Hi everyone! I just wanted to check in with some of Aspen's behavior and what he does to make sure they are still within the realm of "normal" things your puppy has experienced, even though I know every dog varies. First off, here is a picture of Aspen at 17 weeks: Aspen still loves to bite. That seems normal to me as he is still teething and is very much so a puppy. He has almost all of his adult incisors already as well, so we are just waiting on those other teeth to fall out and for the adult ones to come in! When he gets excited, say when grandma or grandpa stops by, he excited pees! We try to curb this by letting him out when people come and not making the welcome too exciting. Aspen has also realized how tall he is and has been jumping up on counters and tables to see what we can get. He hasn't been successful in getting anything off the counters, it almost seems like more of a curiosity thing? We have been trying to work out of this by asking him to sit. He will normally jump two or three times and will then go to lay down by our feet. He has been pulling a little on walks. We don't live in a place where we can do much off leash, so we do that whenever we can when we are in the country areas near us. Do I stop and turn the other way to teach him not to pull? Aspen knows "sit" and "down". Should he know more at 4 months? I am planning on teaching him "Leave it" and a few other things. What are some other commands you guys think are essential? Aspen eats 1.5 cups 2x a day now rather then 1 cup 3x a day. He seems to be doing well with this and his poos are becoming more solid. He still isn't that confident in swimming yet, even when I am in the water with him. Are there ways I can make him more confident? He also doesn't like the act of going down to his kennel. His kennel is downstairs and when we tell him to kennel, he stands at the top of the stairs and looks down at us. How do we teach him to kennel himself? At this point, I have to have him follow me down the stairs by sitting at certain points and rewarding him until he goes inside his kennel. Is this a bad way to teach him? Should we move his kennel upstairs? He doesn't mind being crated, he just hates getting there. Thanks you for bearing with me and the long post. Sometimes I think he's doing really great and then sometimes I feel like he should know more but he is still so young! Hopefully he seems like he is where he needs to be to you guys. Thanks, Alicia
It sounds to me that he is right on target. He is a lovely boy. All of it will come with consistency and kindness. Leave it is an important one to teach for sure, and work on recall at every opportunity. I would do about-turns to try and help with the pulling for most people. The only thing really is the kennelling - sounds pretty reasonable that he wants to stay with you at night. It might be worth moving him closer to you at night, if this is something you are ok with, I'm sure he would be delighted.
Gorgeous boy In terms of jumping up at work tops etc, I would praise Harley and give her treats everytime she sat instead of jumping up. She quickly realised that paws on the work tops didn't get her anything, but sitting did. I stopped everything I was doing in the kitchen everytime she jumped up, and ignored her until she sat or had 4 paws on the floor. Pulling on walks is really important to sort ASAP.......I didn't and it took me over 2 years to rectify this! I started by giving lots of treats when we were walking and she was next to me or just in front of me. If she pulled I just stood still and waited until she stopped pulling and came back before we moved again. It took months just to walk down our street without needing to stop (because I left it too long). I don't treat very much now, but still do at random times just to remind her what I want and there are rewards for it. If you are happy to bring the crate up then I would as he may be happier to go in it if he could still be near you.
He sounds absolutely normal for his age. He's also a very handsome puppy! Naya is right about pulling. A fully grown lab is a very strong dog so its better to break the habit now before it gets established.
We taught a "go to mat" in the kitchen which helped with worktop "interest" whilst we were actually in the kitchen, though I don't think Lilly was bad for counter-surfing, really more getting under your feet. We had a door mat we used and sent her to it, when she got at least 2 feet on it we rewarded her with a treat, and built up to her lying on it, then faded the rewards. Having said that, the mat is gone now our kitchen is remodelled, so we have our hoover back.
We worked on leave it with Bailey when he was young, it was partly because where we walk him there was a huge amount of fox poo which, apparently, is the best thing in the world to eat! Recall was another one we have worked hard on - it was going well and then he became a teenager - we are just about through that with recall now. He was a terrible puller on the lead, so we put a harness on him which improved things slightly, but not completely. We then stood still until he relaxed and came back to us, we then treated before setting off again, and again and again - honestly took quite a while but it has paid off as Bailey now walks nicely on a loose lead when we are in town (unless a pesky pigeon struts its stuff in front of him and then its asking for it!).
