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A Follow On Thread For Those Who Now Have Their Puppy


julesluvscavs
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A momentous night...We have both Norty Brown Dawg Wilbur and his sister the Pocket Rocket, Laiken on the sofa together and they are both calm and asleep...She's 21 weeks old and we still separate them; their play time together is still supervised. She gives him no peace: biting at his mouth, ears and tail and he won't correct her. We've been working toward them being together right from when she came home at 8 weeks. We, prior to her arrival, assumed that he'd be too excited around her - as it turned out she's the challenge laugh.gif

I've been training them both separately and together and it's taken a lot of work to have two super crazy labbies together in the house with a good level of calm achieved; I'm super pleased. Wilbur has full house privileges but she's still on-lead and tethered to me when out of her ex pen in the kitchen.

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Lovely photo, but what happened to baby Laiken lol? It almost looks like you have two adult labs side by side! Is there much room left for you when they're both on the couch?

I have the exact same problem here of the puppy playing quite roughly and Maggie accepting it. Unfortunately for Maggie she's a shorty so even though she waves her head around to avoid Poppy it doesn't do much.

The puppy is so fast compared to Maggie too. She plays I've got what you want and runs just past Maggie who lumbers around trying to get it off her. Sometimes she'll put the item on the ground to draw Maggie closer then picks it up and tears away just before she gets there. Cracks me up.

How are you finding Laiken training wise? At 21 weeks can I ask what type of things you're working on now?

I so wish there were classes or options for puppies training wise. We had a great puppy kindy with an instructor also trains and competes but now it's finished. :(

Poppy picks up things well and is great at shaping but I know my inexperience is slowing us down and I don't know how to work through problems. It would be much easier with an instructor or at least another person who knows what they're doing to give advice. When she's old enough hopefully I can find the right club to join that doesn't just do straight obedience.

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Lovely photo, but what happened to baby Laiken lol? It almost looks like you have two adult labs side by side! Is there much room left for you when they're both on the couch?

I have the exact same problem here of the puppy playing quite roughly and Maggie accepting it. Unfortunately for Maggie she's a shorty so even though she waves her head around to avoid Poppy it doesn't do much.

The puppy is so fast compared to Maggie too. She plays I've got what you want and runs just past Maggie who lumbers around trying to get it off her. Sometimes she'll put the item on the ground to draw Maggie closer then picks it up and tears away just before she gets there. Cracks me up.

How are you finding Laiken training wise? At 21 weeks can I ask what type of things you're working on now?

I so wish there were classes or options for puppies training wise. We had a great puppy kindy with an instructor also trains and competes but now it's finished. :(

Poppy picks up things well and is great at shaping but I know my inexperience is slowing us down and I don't know how to work through problems. It would be much easier with an instructor or at least another person who knows what they're doing to give advice. When she's old enough hopefully I can find the right club to join that doesn't just do straight obedience.

in that pic they do like two adults, but when you see them side by side she still looks like a puppy.

Training wise she's made leaps and bounds in terms of self regulation - something i work on quite a bit right from the start. She will now wait to be released at doors and for dinner. This week, i brought them to eat at the same location; previously she was fed at the back door and Wilbur was fed in front of his crate. I don't have a lead on her at meal times anymore; she can self regulate herself really well. She waits to be released (and i'm extending the time for wait); Wilbur gets released first and goes to his bowl next to hers and she waits for her release and then goes straight to her bowl. She usually finishes first and may attempt to nose into his bowl but she recalls away really well - no issues there. It looks quite funny, me with two chocky labbies sitting either side of me looking upward waiting for release.

When i ask her to heel; she comes to the heel - i haven't done any real leash work with her yet. I started teaching her to heel when i noticed that she was pulling ahead after she'd been released through the door when we went out to the back yard. She seemed to need another step to help her regulate her behaviour of pulling ahead. She doesn't stay at the heel all the time; she doesn't have the concentration for that but asking her to heel helps her to settle down because she's got a job to do. The leash is still mostly to just keep control when she's around the house.

She's great in the car; currently she's in the back seat (Wilbur is in the back of the x-trail). They don't share the back of the car yet; she's still learning to self regulate her behaviour around him and still bites his mouth and ears in play and he can't get away from her in the back of the car so she's on the back seat. when i ask her to drop or sit, she does.

I'm about to do some more formal crate training; in and out on command. She drops from the sit and stand position, she sits from the drop and the stand. i'm about to start work on the stand from the drop and sit position. I've recently started to invite her to sit on the lounge in the evening with me; BUT she has to sit and wait to be invited. We walk in, i ask her to sit and wait, i sit down and then when i'm ready i invite her up. She's learning to do it quietly and calmly. Then last night i invited both dogs up; it took her a little longer to settle but she did really well. Wilbur's not thrilled about sharing with her though; mainly because she hogs all the space laugh.gif

Her biggest weakness is barking at unknown dogs; we had two misfortunate events when out and about when she was younger. A rather aggressive barky dog behind a fence was quite a scary experience for her when we walked past. Another time a fellow approached us at a cafe with his large dog and refused to move away - of course she reacted to him right in her face. I have been working with her by taking her to visit a fellow DOLer who has a bomb proof dog that will appropriately correct her (Wilbur won't) for rude puppy behaviour and keep calm with her barky reactions. Training starts next month so she'll have much more exposure to strange dogs.

I play lots of games to encourage her to come and she's still very receptive to coming without distraction. I'm still doing work with her to create a calm environment when she meets and greets people at home; she settles quite quickly when i throw food distraction on the floor so we're getting closer to her being calmer. When the door bell rings or she hears keys in the door she will run off if allowed; but since she's always on leash in the house, it's easy to control that unwanted behaviour. I ask her to sit and wait and when OH and Miss22 come home, they know to ignore her whether she's in her ex-pen or with me.

Very early on i did mat work with her so i could take her to cafe's with me. She progressed really well and when we're out at cafe's now she'll automatically sit under my chair or in between my feet. I still like to take a thin mat with us so she knows where to sit just like i taught her at home. She has a problem with birds so we go down to the river where the swans and ducks are and get her to sit at the edge of the water on the pavement and they swim right up to her. As long as i'm talking to her she'll leave them alone; pigeons at the cafe are a problem that we will need to work on laugh.gif

She and wilbur still have supervised play time - it used to be to keep her from annoying the crap out of him but more recently it's to reduce the intensity of their play. Earlier, she would constantly annoy him no end but play sessions have changed in dynamic more recently. Now, she's biting him less (i used to end play when she became bitey) and their play is really fast and rough chasey games. When the intensity becomes too high, i end the game or redirect it to a come session with distraction for Wilbur. This works really well, because Laiken is having 'come' modelled for her and she will nearly always follow him to me for a treat.

I still take her out on leash to evacuate; this gives me an opportunity to reinforce toileting on command; she will pretty much pee and poop out in public when i ask.

I don't profess to be a skilled dog trainer, but thus far she's developing really nicely. I think she's going to be a wonderful full grown dog.

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justopping in here to ogle all the cute ppies :love:

Hey alvse, I couldn't help but notice your pup's east-west feet. Have you looked into any of the dietary changes you can make to help correct the problem?

This struck me too - the right foot looks especially 'down' to me. Could just be the photos but might be a good idea to check in with your breeder for some advice

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The pocket rocket, Laiken had a big day out today; First i took her to Adelaide Dog to pick up food and she had a mighty rough and fun play with Vlad (2yo Doberman Pinscher) in the shop - they had a blast and i'm thrilled that we've finally found a dog that is well balanced and will play as rough as she does. Norty Brown Dawg Wilbur doesn't like to play as rough; he prefers the chasey games instead.

Then i took her two shops up to the Groomers where, DOLer, GruffLife cut her nails. I've only been able to do it once, the second time we tried, she fought tooth and nail. So, while i'll continue training her to let me cut her nails, i'll take her every couple of weeks to GL to get it done. You wouldn't believe it; she barely put up any fight when Gruff did it in the Groomers Buddy harness! I thought she'd fight hard. laugh.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Where have all the puppies gone? Everyone's babies look so grown up.

SW66 I love reading your updates on Laiken. Cutting nails freaks me out too.

Airedaler, Spice looks absolutely gorgeous, good luck at the show!

Alvse, Calli is a cutie, love the crazy eyes in the last photo.

My border terrier Poppy is doing well too. She's five and a bit months old and weighs a whole 7kg. She's a little cracker and loves learning new tricks. We're working on beg at the moment and its kind of adorable when she loses her balance and topples to the side or backward. Does it make me a bad dog Mum if I giggle when it happens?

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Well the show went well. My fears about Spice not walking on the lead well enough were unfounded. She trotted around the ring like a veteran and showed her socks off. She stood alone in the class but it was a great opportunity to introduce her in a totally relaxed way. She enjoyed herself and had fun which is the most important thing at this stage. In the Group specials for best Baby Puppy she was very distracted by the other dogs and just wanted to play but that's OK too at this stage. Next show in just under 2 weeks so it is back to the grooming table and training routine for both of us. We are both going to have a handling lesson this afternoon so that will be interesting.

Someone told me that handling was like riding a bicycle, once you learnt you did not forget and they were right, even after being out of the ring for almost 7 years when the time came I did not forget much.

Unfortunately no photos from the show but this one was taken a few days before

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Edited by Airedaler
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My brittany boy Alfie is an absolute joy!!! He just fits in to our family so well. It is like we have always had him.

He will be 13 weeks tomorrow.

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This is my boys Heart

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Edited by catbrit
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