The Bear @ 4 months :)

Bear at 4 months - Mar 13

Well it is a crazy time with a puppy to entertain, exams coming up in May and the agility season to commence. Talk about trying to cram it all in. What can I say about having a puppy after a five year wait, it is chaos, brilliant, occasionally frazzling and so exhilarating. I so luv the whole puppy thing apart from house training especially as it has been one of the coldest March and April since the
records begun etc etc.,.

With learning and developing for me and Bear the focus is on life skills and what I call co-incidental learning. Like with the cone that Bear goes round in the video clip, he is just following the toy  - the cone to him is co - incidental and it is me who is excited as it is a cone ;) little sessions and not to repetitive and not as a drill.  I am really pleased that he will now run around with a toy in his mouth rather than try to get Zev's fur, that was a behaviour that I definitely did not want forming and fortunately the toy playing has stopped it. Phew!

What do we have as the basics of behaviours that I will be able to cue or be useful in no specific order:-
- sit  - park your bottom please
- recall/chase - run round with your human
- play with toys - even whilst the other guys are running around
- get your treat bag - get your treat bag and bring it to your human who will give you sausages
- hand touch - wanting both hands touched

Bear at 4 months - having a soft chew

- respond to praise - that Bear indicates he is really pleased with rewards i.e showing what he finds  - rewarding
- loose lead walking
- wobble board - balance and turn around on
- back up - to go through doors
- lead on

So far Bear has fitted in with all the guys really well, and seems to really enjoy camping which is brill as that is currently a big part of our agility lifestyle. Hopefully we will have many years of fun and entertainment with this little cutie...

Puppies....from hunting to the waiting game...

I am hopeful that a puppy may arrive this winter or next spring. I am really excited about welcoming a new puppy and having all the fun of playing, training and all that stuff. With Zev now four and Rivi fast approaching 5, it has been a while since I have had the puppy buz.

I have options on several potential litters, and it really a case of waiting and seeing as to what arrives and what happens.  The other thing I need to factor is how Nutsey will be doing, at the moment I am blessed as he is doing well and I think would enjoy a puppy in the household.  The vets at his check ups keep saying he has a grade 4 heart murmur, but so far there has not been any side effects and it has been like that for the past year. Phew! Admittedly he does tire rather quickly these days, but that is to be expected with all things considered and I am just in the fortunate position that he is doing better than expected :-)

So now its the waiting game....