More doggy stuff

Our big baby is getting used to his new life. In only two days we have succeeded to remove a lot of his rude pushiness. He is still not as refined in his contact with humans as Goshen is, and he probably never will be. He is after all a male, and regardless of the age difference, the two gender-roles are so evident in these two dogs. Nevertheless, Goshen corrects him, like a true mother would do with her own pups.

On the first day he peed inside three times, of which two times was on the carpet. Luckily we have carpet cleaner, since Gal still pees in bed, so the carpet was saved. The dog, in contrary to the boy, quickly learned his lesson and has not peed inside after those initial mistakes.

He likes to pick up things like socks, shoes and other small things that are misplaced, so now we got an excellent opportunity to teach the kids that if they just drop their socks anywhere, the risk that they will end up ripped in pieces is major. Of course not everything can be secured in a house you live in, so we are constantly running around reclaiming things he has grabbed. This far, he has not yet ripped anything.

The command for "sit" he knew, but did not respect much. His previous owners were probably not consistent and possibly also tried to train it in very busy environments before he was ready for it. All new things need to be introduced in a quiet environment before moving to more distractions. Anything else is not fair to the dog, since he is bound to fail. That only creates frustration and bad energy in both dog and handler and should be avoided. I started already yesterday with some exercises in the living-room, where I used clicker and treats and he is taking it very well. I started asking him to come to me and sit down facing me and already he sits down basically every time we are standing face-to-face. The commando for "down" I could notice that he did not understand at all, so that needed to come completely from scratch. However, it took no more than 10 minutes with clicker and treat before he also did that, including having added the command. Of course we repeat continuously...

He does not walk well on a leash and is, mildly said, very strong! I use a regular chain collar that came with him, and still he is a challenge to walk. I really don't want to have a battle of strength and I try to lure him a lot and make turns as much as possible, but still there are moments where he is really pulling. I don't want to have to use a pinch collar to make him listen, so I have to figure out some good strategy with the walk on leash.

Yoram let him loose in the valley for a short moment this morning and it went well. A bit later I had him loose and at first all went well. I called him a few times, he came, and I let him go again, to make him realise that a recall does not always mean back to the leash. However, all of a sudden he took a tour, ran away up through the neighbours backyard and up on front side of the houses. I heard the small dogs around the house bark and then I understood where he was at. Goshen actually understood what had happened and spontaneously started to track him with her nose. What a dog she is! All and all, it was over in two minutes and he returned to me, and as you know it was really hard not being angry with him when he were back with us. Recall is a big challenge for us. Leaving the house is much better. He is still a bit excited, but does not jump and we are actually able to take ourselves and Goshen out before him. Goshen also gets her food before him. She sits down quietly by her self as I pour the food up in the bowls, while the boy is a bit anxious. After she is fed I ask him to sit, which he does, and that is perfectly sufficient in this stage. He is a great kisser and we are all falling for him...