Starting training early - Target training, Dummy and Eye contact

Link is now 11 weeks old and I've begun teaching him the basics. We are working on targeting (palm of the hand, target stick and a paw target) and eye contact at the moment. I've also started introducing a dummy, since he is a retriever.

Eye contact ( or maybe camera lens contact..)

The eye contact training we've been doing for maybe 5 days. He has really caught on quickly, and will now look at us more often than at the thing he wants (treat or toy). 

Link touching the palm of my hand with his nose.

 When it comes to touching the hand target and targetstick with his nose, Link does the right thing ~95% of the time. The paw target (I use a mouse pad) on the other hand, where he is supposed to put at least one front paw on the target seems to be harder for him to understand. He has made progress, but he often lies down on the target instead of just touching it with his paws.

Link touching the target stick.

We've only just begun with the dummy, I play with it a bit, he grabs it with his mouth and I click. He drops it and gets a treat. We've only had one session so far, but I will start to wait with the click until he holds the dummy in his mouth for an increasing amount of time. After this behavior is reliable  I will start saying "tack" ("thanks" in Swedish, my word for "drop it") and then give him a treat. This will later progress into him not dropping the dummy unless I say "tack", but we have a long way to go before we manage that.

Puppy reunion

The pups and their mom seemed happy to see each other again.

Last Sunday, six of the puppies from Link's litter met to play and socialize together. It was wonderful to see how they interacted with each other and their mom, and to see how much they've all grown since last we saw them.

I think the puppies were really happy to see each other again, finally other dogs that want to play as much as they themselves want to!

 Link was not the largest puppy now, but not the smallest either. I think he is developing just perfectly (although I might not be impartial...).

An interest in chewing on twigs sticking out of the snow seems to be a family trait. Here you can also tell the large variety in color on the pups. Link is the darkest one (to the left) and Tiril (right next to him) is the lightest one.

 "Uncle Rocky", the miniature Schnauzer that often visited the puppies when they were still living with the breeder also came to the reunion.

I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the puppies. They've grow quite a lot since last he saw them.

First week with my puppy

I present to you, the worlds cutest and most wonderful puppy, Link!

One week ago, I brought my puppy home and on Tuesday he will be 10 weeks old. It feels like he has been here much longer, in a way it feels like he has always been here. I've had this week off from work, to get Link settled in. We've already done tons of stuff, but I've tried to limit the new experiences to one a day, so not to stress the puppy. Of course, the first couple of days everything is new. This is probably why Link slept relatively little the first two-three days. He slept maybe 30-45 minutes at a time, now he sleeps 1-2 hours at a time, sometimes longer. He has been able to sleep the whole night since the third night here. So far he has only peed inside two times. So far so good :)

Link sitting on command.

Link has already learned so much! He knows sit, down, and come, and he is learning stay. He is really well behaved when we meet new people, sits down when they approach and greets them calmly and with a wagging tail. So far he has not had any frightening experiences. This is also due to the fact that nothing seems to scare him. We live rather close to an airport so several times a day airplanes fly over us at low altitude, something that Link seems more fascinated by than scared. He just sits down and look at the airplanes, if he cares about them at all. We've also met many different kind of dogs, small dogs like the neighbor's Bichon Havanais puppy Daisy and large dogs like the two Bernese Mountaindogs down the street. Some of these meetings have resulted in play others with the older dog just not being very interested and Link trying to get them to play. I can tell that he really is on a puppy license, the older dogs let him get away with almost everything.

First time we met Daisy.

I believe it is very important to socialize your dog from an early age, but take care not to expose your puppy to diseases it might not yet have gotten its vaccines for. In Norway most people get their dogs vaccinated every year (or every three years depending on the vaccine their using and what diseases their dog is exposed to). So I feel safe to let my puppy meet and play with the dogs on our street. And I know for certain that the two dogs we've met on several occasions, Daisy (the Bichon Havanais puppy) and Scott (Mads' family's Danish Swedish Farm Dog) have all of their vaccinations.

"Uncle" Scott showing Link that you can trick the humans into giving treats by sitting down in front of them ;)

 I've brought Link to work last Thursday to get him used to being there and sleeping there. He will come with me to work the days that Mads can't be home with him, starting Monday. It went really well when we were there on Thursday, I sat with him until he was about to fall asleep and then left him. He didn't make any noise, not even when he woke up and I wasn't there. If things continue to be this easy, Link is the least difficult puppy in history! I can't believe my luck, that it was Link that became our dog.