Chaz Puppies of 2015

Southpaw

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The baby started puppy class last night! He did a good job and I've already created a behavior offering monster. Anytime there was a pause in the lesson there he is at my feet - staring at me hard. Sit. Lay down. Sit again. Lay down. Lay down harder. Paw at my leg.

And this morning in the 1 hour we had before I went to work, he had to go outside like 4 or 5 times and EVERY SINGLE TIME he ran to the door. <3 Makes it sooo much easier and less stressful getting ready for work.
 

Elrohwen

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The baby started puppy class last night! He did a good job and I've already created a behavior offering monster. Anytime there was a pause in the lesson there he is at my feet - staring at me hard. Sit. Lay down. Sit again. Lay down. Lay down harder. Paw at my leg.
Haha. Nice! What other adorable puppies are in your class? The class going on now has two fluffy Aussie puppies and I'm so sad we took basic instead of puppy K again. It's also a tiny class compared to Hazel's which would be nice and less chaotic.

Here's a question for you and anyone else in puppy class. What do you do when your puppy starts staring at other dogs? Hazel doesn't bark, but she's a puppy and wants to look at other dogs and play with them. I generally call her back and do some little tricks or work on focus. After dealing with Watson though, I worry that I'm creating a bit of a monster. For years I spent every class distracting him from the other dogs and running through a million tricks over and over, to the point where he couldn't settle when it wasn't his turn. He was either throwing a million behaviors at me, or trying to get to the other dogs. Maybe that's just his personality and Hazel won't be like that, but I don't want to create that again if I can help it.

So basically, what do you do with your puppy during down time in puppy class? Work on tricks? Offered focus? Lie on a mat?
 

Southpaw

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We have a full class and I honestly didn't even get a good look at most of the other pups! There's an Aussie and a GSP and a beagle and some doodley types... a good variety lol.

I'm a bad person to ask because Juno and Cajun are the type to constantly throw behaviors at me in a class setting. I dont mind as long as they're not obnoxious or barking.

There was one dog he was really interested in watching last night and for the first part of class I would call him back to me and reward for paying attention to me. But I wasn't really sure if that was the right answer, so for the 2nd half of class I guess I did more along the lines of LAT. I don't necessarily want him to NOT look at other stuff, I just want him to be calm about it and be able to easily refocus on me.
 

Elrohwen

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I'm a bad person to ask because Juno and Cajun are the type to constantly throw behaviors at me in a class setting. I dont mind as long as they're not obnoxious or barking.
I thought I didn't mind it, but now I see that for Watson, specifically, it means he never settles and wastes a lot of his limited brain power in frantically offering behaviors. And then if I'm trying to listen and not watching him, he thinks "Stupid lady won't even pay attention to my awesome tricks! I'm going to check out the lab next door" So then it becomes frustrating for him. Now I make him lie down any time we aren't actively working and it has made class soooo much easier. But since he's the first dog I've done classes with I'm not sure if this is just a Watson thing, or something I created.

There was one dog he was really interested in watching last night and for the first part of class I would call him back to me and reward for paying attention to me. But I wasn't really sure if that was the right answer, so for the 2nd half of class I guess I did more along the lines of LAT. I don't necessarily want him to NOT look at other stuff, I just want him to be calm about it and be able to easily refocus on me.
Yeah, this is where I am torn. Hazel is pretty relaxed and if she wants to casually watch other dogs I'm ok with that, but I'm afraid of it escalating to pulling and barking. Just not sure how much I should be calling her back vs waiting for her to offer focus vs clicking when she looks at a dog, etc etc.
 

*blackrose

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With Abrams, during "down time" in class, we basically worked on focus the entire time. I'd just up the duration before rewarding and if something really distracting happened and he kept his focus on me, he'd get a jackpot.

If he started to get bored, I'd throw in some other behaviors, but he thought staring at me for cookies was the best game ever, because all he had to do was sit and stare at me. Haha He began to view the other dogs and people as challenges. "You can't distract me by barking, I'm FOCUSING! Hahahaha I win!" The more distractions happened the more serious he got. Lol (If he looked at another dog or distracting thing and immediately returned hos focus to me, that was rewarded, too.)

Even now, a year and a half later, his default when he wants something or is trying to be veryvery good to get his reward is t o offer eye contact and drill holes in me. He's the first dog I've ever had to offer such unwavering attention. It's very nice.
 

Elrohwen

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Hazel is already a super star at the sit and stare offered focus. I took her into a store yesterday and she would visit with employees, and then I'd see her sitting next to me staring at me again. She is so much less environmentally focused than Watson and so good at focus and impulse control. That's how we spend most of classes right now so it's good to hear others do that too. I'm still not quite sure what to do when she gets distracted and looks off at other dogs - wait until she offers focus again and reward, or call her back to me and reward. I want her to learn to make good choices on her own, but I don't want staring at other dogs to become self-reinforcing and more common.

I don't know what it is with Watson. He really needs to shut his brain off and a forced down does that. He does spend much of it looking at me, but he doesn't have to as long as he's down. I tried to reward focus and watching me during class, but he struggles with duration and doing things calmly and will ramp himself up more and more. If the focus is really hard because the environment is really distracting, he'll start whining, then offering behaviors, then just explode into some random bad behavior. I think having to focus that long without solid breaks under such high distractions is too much pressure for him and he erupts into bad behavior as a way to release that pressure.
 
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Elrohwen

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Last night at class I tried just rewarding for only offered attention and not calling her back when she looked at the other dogs. It seemed to work well! She was not amping herself up and getting more excited by staring, and when she realized that looking at them and pulling didn't get her anywhere she just looked back at me. She was interested in the other dogs for about the first 5-10min, and after that she was focused completely on me for the rest of the class. I'm just so worried about having another dog obsessed PITA dog like Watson, but I don't think that's in her nature anyway.

Also, the impulse control on this little dog is amazing. When we did "leave it" with a treat on the floor she didn't even glance at it. The trainer had me put it down super obviously so she would even look at it so I could mark when she looked away. I don't know where she gets this - certainly not from Watson. :rofl1: She can also do a pretty solid wait/stay for 30 seconds now with very minimal effort on my part.
 

MericoX

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We've spent the last week just letting him be a puppy. He's now acclimated to the other dogs and will play play play with Charlie. Housebreaking and crate training is coming along, though he's so quiet I don't hear him so we've had a couple accidents in the crate in the morning (just pee though).

Having issues getting him to eat food, found out one of my coworkers has a soft spot for the little littles at the shelter and feeds them wet food so he's being a little stinker eatting dry. Right now we're doing a pate and water mixed in and he's finally eating, will need to wean him off of it the next week or two. Very treat motivated, though it may be because he's starving himself lol.

Going to start clicker training today, may go to a puppy play group tonight or just wait for Puppy Kindergarten in a few weeks.
 

Elrohwen

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Having issues getting him to eat food, found out one of my coworkers has a soft spot for the little littles at the shelter and feeds them wet food so he's being a little stinker eatting dry. Right now we're doing a pate and water mixed in and he's finally eating, will need to wean him off of it the next week or two. Very treat motivated, though it may be because he's starving himself lol.
How old is he? Hazel ate very very little until she was about 11 weeks. She was treat motivated, but not interested in meals at all. By 12 weeks she was eating meals as fast as Watson and isn't picky at all. It might be just a puppy thing with him.
 

Southpaw

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Juno was not interested in eating as a puppy either. Her breeder almost kept her another week or 2 because it was such a problem with her. But yeah eventually that all became a thing of the past and you'd never know there was a time in Juno's life where she was uninterested in food lol.

Sawyer came to me at 7 weeks old completely obsessed and food motivated.
 

Southpaw

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We went to an outdoor concert-in-the-park sort of thing tonight. Sawyer did great! He kept great focus on me (wooo chicken lunch meat) as we wandered around and walked through groups of people. He did great with the loud noises and the screaming kids running around. Lots of people came up to say hi to him, which he adored, but he was really good about staying calm until actually approached. Just an all around very positive outing for him!

Apparently next Friday night they are playing Finding Nemo here, we might have to go for that :p

We went to a more empty area to sit down which is when I took this quick video, but otherwise I was kind of purposely positioning myself to be in the middle of the activity lol.
[YOUTUBE]DBh6ifVGnio[/YOUTUBE]

Juno is so not pleased here lol she really wanted to look at what was going on behind her
20150724_190210 by cinSun9, on Flickr
 
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Gremlin is 8 months old already! Time is flying by! She's already as big as our other Yorkie. I'm wondering if she'll get bigger than Penny! They are built completely differently though. Penny is tall and more square, Gremlin is longer bodied and has shorter legs.

She is incredibly food and toy motivated! She knows quite a few tricks now.

She got her first full shave a few weeks ago and I think she's even more cute now that she has short hair. lol



 

MericoX

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Ollie is succhhh a good puppy. He's now eating only dry food. Housebreaking is still a work in progress but we're getting there. He now has no hesitation playing with my crew, he played with my friends 8 month old lab with no issue. Tomorrow we are going to take them down to the river and see how he does or if his buddy Bruin will entice him.
 

Southpaw

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Sawyer is no longer growing at Juno pace. He weighed 9lb 2oz today (might have to stop using the baby scale soon...) and is 11 weeks old tomorrow.
I have that Juno was 10lbs at 10 weeks old, and 17lbs at 14 weeks old, I think we're in trouble if he catches up to that LOL.

I feel like he's such a peanut! But also growing too fast. I will need to buy him a new harness soon. :(

I tried to get video of a training session today but failed and mostly all you see is Juno standing in front of the camera squeaking a Kong Wubba, and my cat trying to get in the middle of everything. They usually leave us alone, go figure.

And if I thought he was a shark with his puppy teeth... I learned today he could be much much worse. We had a 12 week old lab puppy come in at work and holy cow she was REALLY bitey. And giving her treats was no fun because it resulted in my entire hand ending up in her mouth and being bit down on. So there, my puppy ain't so bad and I sort of encourage biting anyway :p
 

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Puppy Plan

I know it's not 2015 yet but I'm impatient, I had to start it.

Post all about your puppy plans for 2015! What kinda breeds are we looking at this year? Picked out a name yet? Goals? Gender? And also ALL THE PICS, you know the rules!

As for me, I have three whippet litters I'm eyeing up. Looking for a fawn and white, probably female pup who can do various sports with me and be a demo dog at work. As of right now, it looks like I'll be bringing her home between February and March.
I love big dogs, so I plan to get a new Lab pup very soon!
 

Elrohwen

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Hazel is turning into quite the little bird dog. Her life's work is finding the morning doves who hang out by our driveway, and flushing all of them. Too bad I'm not interested in hunt training - I think she could actually be quite good at it. She has a lot of prey drive for 4 months old (compared to Watson at that age, and he's no slouch now), but she is also more biddable and controllable, and a better retriever.
 

Elrohwen

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Today at lunch, Hazel flushed a dove and then recalled off of it in mid-chase! :banana:

I was so mad I didn't have food on me, but she got some really good snuggles instead.
 
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At 6 weeks old, I thought I'd be keeping Poodles. They're 8 weeks now and after all kinds of testing and some seriously agonizing deliberation, its decided that I'll actually be keeping black collar boy (Atlas) instead. He'll be called Zeke :)

Zeke 7/29/15 by Alexis Roy, on Flickr
 

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