Bessie is a bit over four months old now, and we're finally, finally seeing some end to the crazy-puppy stage. She's settled a lot more of the time, calmer overall, easier to redirect when she's overexcited. She finally figured out peeing outside! She is about 90% at ringing the bells by my door before she has to go pee. Poop has been good for a few weeks now. The other 10% of the time, she pees on the floor near the door and then rings the bell, ha. I'll take it; she's definitely getting there. She's doing really well with off-leash recall outside. She turns on a dime and bounds to me so energetically. Following Pippa's Total Recall book for this training. Overnight, she and big brother are sleeping with me on my king-sized bed. I put a baby gate in my doorway and we all get up in the morning and go out together. She doesn't pee inside and she sleeps soundly from 11pm to 7am or so. Just finally seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. PHEW! Of course: she's a teething monster; she counter-surfs relentlessly; she loses her mind when anyone is over and forgets all her training; she needs lots of proofing with distractions and in new situations with everything she's learned so far; she jumps on everyone she meets if I let her. Lots of work to do still, but I'm seeing glimmers of the dog I'll have when she's grown and it's wonderful.
Sounds like really good progress! Yes it's a long tunnel, and a bit windy in places...but that is life with a labrador pup! I am very impressed with the bell ringing though, Bramble drove me almost insane with toilet training..took over 5 months to nail it.
Bessie is making great progress. It is good to take stock and see just how well our dogs are doing, it is so easy to blinded by the hiccups.
Thanks! Of course she peed inside twice last night after I posted this. Something about nighttime - that seems to be the new theme. But hey, she's still made progress! Yes, it's good to take stock and notice the good things. Re: the bells, I have to say, I hung them right by the door, I rang them about 50% of the time myself before we went out, I tried maybe 5-10x to get her to target it with her nose (using a treat) before we went out - and then she got it! I wasn't pushing them hard, figuring it might be tough to distinguish "hey, let's go out and play" from "I need to pee," and figured we'd get the bells into the equation later. But she loves them! I think it helps that the bottom one is right at her nose level right now.
