Tim91118 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:47 pm
Let’s hear about your pups progress !
Been meaning to do a little update.
The Good:
So we are 3 months and 3 weeks at 18.2 lb. I found a chart online for growth and that seems on a heavier side. Took her for third set of shots and general vet overview. She's healthy and not overweight.
Girlfriend has been true to her word, waking up at 5 am every morning spending an hour with the dog. I can clearly see results of her training sessions in the afternoon, as all the commands are always cleaner and faster.
Moxie is very food driven, and is laser focused. I followed the advice here with trainer selection. Found a guy about 20 minutes away who's back ground is in French Ring, he's transitioning his training to PSA, his obedience training comes from French ring obedience.
Yesterday was our first lesson and evaluation... They said I was the most prepared first time student they had, because I came with basically everything we got. They also praised the progress dog has been showing. She's following gestures pretty well, to sit, stay, heel, place, crate, come front, fetch with muzzle firmly up. So first lesson was mostly about getting me to be more consistent with verbal markers (yes, good, free). That is our homework. We also have to change our toys as during tug she's, instead of bitting deeper, constantly repositioning her bite. We aren't yanking yet, just building up her confidence by letting her "win" at tug. On a bright side we were pretty conservative with the amounts of toys we got.
Everyone loves her, she's just adorable.
Her blader is getting better too, so longer breaks between pees, we had two nights in a row where we didn't have to take her to the pad in the middle of the night, so we are finally getting more rest. She's teething, but Furniture is still in tact so far. She's on the leash when she's not in crate.
We are doing 15-20 minute sessions of walking on treadmill...(Running sessions, never longer than about 2 to 3 minutes so far at 3 mph, have a constant result of making her want go number 2...and you know that expression...$#!+ hit the fan? Well when it hits treadmill....anywho we go on treadmill only after we are empty now...)
She loves things that make noises, we aren't afraid of thunder, falling objects etc...
We took her to a restaurant that allowed dogs outside, just to get her used to that type of environment. Someone let their 4-5 year old kids just run loose and crazy playing tag around all the tables. One of the kids ran by and basically brashed Moxie's face as she did so, Mox had 0 reaction, and a breated a little easier knowing that lawsuit isn't coming. She's actually great with kids, as in very little reaction to them, and more playful with adults...
The Bad:
There might be some discomfort around larger dogs. One of the trainers told us she's not afraid, but definitely uncomfortable.
Whatever we cannot have is our most favorite toy (brushes, towels, claw grinder....
We love people and we love getting petted, an we rear up to great thise who give us attention.
Trainer showed me how to feed and build focus for her to ignore other things. Practice that until the items in question become background noise. Same thing with people, especially family (large family everyone wants to pet the pup) who we can't tell not to pet her, turn them to background noise with same technique.
Plus we have been trying to discourage any jumping on people as is.
The Ugly:
I read that Dutchies are very mouthy, so we have been mostly redirecting when she gets snappy. It seemed to be working because she's to busy either trainings, playing with toys, running etc.
However, turns out she's more than just mouthy. She has an attitude, and actually tries to bite. Not serious bites (got caught once or twice by her when she clearly missed a toy...that's some bite for a pup) but just snaps, for hands, face, shirt just kind of light fast attacks. I actually thought it was normal, mouthy strong dog who, just due to breed, loves to play rough. She very rarely was effectionate with me, she listens when I tell her to something, she loves to play with me, still her idea bonding is just jumping around, nipping at my hands and face trying to get me to play. Apparently, girlfriend gets kisses and effection in the morning.
When the trainer was getting her used to the brush (just having brush nearby, not brushing her yet) she snapped at him, I thought as usual she wanted the brush as a toy. However, the trainer said that she wasn't aiming anywhere near the brush. She was trying to go straight for the hand.
So we have to correct and stop that kind of behavior while she's still small and young. He gave us a slip collar to take with us. And showed how to use it. After we discouraged the hand and face bitting, she actually been coming up, cuddling up, licking hands just being nice.
We are basically seeing daily improvements. Feels like we are getting good guidance. The dog is happy. Trainer said based on what he saw yesterday, he's 99% sure she got what it takes to actually compete with proper training. Girlfriend is excited about the results she's and that encourages her to work more. We cannot wait to take her outside. She is a lot of dog, but she returns the work put into at least 10 fold.
As I mentioned, it's my girlfriend's first dog, and she's assuming that's how all dogs are hehe. She's very surprised when she hears other people don't do what she does.
