OMFG, Final update, I promise

So Magnus has fully accepted the puppy (not as enthusiastically as at first, perhaps, but his mind hasn't changed; the puppy can stay.)

Fritz is not in favor, but aware that he's not going to get a vote. Humph.

And the big question that remained was, what's Ghost's reaction going to be? There was some concern about this, because Ghost can be very territorial. Violently so. And he is the only one who has never seen a puppy join the pack.

Ghost's reaction was completely blase'. He walked up, smelled the newcomer's ass, and walked away without comment. He has, in the past couple of hours, taken to peeing on things in the puppy's presence. But other than that he seems to feel it requires no input from him. I expected something.

Click is certain that this is not a good thing; she acts as if she's afraid of the little guy, which is funny because as far as I've seen he hasn't even noticed her presence. He certainly isn't doing anything to bother her, and she's never been shy around any other dog even when they do get obnoxious.

When Ghost got home and refrained from doing anything antisocial, I decided we needed a brief group walky with all four dogs. It's a warm, sunny day; the puppy was in the shade and decided no, you guys go have fun. I'm going to stay right here. When I insisted, he went from shady spot to shady spot until he got to the edge of the yard, then absolutely refused to take another step. The rest of us went around the ridge, me anxious because he's too little to be left completely alone for very long. When we got back, he was snoozing in the shade. He followed as we all went into the cool of the barn, and that was that.

The puppy seems completely relaxed about all this. He cringed in a corner for less than an hour when he first arrived, but was very shortly exploring Gitmo and then crying for attention. After the first crate incident, Magnus' excessive attentions didn't intimidate him at all. He's not a yapper, in fact I've never yet heard him bark. I feared a hyperactive little monster like my neighbors D&L got recently, but that's not the case at all. He likes it when you pet him; he sleeps between my feet when I'm reading in the lair, but he's not a clinger or a jumper. If he gets lonely or scared he cries but otherwise he's very quiet. S&L visited a couple of times over the weekend, and each time commented on how completely he seems to have made himself at home. He's also - and this shocked me - at least conceptually housebroken. He doesn't always completely make it, but he does know he's supposed to go outside for his business. I'm now waiting for the other behavioral shoe to drop, because he seems...well, perfect. Therefore he's either got some congenital disease that will kill him right after I've decided I can't live without him, or he's just waiting to get big enough to jump on my couch so he can tear my throat out while I sleep. My life is like that, you know - lots of things are good, but nothing, I mean nothing is perfect.

I'm still not leaving him completely alone with the boys, but it does appear that all my anxiety concerning the boys' reaction was for nothing. Now if I could only settle on a name.