Today it was freezing cold but sunny.
07:30am – He was noisy but that is a full bladder issue.
Then we walked, he pooped, we came back, he drank some water and came with me to get his breakfast. We walked to the kennel, I gave him his breakfast.
11:00am – Session 1 we worked place, house, whistle recall, kennel and ultimate workout. He was awesome!! He ate his full cup of the dry kibble.
We walked to the training field with the crate and did a few reps of house – he was awesome. He runs in, spins and sits. Then you close the door and feed him hot dog. He’s a happy little camper in there.
He then got interested in some pine needles and was running around in them, because he was doing something he wanted I hit him with the recall. His response was a reflex. With a recall they need to be able to stop doing the thing they love and respond to the whistle. This is CRITICAL.
We then did ultimate workout with a twist – each time he brought his ball back he would get a different ball, size and texture. The first time he just looked at the other balls. But after that he was able to generalize the concept and retrieve the ball – regardless of size or texture. A big break through.
4:00pm – Session 2 was AWESOME!!!! We have the blessing of living on a street that has 25 zillion school age kids. 4pm is roughly most of them are getting out of school. Throw in a sunny day and that means we get to have TONS of yelling and screaming little kids. Loud 4 wheel scooter things. All kinds of distractions.
Babe did what he does – shine!
He broke towards the kids a few of the times, when he did I just stepped on the leash so he wouldn’t run into the street. This is THE reason we always have a leash on our puppies.
He was outstanding with place. We practiced house in new crates in new places – no hesitation – he knows the behavior and the criteria. Truly an extraordinary little boy.
5:30pm – play time and dinner.
8:00pm – play time and walk.
10:00pm – play time and walk.
A few things to remember when you are training puppies.
Fat Puppies
We believe in having a fat puppy. Just like a human baby the fat on the puppy is fuel for growth – the fatter they are the more they can grow. With training puppies there 2 things to watch for.
Activity Level
As your puppy learns more things and can do more his activity level will sky rocket. For example: today Babe easily did 20 reps of ultimate workout. We need to replenish those calories and provide more calories for any growth that is happening.
Hunger
Our rule is simple: if they want to eat, let them. With training puppies they get 1 cut up hot dog per session. I’ve never met a puppy who didn’t like a hot dog. We always give the puppy a 3 hour window before training so that he has a hunger drive – so that he is willing to work for the hot dog. But at breakfast and dinner time we start with 1 cup of dry kibble for each meal.
When we observe them looking or acting hungry, usually after a growth spurt, we increase to 1 1/2 cup, then 2, etc. We once had a dog who would eat 6 cups of food at breakfast and 6 cups of food at dinner and ALWAYS be willing to work! He was about 6 months old – so he was a large puppy!