start every morning with getting him at his crate and talking with him before I take them to school.

Jen:
The fun is there for certain. He's full of energy which i make sure to burn throughout the day. Helps him sleep better and so do I. Of course there's also the training and accumulating him to the house. I haven't stated his puppy training classes yet because i will be gone for a week for work, but after that I plan to get him enrolled for both our sakes. For him it's an environment of structure, directions, rewards, and of course burning energy. For me its about keeping him squared away and as much fun i want him to have to simply running about, I know at this early age now is the time to set the bar and level of exceptions for behavior before he sets it for me and there's no turning back. Unlike my female lab/pit I had in the past, boys (my German Shepard and now Husky) seem to be a lot more stubborn taking to training so i wanna get a jump on that quickly.

Thanks everyone for the compliments, he is a very good looking pup, but i try not to let that fool me. As many of you had already said, i know i'm in for quite the adventure.

Question: Any input on completing the AKC registration; pros and cons? does it matter? what next?

hi, welcome to the forum. your very brave to take on twins and a puppy. he is adorable.
i did the akc paper work for the akc registration. it transfers the ownership of the puppy from the breeder to you. it also gives you the registered names of the parents. its manly to change owner ship of the puppy. they also give akc reunite service, if the unthinkable were to happen the help find him with can be linked to a microchip when or if you diced you want to do that.

It's almost like I just disappeared on you all after that stellar opening report.  I know I said I wasn't going to continually right books, but year; let's see how this plays out.

It's been almost 8 weeks that Thor has been living with me and he's now 4 months.  He’s undoubtedly a growing boy.  I took him to the Vet in late October for his initial visit and some follow-up shots at which time he weighed 19lbs.  Took him back last week for his monthly check-up, shots, and rabies and that kid is up to 30lbs.  Don’t get me wrong. I know how fast dogs grow; but this is funny to see how little he was when I first brought him home and the twins wanted nothing to do with him the first 30+ hours.  Now he weighs almost as much as the youngest twin, and isn’t too far from the oldest as they have been a consistent 3lbs apart since birth.   On the up side for Thor, he’s now of legal age and shot status to be invited to local dog parks with the other Sibes in town (we actually have quite a few out here).

If anyone needs a box of puppy pads let me know. I got all minus maybe 5 pads from a box of 100 LOL.  I’ve said this before and you here it about kids all the time; no two are the same.  Naturally the plan was to crate train him with pads in the crate and also put some in the house for his “accidents”.  It wasn’t long I decided I didn’t wanna put any in the crate (he may associated peeing n the crate as okay and not so much just peeing on the pad).  I tried putting some by the front and back door so he would learn to go to the door when he needs to potty, but after 4 weeks of that it was time for another plan.  In the end, I just put him on a potty schedule (bases on the timeframes he was going during the initial 4 weeks I was tracking his eating and potty routine.  Additionally I always took him to the front door and didn’t put his lead on until he was at the door (this let him know it was to go outside).  I didn’t use the back door because he likes to lie in front of that one on the tile floor so I left that door/area as his “resting space”.  
Needless to say after two weeks of doing this, out of random Thor goes to the door and sits down looking at me on the couch.  My slow self-looks at him for a minute like ‘what do you want’?  The light finally goes off and I’m like oh you wanna go outside? Take him out and he does his do-do…I couldn’t resist. Poor joke I know.  For the past week and a half this has been the routine.  I still take him outside one out schedule, but now he goes to the front door and sits when he needs to go in between these times.  I’M SO PROUD OF HIM!! (Of course he still has his accidents here and there but they aren’t in the “house”. These are in his crate aka his Room and my fault because I didn’t walk him long enough to poop.  With the exception of one time in the past two weeks I think he was giving me the middle finger he doesn’t pee in the house anymore.  

That middle finger moment; I’m laughing about now, but it wasn’t funny then.  I’d just taken him out and he peed and pooped.  I bring him in the house and put him in his room and 5 minutes later he howls, I immedialy look over and he looks as me as he starts peeing in his crate. That MF’er.  Someone was too happy about being in timeout.
Commands and discipline real quick; I know this is long.  He’s smart and overall for 2months time I don’t get much attitude from him.  He responds to “Vamos” and “Aqui” and "Siéntate" which are “let’s go” and “here” and “Sit” in Spanish.  He also definitely knows and responds to “Nein” which is “no” in German.  I speak four languages so he get whatever word come to mind in the moment, but I try to use the same work consistently because the twins like to tell him what to do as well.  We’ve started working on laying down, staying, and turning.  He does stay as long as he can see me, but once I’m out of sight he comes and tries to find me.  We’ll keep working.  

Discipline; I just keep telling my self he still a puppy.  He’s only, now, four months old.  But in the back of my minds I know he develops mentally and physically at 1:7 ratio so he’s actually smarter than his age may lead on as is demonstrated by what he’s accomplished in the last two months.  I know some say you should punish them in their “domain” but I apply the same rules to my dogs as I have with my kids for the most part.  No kid wants to go to his or her room.  They want to play outside with everyone else and have their toys.  Thor spends most, if not all, of the day roaming the house.  The only time he’s in his crate is if I’m gone and don’t take him with me or some nights when it’s bed time and I’m at work. For him, this works.  He has a bed/mat like thing in the living room next to the sofa to chill with me (he’s not allowed on the furniture yet). All his toys are in the living room or wherever he leaves them.  When he is in his crate he has toys as well so it’s homey.  When he’s in trouble he know it.  I tell him go to his room and he does.  He knows being in trouble versus I’m leave by me simply taking his toys out his crate.  I get the sad puppy look, which is 5x as bad because he has black marks on his nose that amplifies his sad face.  He also get the stern talking too face to face when he does something wrong.  I think he’d rather just go to his room than have me lecture him.

As far as him and the twins. They love each other.  The twins are really possessive of him and give people the stink eye when we are in public and they pat and rub him.  They are quick to say “my dog” or “that’s my Thor”.  I’m still working to get them to hug him around the waist and not the neck.  They just seen the face and wanna hug him and he’s clearly taller than they are when he’s on his hind legs so they don’t wanna hug him like I do.  LOL.   If you could have seen these two before Thor you’d understand just how amazed and happy I am tha they are bonding with his so quick and so much.  I’m even happy that Thor has such a calm, laid back, playful temperament.  He’s literally the perfect dog for them.  And I think they are perfect for him because they can be just and rough as he wants to be, yes sometimes they are rougher. SMH.  They run amuck in the house, play ball outside, and do their thing like they just got another brother.  I spend more time telling them to be nice or be gentle than telling him still.  

Oh…the Christmas tree has been up since Thanksgiving and he has not tried to pull it down.  He did try to play with the balls at first, but I think that under control.  His thing now is running circles around the tree, which I’m okay with, until the presents start to come out.

In one photo you'll see I tried the peanut butter to help with bath time, he wasn't interested.  He just took his bath like a champ!

5 months has flown by sine my last post to his updates and we have not been on eventful moments.  Thor has gone AWOL once but we were fortunate to find him with 24 hrs. I was more concerned with having to explain to my twins where their "Thor-a-licious" went more than I was about anything else.  He's a big part of their life and he's not like some gold fish you can replace while they are away at school.
He also had a run in with Animal Patrol which landed him on house arrest for a week.  That incident was not really his fault to begin with.  The neighbors in our cul-de-sac had their grandkids over who decided to come in our front yard and play with him.  One of the kids started running and naturally Thor took this a tag; in the process the kid freaked out being chased by him and feel down in the grass at their house.  The kid had a small scratch, but the parents blew it out of portion and now the poor pub got a record.  
On the bright side, we have made a lot of good memories from snow days (lost power at the house and he got to spend the day at work with me), to road trips, and his favorite-- running dates.