Hi Maisie was 6 months old yesterday and I'm interested in people's thoughts on how we're doing with her and what kinds of milestones/routines other people's puppies have at this stage. I should say that I know they're all different, they're like children in that respect, right?! My SIL got a puppy from the same litter and they appear to be completely different in their manner. Maisie is a live wire; bright and lovely but a handful. Whereas their puppy seems to be naturally placid and laid back. I've never had dogs (DH always had them as a child) so nothing to compare with. Anyway- this is her at 6 months: -She is still very chewy and chews on everything and anything. -Her recall was going well but we seem to have poisoned it so need to start again -She's pretty good at loose leash walking/walking to heel but only when away from cars/people. In town she can pull like crazy. -She sleeps from 10.30-6.15ish without any fuss. -She will sit/stay on command inside but not consistently when outside. -She rarely has toilet accidents inside the house unless she's tired/we've missed her cue. -She generally finds it hard to settle when there are people about/coming and going in the house. Some days I feel like we're halfway there with training stuff, other days it feels like we're getting nowhere fast. Is that normal?! thanks
All perfectly normal ! We have to remember that, even in the same litter, siblings can be very different , just as children in one family are all different . Persistence , patience and repetition are the key words with pups because the moment we relax , they don't and will take advantage of our lapse ! Keep training sessions fun , and relatively short so that boredom doesn't set in , much praise when things go well , and when they don't ? Tomorrow is another day x
Red is 5 1/2 weeks so a bit younger than Maisie but I can identify with everything you are saying. No accidents in the house but I am fairly vigilant as she doesn't have a clear signal for when she needs to go so. She is very sociable so doesn't like to miss out if people come to the house - she did without her morning sleep earlier today as one of my granddaughters came as I was taking her to school - she was determined to say hello to her. I have to start again on Recall as we seem to have poisoned it .
Very normal, I would say. Cassie was very hard work at 6-7 months, she's 12 months now. I think the thing is it seems such a long haul, the puppy days, especially the bit where you have a puppy in adult body. Keep going, as others have said persistence pays off. It's becoming clear that much of the stuff I did with her in early weeks went in, even though a few months ago you'd think I'd done no training !
Yes this! definitely this. Doesn't help when the in-laws apparently (although I haven't yet met in person) have a saintly dog
Maisie sounds a pretty normal pup for her age . She pulls when in town because ut's a new environment and exciting so our training has to go back to basits so lead walking just as first introduced and gradually build on the foundations. How long does she sit/stay indours? Outside with all the exciting distractions we go back to basics of just 1 or 2 seconds and then another a couple and then a step away and then another step, then add a little more duration and so on. Each time we train a new behaviour we have to train it for other lications/scenarios as well . That's the reason that dogs in a training class may be the star pupil with their sits/stays/recalls but do not respond the same outside of that environment . Don't lose faith - your training is working and even once you think your ignore is trained you will still need to reinforce all that training to ensure that you have all those behaviours performed when asked
Yes - very normal. Mollie is seven months old and better at some of your list, worse at others. She is still very puppyish and still rather mouthy, especially with me! She's a total terror for counter surfing and hopeless at settling anywhere other than home. For normal training walks she has a lovely loose lead. But if we go anywhere new she'd pull like a train if I let her!
At the risk of sounding like an idiot... In terms of training - whether to not jump up, to sit, to leave, to come back - there are so many things to remember/do/practice, it's hard when you both work and have kids etc to feel like you're on top of it all. Anyway C'est la Vie - that's what we signed up for
At her age you probably aren't on top of it. But just keep doing what you're doing right and she will be learning.
I agree with selina - build your training into everyday life. Preparing food? Practice the down-stay. Going for a walk? Practice loose lead walking. Watching TV? Practice 'settle' etc etc
Thor is 8 months old and im pretty sure all mouthing stopped around 6 1/2 - 7 months. That may be through us managing it better in that we can recognise better now when he is getting overexcited and calm the play down. His training is still a work in progress, but it always will be. He will sit perfectly, but his wait depends on other dogs being around and how amazingly exciting they look like they will be. Even if hes on lead he will walk past some dogs/people without a second glance, but others he will pull desperately. They must look like a block of cheddar to him! In terms of sleeping i get up at 445 in the week and hes out with me for 10-/15 minutes then back to bed before my partner gets up around half 7. But he will happily sleep until half 8 at the weekend without getting up in the night. All in all though i tend to think if they seem happy and arent causing you trouble beyond a limit you can cope with then you are doing pretty well at this age. Try not to pressure yourself or them too much. Its so easy to meet other dogs on walks and compare progress but every set up is different, and every dog will be unique.
Sounds very normal to me. There are such ranges for some of this stuff, depending on the dog. At 11 months, Bessie is still a hyper thing when visitors are here. Takes her hours and hours to settle. Even if they're friends who come to visit often. I am always like, she's just a lump with me! It's so hard to deal with.
Lots of what youre calling issues are due to lack of exposure. Pretty much any new area and you have to start training over, then move to the next spot and start all over again. It just takes time. Sounds like things are going pretty decent though.
Ah yes I think you're right. She's particularly difficult in town because she's just not used to it (we live rurally) so we're trying to make it a focus to take her as frequently as possible, just to walk around Tesco car park!
Now that the nicer weather is here we have started to take Bailey into town and sit outside a café for brunch once a week (on my day off). After three visits so far Bailey is a lot more settled while we are sitting down, walking nicely on a loose lead through all the people....however, those pesky pigeons just taunt him....they really are asking to be chased!! He is also getting better at greeting some dogs and not greeting all dogs. That is something we are working on as he sees a dog and gets so focussed on them that he won't even show any interest in a treat.. small steps each time
We live rurally too and Bessie's a nut when we go into town. All the people to jump at (I mean greet), the pigeons, putting her paws up on store windows to peep in! It's rather hilarious if you're not the one at the other end of the leash...Now that spring is here I need to work on it more with her.
