Wow I haven't been on in a while! December has been extremely hectic! Hamilton (about 3 months and 2 weeks old now) has met about everyone on my side of the family and on Kel's side! It's been a very busy month for Hammi I just wanted to see what everyone thought about his improvement (ok improvement for the most part hehe). 1. I bought "Total Recall" and we are now at the point where Hammi comes when we call him almost every time! Ok, so it's only when we have treats ;D. A few days ago we were running in a field and he was half the field away from me when I called him and he turned around and zooomed right back to me for his treat! There are a few settings where he would rather keep doing what he's doing and he looks indecisive and usually ends up coming after a few calls. 2. His biting is still awful! It's like, "I love you so much I will bite your ear and any other exposed flesh!" I can't wait for his puppy biting to be over! He doesn't growl, he just gets excited to see us and jumps up and starts biting like crazy, but we can now say "Time out!" and he will stop for a minute or two. 3. Ham has learned "come, sit, lay down, down, gimme five," and he has mastered,"no!!". I think I will do a refresher course on everything before we start anything else, but heel is next. Oh and yesterday I said,"Where's your ball?!" And he ran all over the house and brought his ball back ;D. 4. This is what worried me a little bit. He sleeps on our bed most of the night and usually ends up jumping off and laying underneath Kelly's or my nightstand. Well 2 nights ago he was just laying under Kel's nightstand and I went to pet him and he barked furiously at me and nipped at me. I am thinking he has claimed the nightstand as his, well Kelly wasn't having any of that so he picked up Hamilton and pushed him away and he himself laid underneath this tiny nightstand (we're talking a 6' 4" man shoved under a nightstand!) to show that it was not his place to dominate and Hamilton barked and barked at him, I gave him several time outs, and out of nowhere it stopped. So I hope that's over! 5. He likes Kelly more than me, but I won't be jealous It's so adorable how he sits by the door and whimpers when Kelly leaves. I am hoping this doesn't turn into separation anxiety, though! Kelly got out of the Jeep to pump gas, and Ham could see him and went absolutely nuts barking and pawing at the window. Does this sound a bit like separation anxiety, or is he too young to tell yet? 6. Today I found him laying in the empty bathtub. He really enjoys baths, but I didn't think that much! And he also discovered how fun the toilet paper roll is when it's spinning all the toilet paper out, so we now have to keep the bathroom door shut.. Ok sorry this was so long let me know what everyone thinks about his behaviour and improvement! This is our first puppy and it's been tough! At points I have cried and wanted to rip my hair out, but the fun times we have together and will continue to have definitely outweigh the hard times!
Re: Update on Hamilton He sounds pretty normal to me and it sounds like things are going fairly well and you are doing a great job I'm sure it has been a massive challenge though - and I totally understand how you have occasionally got to the crying stage. It can all seem a bit overwhelming at times, with a new puppy. They can be such a handful With #4, the 'nightstand incident': A lot of dogs like to lie under something, or with their head under something like an item of furniture. Who knows why, but they do! Sounds like Hamilton is a 'lying under furniture' kind of guy He probably does it just because it seems nice to him, not because he thinks that the nightstand or the area under it belongs to him. When you went to pet him the other night and he barked and nipped, it is possible that he was snoozing and just got startled. I doubt that it was any kind of territorial thing. When he barked at Kel it was most likely just surprise at something he had not seen before and thought was odd - a an adult human lying under the nightstand. He most probably was not telling Kel to get away from his nightstand. I really would not be too worried about it, and it sounds like there haven't been any issues since anyway, which is great. With #5, whimpering when Kel leaves: This is something that I would make a bit of a plan about, so it doesn't develop into something louder and more sustained. What I'd do is practice having Kel leave the house, or the car, or going into a shop with you waiting outside with Ham. But start small. Practise a scenario in which Kel is pretending to leave the house. You get prepared with a pile of really tasty treats (like roast chicken or raw mince or cheese) and you (not Kel) start feeding Ham the treats. Ham does not have to do anything for the treats apart from being quiet and paying attention to you - that's all. Then have Kel make the first move towards leaving the house (that might be putting on a coat, or stepping towards the door). Feed Ham while this happens. Then have Kel reverse what he did - so, take the coat off or move away from the door. Then, if that went well, try the next step - like Kel putting his hand on the door handle. You are feeding Ham treats as this happens (lots of treats). Then Kel comes away from the door. Then try the next step - like Kel turning the handle, while you feed treats. Basically, you are trying to teach Ham that when Kel leaves good things happen (treats) and you are also rewarding Ham for being quiet. You want to go in little steps so Ham never gets to the point where he needs to wimper. You can practice getting out of the car in the same way - e.g. Kel undoes his seatbelt, then puts his hand on the door handle, then opens the door etc etc with you feeding treats (starting with the treats before Kel has made any move towards getting out of the car). You can practise this in the driveway. If you push the envelope a bit far and Ham barks and seems to want to get to Kel, Kel should ignore him and only move back towards Ham when Ham is quiet, even if just for a second. Timing of the return needs to be good here - you want to reward quiet, not noise. Another thing I'd do is have you start doing all the feeding of Ham - so you be the one to give him all his meals. All the good stuff should come from you for the next few weeks. Anything less fun (like giving worm tablets!), Kel should do. Also, when Kel goes, try giving Ham something like a Kong filled with yummy stuff. All Kel's departures should be associated with something good happening at the same time. He really does sound like a lovely, normal puppy, and you sound like lovely, normal owners There is a steep learning curve when getting a pup, but somehow we manage to climb the curve And don't worry about the biting - you are doing great there, and the biting will definitely stop.
Re: Update on Hamilton Hi there, It sure is a roller coaster of highs and lows when they are pupsters....sorry to say Dexter ,at the age of 2 will still occasionally grab a toilet roll ( I have a great issue with this ...decent loo roll so extortionately priced in Dubai....I have somewhat of a reputation for banging on about it ! ;D) Hamiton sounds great,well done on the Total recall progress ,it's brilliant when they charge back to you isn't it? The only thing I would say is if he doesn't come back to you first time ,don't use your recall command over and over to get him back ...do something else to attract him back ,star jump,running in the other direction,even lying on the floor ;D otherwise you run the risk of diluting the effect of your recall command but allowing him to ignore it.... The puppy biting will decrease greatly around 4/ 5 months and pretty much stop by 6 /7 months ....so you are nearly coming through the dark times .....he's learning by nipping you and you are teaching him right that it's not acceptable with his timeouts. I can't help you too much on the nightstand incident,I've only had Dexter and we haven't had any issues like that...I have to admit to a chuckle though over the picture you described....someone else will comment on that I'm sure. My experiences of whining after me are a bit different to what you are describing.I never knew Dexter whined until we started a training class about 6 weeks ago...at one point we were told to secure the dogs leads over the fence to move away gather in for a chat about what we were going to do.....the carry on out of Dexter was astounding....I didn't recognize him as my dog I was told to ignore him until he stopped and then praise him and give him attention as soon as he stopped...6 weeks on he's a lot better,he grumbles a bit but there isn't the top pitch wailing.This might help your whining developing into anything more tricky,Kelly could practice leaving the room for short periods and coming back and praising when the whining stops.... Love him in the bathtub....you should have got a photo of that! Bye for now Angela x I've crossed with Rachael,she will tell you so much better but I'm going to post this anyway as it took a while to type ;D
Re: Update on Hamilton Hi there...Lovely to hear your progress. What the others said..... Just wanted to chip in that Lilly who is four and a half now, was whining her head off in someone else's house yesterday every time i went out of sight ( she was sitting on lead with my daughter) I am guessing this would come under the section "proofing" - what works in one place isn't always transferred to other situations. Keep working a day it a day don't get Downhearted if something you think you have trained doesn't work in a strange place.
Re: Update on Hamilton Thanks a lot for all the reassuring and kind words, and for the helpful tips! Tonight I sent Kelly to the store and held Hamilton back and fed him treats. All Kelly had to do was put his jacket on and Ham sat right in front of the door. As soon as Kelly was out the door we immediately played tug of war and Ham didn't even notice he was gone until he heard the sound of his Jeep pull into the driveway. I will continue to do this every time Kelly leaves because it seems to have worked well!! I'm just not sure how well it will work if Ham can see Kelly. He was going bizerk the other day when he could see Kel shoveling the driveway. On a lighter note, last night Ham jumped off the bed and I started hearing chewing noises so I turned my cell light to see what he was doing, and sure enough I caught him staring at me, mid chew on the dresser. He then laid his head down and closed his eyes as if he were pretending to be asleep!!! Haha what a stinker ;D
Re: Update on Hamilton Haha, you've gotta cheeky one there Great job on keeping Hamilton busy and happy when Kel went to the shop (is his name actually Kel or Kelly and do you mind which we use?? Just trying to avoid using your personal nickname for your husband ;D).
Re: Update on Hamilton Sounds like you are doing just fine with Hamilton. There lays seems to be something to work on with dog training, so don't worry if it feels like it's one thing after another. He sounds like a bright puppy and you sound like you are doing well with him!
Re: Update on Hamilton Haha well, his name is actually Kelly, but either one works. Everyone calls him Kel and it's a habit for me type that when I text. And he is actually my "significant other" or "unofficial fiance" hehe I could go on with different titles : And yes, Ham is quite the character, but we are so happy to have a dog who has some! I can't get enough of his guilty look when he knows he did something wrong before we even notice. Thank you, Lisa I loooove training him. It's a lot of fun for him and me! Him more because he gets treats and he learns quickly if he does the right thing he gets a treat ;D but it is rewarding for me as well, knowing that I was clear enough and did a good enough job that a dog who doesn't understand a word of english knew what I wanted him to do!
