Juniper

Juniper is named for a tree that is widely found around the world but is well known in the Southwest landscape and long prized by the Pueblo peoples for it's medicinal uses. It's from the Cypress family and in the right conditions the Alligator Juniper in New Mexico can grow to 60 feet or more. Our little Juniper pup is a much smaller species although she does seem like an alligator with her needle sharp puppy teeth and love of chewing on anything in her path.

Juniper, also known as Junebug and Junie B., is the more confident and less needy of the two pups being fostered here with us. That said, she's still pretty leery of humans and will watch me carefully from the other side of their exercise pen as I approach, while her brother is excitedly sliding towards me on his belly. She's used her mouth once when very afraid (during her initial bath at our house) - not really a bite but something that could become a bite if her space isn't respected and she isn't given a choice to make decisions for herself. Once she feels she gets to make some choices, she relaxes and is interested in carefully joining the play. When frightened she currently reacts by screeching but the more work we have done around giving her new experiences and socialization, the more confident she has become and her terrified shrieks are few and far between.

Juniper in her ex-pen

With Mesquite she's quite bossy but I'm guessing that as long as she has exposure to well balanced adult dogs who don't let her get away with bossing, she'll do fine. No human trainer in the world can teach a dog quite so fast as another dog can teach them.

Pretty profile: Junebug isn't fond of the camera so a lot of her photos are a profile view

She's one of the smallest pups in the litter and weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces right now as opposed to Mesquite who is one of the larger pups at 4 pounds 13 ounces.

I think that Juniper is pretty much a typical undersocialized young puppy at this point. She has a strong terrier personality underneath and with some exposure to other people, dogs, and environments she will be able to move past her current skittishness. Her and her brother's trips to work with me are making a world of difference.