The Trials and Tribulations of Owning and Training a Puppy! Part 10

I have to say that I feel totally blessed to have Brin in my life, I wasn’t looking for a puppy and having 3 dogs can sometimes be a bit much but I wouldn’t have missed him for the world. He makes me smile and grit my teeth in almost equal measures and he’s definitely not an easy pup but he is very loving and fun. 

This week my naughty puppy has embraced the joy of counter surfing as his new favourite pastime. Up until now he has just pulled a few easily accessible things off the side but now he’s grown he can easily reach to do more and, although we are pretty careful about what we leave out, he sometimes gets a cheeky win when I least expect it. For example, I just turned my back to put the milk back in the fridge when he stole chopped sausage off the side. To be fair I chopped i up for him and his brothers but Sonic was devastated to see Brin steal it before he could have his share! And once it’s done it’s a lesson that he has learned is successful and there is no point being annoyed as it serves no purpose once he’s had the reward. I just need to be more careful next time! At least I caught him before he stole my ham sandwich which I had just made for my lunch last week! Lurchers, whippets and greyhounds are renowned thieves and it amazes me how slender they are considering how much they love food. My first lurcher was such an accomplished thief and door opener we could never use the slow cooker and he ate countless dishes of butter over the years. 

Apart from that we have had a great week. Last week's plan to focus on Brin's obedience training has paid dividends, his heel work was much improved as was his sit/wait. We’ve been practicing lots when I make my sandwiches each morning. We also started retrieve training, introducing the dumbbell for the first time. I’m really excited to see how this progresses as our instructor has some really innovative techniques using the clicker which seems to work so well for Brin.