Today we went to the park so kids could play on their new toys and I took Jax on the field. We've been out for little walks over the last week or 2 but this was our first park visit. Jax was in his element sniffing everything. Once we were a bit away from the play area I took his lead off. I was scared he would run off. But he didn't, he literally stayed by my side. I tried to walk away from him so I could call him but he was always so close by lol. He got a little giddy and distracted when we was back near the play area so I put his lead on a little earlier then i was going too. There was a few dogs about but they were further up the field- which we didn't go to. Some were on leads, some wasn't. What can I expect when were at the park and we do meet other dogs. I'm actually quite worried about that. Hope everyone had a lovely christmas
Re: Our first trip to the park Hi Lisa, so nice that you could take Jax out to the park, lovely Pups and Lab pups especially are very sociable , they love to meet and greet so its a difficult call when they do want to mix and play with other dogs as not all are pleased to have this bundle of energy clowning around The best way is to work work and more work on recall , pups are like sponges and are far easier to train than older dogs, so this is the very best time to start . Its a case of repetition and bags of patience , work on recall at every oportunity, in the home and garden , always tasty treats and loads of fuss when he gets it right and when he gets it wrong, well , thats life , just start again
Re: Our first trip to the park Jax is about 12 weeks now, isn't he? The first exercise I did with Charlie (I had him in puppy school at 8 weeks : - which had disadvantages as well as advantages) was getting him used to me walking up to him when he was playing with others puppies (at school), taking hold of his collar, giving him a treat, and letting him go play again - so me approaching him when he was playing didn't mean the end of fun. We worked up from there to getting him to come away from play for a treat (it had to be a hugely rewarding treat!) then go play again - it was the early, early part of recall away from other dogs. First few trips to the park, I looked very carefully at the other dogs I let him near - I got lucky, and met a few other owners also with very, very young puppies, which was ideal. Then we met some nice older dogs, and I relaxed, and just concentrated on being able to get his attention while he was playing. While he was very young, he wouldn't go far without me, other dogs or not. Now, he'll happily leg it to go say hello to another dog (thankfully, he comes back though).
