I've found a great use of my arm sling, it has a metal ring on it and my clicker clips on and is easily reached and always with me.
I had shoulder surgery 4 weeks ago tomorrow, it's doing well, although I can't use it very much yet. I put in a lot of work with our puppy Dexter in the 4 weeks that we had him, prior to having surgery. I got my husband to use left hand signals and to have Dexter on the left side, as I knew I wouldn't be able to use my right arm for a quite a while. That way we could both be doing the same. Apart from some crocopup times, Dexter's been a real bonus, keeping me busy and shows what a lovely puppy he is. I'm with him all day while my husband is at work and also coped well as my husband was away from Friday to today, he's away from next Friday to Monday too. I can get Dexter's harness on by using just one piece of kibble, he's very good at doing 'sit' with a verbal or hand signal command or by a little look. He's getting good at stay or wait in different circumstances. Walking on a loose lead is really good most of the time, more difficult when lots of distractions. He absolutely loves hearing the words 'good boy', as knows this means a treat more often than not. He's very young so treating as much as possible. I always measure out four portions of kibble every night but now feed him 3 times a day and use the 4th portion throughout the day as rewards, interspersed by some treat treats. Too many upset his tummy. I also take out some of his food allowance to mash in water and freeze into 3 Kongs, helps keep him busy for 30 to 45 mins at a time and stops the chewing on the furniture for a while. He's teething like mad. I crate him a couple of times a day as he gets a better sleep that way, for 1 time I either go out or go upstairs for a rest, the other time I stay in the same room and do something quiet. He often goes in the crate on his own accord anyway. I'm now adding 'drop it', 'leave it', 'down', 1 long blow on the whistle for stop, which will eventually be 'stop, then look at me for his next command'. In the house and garden he responds to 3 pips as come running to me as fast as you can, excellent for when I see him doing something he shouldn't but he hasn't seen me, I step back in doors or out of sight, blow pip pip pip and he comes and finds me, gets a treat and then I can distract him from going back to what he was up to. I wear the whistle all the time at home and with the clicker on my sling, can click him as soon as he arrives. I'm making a spread sheet so that I can keep track of what we are both learning, the words and signals I use, so that we can all do the same. We are going on holiday in 2 weeks and my sister and her husband are coming to puppy and house sit, so will be helpful for them. Dexter is greeting other dogs really well, he loves people and now when I ask people to wait until I have him sit, before they fuss him, they generally do. He loves a run in the park with other dogs, we went to the beach again today and the tide was in for the first time but he was a bit scared of the water. Our beach is mainly pebbles so a bit of a challenge as he loves to try to eat stones . It's taken a while but I'm finally getting more of a routine which seems to suit Dexter better. Revisited offering a closed hand with a treat in it and waiting for eye contact, didn't take long for him to get back to speed. Hence the spreadsheet to remind me of what I've started. He loves to play find it with kibble in the grass or flicked around the room. All adds up to one very happy puppy, he's so eager to learn, rest and play. It all seems to be helping with preventing him from using me as the tug toy although he does still have outbursts if he's over tired, overexcited or confused at why I've stopped training and he wants a treat but he is learning that I'm very boring when that happens even though it's quite painful to just stand still and get my 5 ft self (if I stretch) as tall as possible to get my arms folded out of his way, it is working. Once he stops I walk away and shut the gate. Before I use to put my arm back down, it wasn't until someone pointed out to me that he then thinks I'm offering it back to him, that's why he would do it again, that I discovered my mistake and never even realised that's what I was doing. Glad I got that mistake of mine sorted, no wonder the little fella was getting confused. Reward based training really does work and I feel so proud of our little Dexter, he has learnt so much in the seven weeks we've had him and so have we. Apologies for rambling on, got a bit carried away lol.
Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job with him! And good job with thinking about how to be consistent with signals after your operation. That must really be helpful to him and to you! It sounds like you are setting him up for a great life with you!
Thank you, Lisa, I do hope so. We've had cats before now so all very new to this. Glad I found this forum though to share the ups and downs and also get great ideas and advice. Oh and getting greeted by a happy puppy when you get up or come in, is priceless. I must get some more of Dexter's photos and videos downloaded onto my laptop to share. His first off lead video on his first day out is so cute. Certainly got rid of my empty nest syndrome from the kids moving out to set up their own homes.
After a good weekend, Dexter was a little horror today. Fine when training, and out on his walk but other times arrrrh. Just when I think we're getting there
Don't worry!! They all have their devil days, but they'll become less and less common. You're doing a really wonderful job and Dexter sounds like a terrific boy
I think he was over tired from yesterday, what with going to the beach and my husband coming back from a weekend away. I did take Dexter to the park this morning, only us there as too late to meet with the other dogs and owners due to me having physio. I decided to try his recall with the whistle and his stop with the whistle, also walking to heal off lead. He did really well. Shame that at home my clothes were more appealing to tug on than his toys. He tends to be more like this on rainy days too. He is loosing his teeth, I found one the other day and I also think I hear him crunching them. When my husband checked his teeth tonight he has a little gap now in his top ones. I always question what I've done wrong on days like this. It must be his Monday blues, I remember he was like it last Monday come to think of it. Do you think puppies get thrown out of kilter by the changes from weekdays and weekends, Hubby not going off to work etc?
I wouldn't worry too much - they do all have off days. My attentive little man, Shadow, who I wrote a post about the other week, saying he won't leave my side, was an absolute monster this morning on our walk. He was completely deaf to me, ran off after a smell and would not respond to me, so spent the vast majority of his walk on the lead. He'll probably have reverted to my little angel again when I take him out later. Here's hoping
