Hello, I have been planning on an update on how Amy is doing but I have been busy with her and keeping house! My husband isn’t so sure but I think she is doing really well. He hasn’t read the information I have and only remembers his puppy as a child as been “Nice and Quiet and Not Biting”. His mum remembers differently! She still tries to bite us sometimes but I just put her in the kitchen for a few moments and then let her out. She is keen on jumping up on my youngest son and her face is now level with his which is a worry. He squeals which isn’t helping! I just let then together when I know she is calm. I had to pick him up a few times to rescue him but then he starts to shout her back! Little monkey. At 12 weeks she still has a few accidents in the house but only when I am trying to do too much and think “I will take Amy out after this”. She is sleeping well at night and has made no mess during the night for a few nights. (She did at weekend but that’s because I slept in until 630!!) She will follow basic commands and is responding well to the clicker training. I know how to train her how to stop doing something, but not how to stop her doing it in the first place. She can now jump on the sofa herself.....is this where we give up and just let her up anyway?? On Saturday I brought the hoover back downstairs and she put her self straight into her create, where I was about to tell her to go so I could use it! And even when we take her to MIL for Sunday dinner she will go straight into the create when the dinner is ready without been asked to go. I have been taking her on short lead walks and she is only trying pulling on the way home. She is getting less nervous when we are out and is starting to greet people and dogs. She gets worried when she hears dogs barking but can’t see them. We start some training classes tonight, looking forward to it but worried i will get told we have done the training all wrong. My 7 year old wants to come, he is really good at giving her commands and sometimes listen to him more than me. And everyone i meet says “wait until she is 6 months old, then your in trouble”
Re: How we are doing... Hello Jade, sounds like you are doing really well! The only thing I would really recommend is that you take her out somewhere safe and let her off the lead. At the moment she will follow you (really, she wont run away), but if you leave it until she is four or five months old to start letting her off the lead, she will be more confident on her own and will not necessarily follow you. So now is the time to start training her to come when called! Good articles on here regarding that, and a video of Pippa training her Rachael. Keep up the good work, Amy sounds like a typical lovable Lab puppy - boisterous, but sensitive and quick to learn. This is a busy time, but you will reap the rewards later. Honestly, I thought my Poppy was a nightmare when we first brought her home. Now, nearly a year later, she is delightful. The more work you put in to your puppy, the better results you get out! But above all - enjoy her, and remember this is just a phase. Soon she will be older and will gradually become calmer.
Re: How we are doing... jade you are doing very well, i am about 5 week in front of you, jasper dont bite me now, how ever he is still biting my 23 year old son,only gentle now, As for the hoover, you are doing fantastic, it took me 2 weeks of training to get him to calm down when i am hoovering, he now thinks its our play time when i get the hoover out, he will leave it on command if i have treats in hand, with advice i let jasper off the lead from being 10 weeks old, he dont go far from us unless he sees other dogs, then trainingg goes out the window, there as been a waiting list at our puppy classes so only start on weds, good luck you are doing a brilliant job, keep me updated, thank you
Re: How we are doing... Hiya, I had her off lead a few times, but then she got nervous so worried about her running if she hears another dog. But going to go out and try now.......
Re: How we are doing... Yeah, that went really well. She didn't go far and came back with every call.
Re: How we are doing... Thats good Jade , it really is best to let them off lead as much as is safely possible when they are still very young, its good practice for them as they learn to stay close by us, lots of encouraging noises go a long way too , helps to relax them, well done
Re: How we are doing... Sounds like you're making excellent progress When you let her off lead - do some little chasing games where Amy gets to chase you and gets lots of cuddles, praise and treats when she catches up. You can have her chase one person then chase a second person then back to the first person. Just a few chases at a time, since she is only a baby. (Make sure the humans never do the chasing though as that'd teach her that running away is a fun thing). Feel free to add more photos of the gorgeous girl anytime you like
Re: How we are doing... Hey that sounds like really good progress to me. Don't know about the 6 month old problem though. Lady was a big handful right up to nearly her third birthday. ;D It's really, really scary as an owner the first time you let them off the lead, but she will stick with you, just make sure it's a safe place just in case she gets into play with another dog.
Re: How we are doing... Jade, that is fantastic ,she will stay with you as a pup so practise all the time with her off lead, this is priceless, well done. I'm with you David, Charlie has been a BIG handful from day 1 and he is 28 months ;D Helen x
Re: How we are doing... We had our training tonight....we are all so tired. Not sure my son will make it the full week. Amy forgot everything we already know!!! But she wasn't nervous so that's good.
Re: How we are doing... Its a week intense course! Going to be hard work but nice to get new ideas of what we can learn. I actually cheated and used our "own" word to get her to lie down (is that allowed?). She wasn't interested in learning the new way.
Re: How we are doing... [quote author=jade805 link=topic=1432.msg9817#msg9817 date=1366751501] I actually cheated and used our "own" word to get her to lie down (is that allowed?). She wasn't interested in learning the new way.[/quote] Are they asking you to all use the same 'down' cue? Generally speaking you should use whichever word you like to 'label' and then later cue a behaviour. What is the way of learning that they are using?
Re: How we are doing... Its treat based with the word good as a marker. We where trying to get her down with the food in front of her nose. But that's never worked at home so I clicked trained her just by treating everytime she laid down then added the word. So last night I gave up on the trying to do it with the food and just told her lie down as we would here and she did, so then said 'good' and gave treat. She has found her confidence and just wanted to play.
Re: How we are doing... I should add I don't expect much from her on the night, its me that needs the training. ;D
Re: How we are doing... Well, she got bored tonight at training and started nipping me and her lead and the chair and the chair leg and the training staff.......I forgot to take her mat in with me. I think she would have calmed down if she had that to lie down on. But i am glad they got to see her when she is in one of her moods so if I do need further help or advice they have seen her. Trainer mentioned the constant need to be working a working stain lab...LOL
Re: How we are doing... It's always troublesome when they make liars of us in front of the trainers, behaving impeccably as if to say I'm always like this I don't know what she's on about At least now they know the truth! Sounds like you're doing great though
Re: How we are doing... Two hours at the end of the day is a very long time and I cant even remember what we did tonight to be honest!!!! :-[
