A Magical Time
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:00 am
Geyser is 22 weeks old today.
There is something magical about this age of puppy for me. She is maturing a little bit more every day and able to do things she couldn't do the day before, or just a little better than the day before.
We have a command called Go To Bin. She is to take any item I hand to her or indicate to her, and place it in whatever we are using for a bin. For the initital training, I've been using a plastic bucket, but have been changing the bins so she doesn't get stuck on one thing being a bin.
Yesterday, for the first time, she was able to take a piece of trash and put it in our real trash bin in the kitchen! It's a large bin with a flip open lid. It will be a while before I teach her to open and close the lid herself
; she's not that responsible yet, of course. Then today, she was able to throw away a wadded up, damp piece of paper towel. A week ago, she could only take it and tear it up. Today, she could take it, not mess with it, and throw it out as soon as I gave her the cue. Yay.
Just the past few days, she's been able to behave on her fleece rug with a treat at nite, next to me in my rocking chair, even with the cats coming and going virtually right in front of her face (we live in a tiny house, and where I have to place her rug so she's next to me is right in the hallway space the cats need to traverse to get from one room to another, which of course, they just have to do when Geyser is put on a rug next to me
).
When we are training and playing in the yard, she can leave the cats and stay with me; and you know how cats are. They just have to come around when you're working in the yard, at least, mine do.
She can hang out with me throughout the house while I vacuum, without messing with anything! Talk about major
(Of course, she has a toy with her to keep her occupied and we play a bit as I'm vacuuming, but still, she's not trying to get up on any furniture, nor is she messing with anything she's not supposed to mess with, etc.)
Now that we have sit up on cue, she's using it as a communication tool, too. If I ask her if she wants something, if she really wants it, she'll sit up She's also using it to indicate, "I would really like a taste of that..." It works on me just about every time, so it's a behavior that's very likely to continue 
.
She cracks me up a lot, of course (she has a very big personality). One of the behaviors we've been working on is "side." She doesn't like doing it yet. Now, if I get out a little bit of peanut butter? She responds instantly and correctly to that cue, lies right down on her side with her head flat on the floor, you betcha, no problem at all. (That's when you know they are messing with you if you've got less high value treats...)
I could go on, but you get the idea. Yes, this is a magical time for me, when all the work starts to pay off and her maturing starts to materialize in a significant way.
(I can't wait to get my camera back from the repair shop...she found it for me on cue when I lost it when I fell in the woods a few weeks ago, good girl!, except she pawed it and it got dirty...$103 worth of dirty
)
There is something magical about this age of puppy for me. She is maturing a little bit more every day and able to do things she couldn't do the day before, or just a little better than the day before.
We have a command called Go To Bin. She is to take any item I hand to her or indicate to her, and place it in whatever we are using for a bin. For the initital training, I've been using a plastic bucket, but have been changing the bins so she doesn't get stuck on one thing being a bin.
Yesterday, for the first time, she was able to take a piece of trash and put it in our real trash bin in the kitchen! It's a large bin with a flip open lid. It will be a while before I teach her to open and close the lid herself
; she's not that responsible yet, of course. Then today, she was able to throw away a wadded up, damp piece of paper towel. A week ago, she could only take it and tear it up. Today, she could take it, not mess with it, and throw it out as soon as I gave her the cue. Yay.Just the past few days, she's been able to behave on her fleece rug with a treat at nite, next to me in my rocking chair, even with the cats coming and going virtually right in front of her face (we live in a tiny house, and where I have to place her rug so she's next to me is right in the hallway space the cats need to traverse to get from one room to another, which of course, they just have to do when Geyser is put on a rug next to me
).When we are training and playing in the yard, she can leave the cats and stay with me; and you know how cats are. They just have to come around when you're working in the yard, at least, mine do.
She can hang out with me throughout the house while I vacuum, without messing with anything! Talk about major
(Of course, she has a toy with her to keep her occupied and we play a bit as I'm vacuuming, but still, she's not trying to get up on any furniture, nor is she messing with anything she's not supposed to mess with, etc.)Now that we have sit up on cue, she's using it as a communication tool, too. If I ask her if she wants something, if she really wants it, she'll sit up
She's also using it to indicate, "I would really like a taste of that..." It works on me just about every time, so it's a behavior that's very likely to continue .She cracks me up a lot, of course (she has a very big personality). One of the behaviors we've been working on is "side." She doesn't like doing it yet. Now, if I get out a little bit of peanut butter? She responds instantly and correctly to that cue
, lies right down on her side with her head flat on the floor, you betcha, no problem at all. (That's when you know they are messing with you if you've got less high value treats...)I could go on, but you get the idea. Yes, this is a magical time for me, when all the work starts to pay off and her maturing starts to materialize in a significant way.
(I can't wait to get my camera back from the repair shop...she found it for me on cue when I lost it when I fell in the woods a few weeks ago, good girl!, except she pawed it and it got dirty...$103 worth of dirty
)
(of coures by then I know what I am ending up with, the reason for my initial hurry) 