The Trials And Tribulations Of Owning And Training A Puppy! Part 2

This week has been fun, puppy training classes are going really well. Brin started the series of classes being a bit anxious about the other dogs, who are all younger than him. This mostly manifested as a bit of barking, just an occasional alarm bark rather than continuous noise, and it has to be handled carefully as he’s only doing it because he is unsure of himself. Giving Brin something else to think about and rewarding him for all of he good behaviour works really well. And not getting stressed about it myself - just accepting it’s part of the puppy journey!

Our class has included some really fun exercises and Monday saw us doing a more complicated recall round a corner so calling our puppies when they couldn’t see us. Jolene held Brin and I went round the corner - I was so pleased with his enthusiastic recall when I whistled him and he was well rewarded with a game with his favourite toy. He was even better the second time!

Then it was on to loose lead walking which Brin loves to do, we are practicing off lead in our obedience classes so he gets lots of chance to do this in class and on walks. It’s really important that he does this well as most of our actual walks are with Sonic and Logi and I need them to walk nicely so I am not dragged down the street!

The rest of our week has been about socialisation, visiting new places and having new experiences....we met new dogs, saw some swans, and even met someone riding a huge horse. All of this Brin has taken in his stride although I think he was maybe a bit too interested in the swans but he did keep his feet on terra firma!!