Spirit learning fast

[Spirit's Master]

Spirit is learning a bit of everything. He hung out with the Po-Po at the Courtenay F&G club the other day. He really enjoyed the noise the local members from the Courtenay Detachment made while they were shooting clays.

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/SpiritsMaster/Spirittrail013.jpg

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/SpiritsMaster/Spirittrail011.jpg

Then we went and hung out at the dam and had a little swim and enjoyed that too. All the time getting used to the vest so the change to the neoprene/armour-flex chest protector will be a snap

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/SpiritsMaster/Spirittrail001.jpg

Then we just chilled in the backyard catching some rays.

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/SpiritsMaster/Spirittrail015.jpg

We love our walks downtown where we meet a lot of people and especially like the little ones because they're more our size.

[newhunterette]

he is growing so fast but what a little darlin

[thatskindafunny]

I bet when he learns to swim you could teach him to dive under water and retrieve your golf balls. Ducks will be easy after that.:razz::razz:

[Sasquatch]

Great lookin pup. Got a shot of him in the water?

[Dirty]

Beautiful little pup. Good luck with all your training.

[Spirit's Master]

No photos of him in the water just a lot of blurry splashes. He did a bumper retrieve across a little side channel of the Puntledge (only chest deep). He dropped the bumper mid stream it floated a bit and then he went and grabbed it, face in right to the bottom, then carried on. I was so excited and proud.

He has sit and stay (on voice, whistle and hand) almost down pat, come is coming along well, and heel on a lead is improving. He is off lead most of the time on trails and stays close.

A question for all you trainers out there. When he comes to me (and sometimes the mrs.) he tends to lead with his teeth and does get a bit toothy when we're playing. He has never opened his mouth when he is walking downtown meeting people (for which I am grateful). Does anyone have a good method to solve has toothy habits?

cwf

[dutchie]

I do not put up with any mouthing at all! Goose mouthed me a few times and I grabbed his snout, told him "Stop" 2 times makeing sure he whimpers for 3 seconds while I have his snout...

The reason I make him whimper for 3 seconds is because a dog has a memory of about 4-5 seconds. This will make sure from the time he uses his teeth the the end of the correction is approximatly 5 seconds.

With my dog I am a little tougher on him because it is almost impossible to break his spirit, and I only started to be tougher on him when I realized what his inner drive to please was like.

The other thing is never go to the dog and "apologize" make the dog come to you. Spirit will want to make up and tell you that he/she learned it's lesson. This will happen within 5 mins after the hole ordeal, they have thier little pitty party and then the dog will come to you and they appologize and then I praise and tell them how good of a dog they are.

From what I have read, if the dog starts to "lead with his teeth" or mouthing you, this means that he feels that you are like a litter mate and could lead to some bad behaviour later on. Essentially all you are doing is showing who the pack leader is... (When I say stop... it means STOP)

Goose now does not use his teeth at all for anything other then eating... This also helps avoid chewing on the furniture with the puppy stage and later on in life too!

I hope that this helps

dutchie

[Spirit's Master]

That sounds great 'Ceasar', I like the pack leader thing.

Sounds like I just need to hold on a little longer so he gets the message. I stop playing with him the moment he lays teeth on me. He has had his pity party as you say and has come looking for love afterwards so I think I know he'll keep coming back.

Thanks Dutchie