In less than 24 hours, he will have his 17 week birthday. And so, as a birthday present to him, he has gained our trust enough to be down stairs in the (Open Concept) Living Room/Dining Room/Kitchen free of his tether to either the wall or me---when we are there, and for very short periods when we are not. And right now he is celebrating this special moment by sleeping in his bed(which he does this time when he is tethered). We are still practicing sitting when the outside door opens so he doesn't make a bee-line for the open door. Also this morning was his first successful roll-over trick on command. He is now sleeping from 10PM-7AM, and actually demanding that he be able to go to bed at 9:30 PM. I tell him that he MUST POO before bed, and so when we go out he goes directly to POOing. Hooray!
My girl, at 10 weeks, always had free access to the lounge/dining room/kitchen when I was there without the need to be tethered to me or to a wall/furniture. We used the space to play hide and seek, little retrieve games, learning recall between rooms, confidence building with me out of sight and also to practice walking close without a lead.
Almost every day since he was 8 weeks old. Although in the beginning, we had to make him pee before and after, or he would pee on the floor, and that was a habit we didn't want to have happen. After about 11 weeks, several times a day chasing his throaty pig and and his milk bottle all over the downstairs, usually until he stops because he is too tired. And then there are the walks in the field where he is on a 30 foot roller line where he runs in front of me and behind me and then in front of me and then behind me. He rarely gets to the end of the tether on that one before he ends up heading back. He runs a lot chasing his toys or exploring the environment. I fear his cardio is way better than mine.
