Hi guys, I wondered if I could share our daily routine with Bob with you. I'm worried that we aren't really doing enough with him? He's 4mo now and such a lovely little boy. He's sleeping now from about 10.30/11pm to around 7.30/8am which is fab In the mornings after he's woken up we will give him breakfast.. then he'll toilet. On school run days he comes with me and my little boy and has a 20/30min walk. Then back home and sleeps until lunchtime. Then he'll have some lunch, toilet and then sleep most of the afternoon. Often I will take him along with me when I collect my little boy and we'll all have a little walk together before coming home. Then Bob will probably snooze until dinner time 6.30pm ish. After he's eaten, well it's bedtime for my little boy so generally Bob just snoozes on and off for most of the evening - we may do a bit of 'touch' 'spin' 'sit' 'stay' training but not that much. Then it's bedtime and we start over all again! He snoozes an awful lot, which I'm not complaining about, it's lovely he's so chilled out. But I do worry that we could be doing more with him??? It's the holidays now and we are generally doing a late morning/lunchtime walk with Bob and that's about it really. The rest of the time he's snoozing in his crate. Is this enough? Could he be bored?! Why do I feel guilty?! He seems happy enough, maybe I'm worrying too much? Thank you in advance. Lou x
Re: Are we doing enough???? I would say , be very grateful My current Lab, now three and a half , was just the same, unlike any other Lab I had owned and like you , I also worried that he was too chilled . I would encourage you to do very short bouts of training with him , just a few mins at a time as they do get bored, but honestly, he is getting out and about , being socialised which is just brilliant . Would also advise you letting him off lead, in a safe place of course, but truly , he is fine
Re: Are we doing enough???? Yes, I agree - he's a quiet dog and you are lucky!!!! I might throw in a bit more variety when you can manage it (not daily, maybe once a week). Are there any other dogs around that he could have a play date with? Any cafes you can take him to? Maybe a drive somewhere different now and then? Trying to keep up a bit of variety and adding in some new experiences is a good thing to do
Re: Are we doing enough???? You could be doing more training by the sounds of it. A lot of people say no need to rush, etc. But with clicker training it is so easy to do a fair bit when they are young and pick things up really quickly. Pays back massively later. Plus, I think that although experienced people can train a dog easily, so don't feel in a rush at first, it's taken me a long time (we had some time out though) - so next time, I'd definitely do more than I did earlier.
Re: Are we doing enough???? Mine are almost the same age as Bob and sleep an awful lot too. When they're awake, I like to train them for a few minutes here and there, just to work their minds and, as Julie says, it's great to start things early. I do three or four short sessions a day with each of them, as well as what we do when we're out on walks. While one is being trained, the other sits next to us in their bed and gets treated for being quiet and calm, which is training in itself. It doesn't have to be much - lots of "leave it/take it" (cued and uncued on the leave), sit-stay, down-stay, look at me, in your bed, in your crate etc etc etc. Just a different thing each time to give them variety. I bought a book which has a lot of learning games for dogs in it. I've had a quick flick through and it looks really good, although I've not had the time to really read it properly yet. It may give you some ideas, though: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Ga...r=8-1&keywords=Learning+games+by+Kay+Laurence I'd rather have a chilled out puppy than a hyper one, definitely, so I think you're very lucky, but it certainly can't hurt to take a few minutes here and there to stimulate his grey matter a bit more
Re: Are we doing enough???? Thank you for all your replies. The only training we do at home is: SIT, SIT & STAY, DOWN, SPIN, TOUCH and WAIT. He's pretty good at all of these so it'd be nice to have add some variety. When we are out about Bob is always off lead, and he comes to heel brilliantly he also has a good recall which we've been working on. I could probably do a little extra on lead heel work later in the day with him during the holidays if my OH watches our son. When we are out with our son, it's very hard to train Bob to walk nicely as my son always runs on ahead of us which causes Bob to pull on the lead. I will take a look at that book I think.. it'd be nice to have some new ideas Oh we do also go to puppy training once a week but classes have now stopped for Christmas. Lou x
Re: Are we doing enough???? [quote author=Stacia link=topic=9192.msg131820#msg131820 date=1419193486] You could teach your son and Bob at the same time to heel ;D [/quote] Haha, good luck with that
Re: Are we doing enough???? [quote author=Stacia link=topic=9192.msg131820#msg131820 date=1419193486] You could teach your son and Bob at the same time to heel ;D [/quote] Ha ha! Yes I wish! The dog is better trained than the boy that's for sure!
Re: Are we doing enough???? [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=9192.msg131813#msg131813 date=1419191689] I bought a book which has a lot of learning games for dogs in it. I've had a quick flick through and it looks really good, although I've not had the time to really read it properly yet. It may give you some ideas, though: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Ga...r=8-1&keywords=Learning+games+by+Kay+Laurence [/quote] This book is really great. "A perfect foundation" by the same author is also great.
Re: Are we doing enough???? Bob sounds like such a chilled pup, the complete opposite to my lil bundle of energy.
