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Saturday, February 9, 2013

The teenage dog

Ah readers!

Well sadly while writing this post, Tjido is yet again sick.. not as bad as last time but now the symptoms are: not eating and throwing up occasionally. And just to make it a bit worse, he found a chocolate in my bag and ate a piece of that.. so yeah, you know..

But today I want to tell you about our teenage dog.
Yesterday Tjido became 7 months old! And well, already a few weeks ago we started noticing some "teenage" attitudes.. recall was terrible, his reactivity towards other dogs on-leash has very sharp ups and downs and he has found a "girlfriend" in the neighborhood (sterilized)... we will need to have the talk. 

Good Looking at 6 months!

Especially for recall we bought new amazing treats that he had never tried before and started playing the "hide" game, which is easy because we are two people. So we hide, call his name and he runs to look for us. He really likes this game! We have also been using a squeaky toy to get his attention and allot of praise and awesome treats when he come back. It is a work in progress but he's getting better. Although sometimes he comes reliably, but then runs back again full speed to the dog that is trying to leave the park.

We also started a "teenage-course" at the animal shelter close to our home. The first lesson was a complete disaster. Tjido could not stop barking! So we were sent to the other side of the field, got a more personal trainer and then at the end got the "so.. what traumatic experiences did your dog have as a puppy?"... we were tagged as the problem dog and problem owner! So we explained that we did exercise him, that he wasn't aggressive (this they actually tried out) and that he was just.. reactive. Part of the breed blah blah.

It was certainly annoying. The next week we decided to take a new approach and get there very early walk around and let other dogs get to Tjido first instead of us holding the 'tight' leash. This worked fine, and we have now refined our technique, by letting Tjido trot while we bike, for the last few meters. This extra exercise helps allot- although at the end of the lesson he's just digging holes and not paying any attention.

Slowly Starting to Walk/Bike


To tell you the truth, we have not learnt anything at the lesson. Since we are starting really basic, Tjido has a good background from the puppy course  (I think our teacher still gets surprised that the 'barking-dog' does follow commands). For us our biggest challenge is to:

1. Arrive
2. Be in the group- be part of the circle, keeping Tjido's attention on us and minimizing the barking.
3. Leave

"BORING! this dirt is so much fun!"

When we get back home we all collapse haha. Next post will be about Tjido's doggy friend! And hopefully his stomach ache will be gone by then.

Me wants cuddles.. 

3 comments:

  1. Poor Tjido, hope the naughty Chocolate Thief is Ok now.
    Yeah, 7 months is a lot of fun! ;) Your training classes sound oh so familiar, but you knew that.)) Looks like a great place to train, its nice that you got special attention and help from trainers, shows that they actually care and trying to help. I’m sure Tjido will become a star very soon.
    Nice pictures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha the chocolate thief has recovered!
      I am slowly getting enough videos to make a nice one of Tjido's tricks! yaaay!
      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  2. Hahaha the chocolate thief has recovered!
    I am slowly getting enough videos to make a nice one of Tjido's tricks! yaaay!
    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete