Marshall's progress

[Marc]

Well since I've already gotten him for Christmas I guess I should start a new Thread on his progress.

Marshall is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. I brought him home when he was 9 weeks old 18 1/2 lbs. Here is a picture of him shortly after arriving home from the ferry ride from Surrey.



During his first week uncrated in the house I learned a hard lesson. Crate your puppy when you're not there to supervise Them! In the first week he chewed threw my keyboard cord, a speaker wire, and my power cord for my laptop. Luckily he chewed through the DC side. Here he is getting to know Nash my 11 year old Lab in a cuddle session.



His first snow fall.

[Elkhound]

Looking good Marc

[ryanb]

I picked up a chocolate lab back in April, and everyone is always commenting that he looks like he has some chesapeake in him. Looking at your pup, it sure looks like it...

Here's a photo from this summer, probably when he was about the same age as your pup is now


does yours have that chesapeake attitude?

[Marc]

Here is a picture of Marshall doing a sit stay and a down stay. He's now 13 weeks at 26 1/2 lbs and so far he's learned the following commands: Sit, Stay, Down, and Come. Now comes the refining.

[Marc]

does yours have that chesapeake attitude?

If you mean that when he's got something in his head that he wants to do and it takes several tries to change his mind then yah he's a chessie.

He's got more drive and stamina then my male Lab had at 13 weeks and I've got to say he seems to be learning a lot faster as well. My wife is having a hard time coping with his raw energy as she's not used to having a hyper puppy around anymore.

I had him down to the shoreline today and he was smelling and following the other two dogs as they checked things out. At one point Penny my female lab went for a dip to cool off and Marshall followed her in without realizing it was to deep for him to walk. A bit of back paddling and he was ripping up and down the shoreline.

[Marc]

The biggest difference I've noticed between my two labs and the Chessie is that the Chessie has a coat more like whool. His top coat on his back is coarser and wavy.

[ryanb]

I don't know if it's just the green glow in his eyes in those second set of photos, but he sure looks mischevious...

[Marc]

At this stage he's either fully supervised or locked in his crate. I've bought tuffy's, nilabones, balls, real bones, and he still wants to chew everything he can wrap his lips around. All part of being a puppy I guess. He seems to be listening better to me if I hear or see him gnawing on something that he’s not supposed to a “NO CHEWING!” usually will suffice to stop it.

The thing with Chessies is you need to supply a lot of stimulation so they don't get bored. I do short little training sessions with him on things that he knows to start and then try and improve on the ones he's having problems understanding until he figures it out. Then I'll move onto something new. The key is to keep the sessions short so he doesn't get bored. If the dog walks away from what you're trying to do then you've done to much and he's lost interest.

[bsa30-06]

Glad you started this thread, i have enjoyed reading about marshalls adventures and misadventures.Great lookin pup, have fun with him.

[Marc]

Well I finally managed to train him to go in his crate on command. I needed some support from my other two labs Nash and Penny to get him to figure it out. I called all 3 dogs out then showed them the treat. Then I gave the command "Kennel" and Nash and Penny went to their kennel and got a treat. It didn't take long for Marshall to figure out what I was looking for. It doesn't sound like much of a an accomplishment but you haven't tried to catch and rassle a 13 week old chessie into a crate.