Re: Today's the day! It sounds as if things are going well already and it's good to hear you being so positive.
Re: Today's the day! Yeah it sounds daft but having someone observe us with Rolo has really helped. Joshua my youngest has just done some training with Rolo. Simple things like sit wait and leave it and shown some confidence which in the past has been really lacking. We are all feelong so much happier with things. I now am about to begin whistle training and I'm not going to lie I am nervous about this. It needs to happen tho the wind has been howling where we go for our walk and couple him having selective hearing and becoming a teenager our recall is failing, another way to lose respect (trust). Kris
Re: Today's the day! I must add a huge thank you to everyone on this wonderful site who has given me great advice and listened to my posts. It really has helped keep me sane. Thank you.
Re: Today's the day! Maybe a refresher for him on the recall front - do some easy ones with mega treats Good luck!
Re: Today's the day! Glad to hear that you are feeling more confident. Having your first puppy is a massive learning curve and believe me, second time around is sooo much easier! Just some advice with whistle training. Begin in the garden and house first, when he is familiar with the whistle then use it out on walks. Chloe
Re: Today's the day! Good news you are feeling more confident, and so is everyone else in your family. It is so obvious you all love him very much! We found training in the early days quite easy..it was "sit" yup tick that box...stay...ok got it...leave...fine...recall..oh that seems pretty easy. Then at 7 months plus things stopped improving in a linear fashion, and some days I would pop him back on the lead, go home feeling like a total failure! It was 2 steps forward and 5 back! Racing off to say hello to other dogs, recall was hopeless....and then to cap it all he realised he was a boy... : Now I just accept Benson is still young, and we still have a long way to go with training. Some days are going to be better than others. I guess what I am saying is that you have a normal young labrador, and some days will be better than others, having a consistent training strategy in place though will really help!