.jpg)
The second week was mostly a continuation of the first.
The changes I observed was Louis being more adventurous at being away from me, and being much more into toys and chews. Instead of following me from room to room (which I had let him away with to see if it would stop) he was happy to play with toys or chew away on an agreeable medium. Learning from other people’s experiences I was still very wary about letting him meet strange dogs, however my classes provided an excellent place for socialising with adolescent dogs and of course lots of people.
People generally don’t see young pups of this age as they are not allowed out until the course of vaccinations. Very briefly on this subject I have witnessed more negative issues because of lack of socialisation than ever seen a pup with problems from being out so young. I highly recommend that pups get taken out as soon as possible. Even if their feet never hit the ground, carry them places to meet lots of people, see and hear lots of everyday sounds. The younger the better.
Louis’ training was not as intense this week every couple days I would do a session with him. The most important thing was his name and there was no issue with his recall. A pups brain at this age is taking lots of information in.
What I realised was that he would not choose to go to sleep. If something was going on he had to be there, whereas my past experience with pups taught me that pups will tell you when they are tired, I had to remember to confine him to his crate to make him rest. I learned this the hard way, one night we had a bit of a fall out. He had come with me to classes and then we went out on a last walk at night with the gang. Louis started to pick up what looked like stones to me and I told him ‘no, walk on’ he kept doing it (I think now that it was salt that they had just thrown down for the frost). After chastising him by pinching his scruff, he went right back to doing it again. I picked him up and used my voice, stronger this time. Again I put him down and he went back to doing it. He wasn’t hungry, it was like he had gone mad, he knew what ‘no’ meant. Again I lifted him and this time an angry ‘no’ and held his snout. He struggled and got angry (fighting me) and I held him tight until he calmed. Then put him down and he ran off! I called him and he kept running, so I caught him up (he was only tiny) and asked him to come to me, he took off again. I was worried at this point, either he was playing up (at 7 weeks?!) or he had gotten a fright from me. I decided to ignore it, I picked him up and brought him home. He collapsed in his crate and fell asleep. It dawned on me that he was absolutely exhausted and I guessed he would have forgotten all about the incident by morning. I was right, and strangly he didn’t try to pick up the salt (or whatever it was) again. I decided that I was doing a little too much with him, and that I would leave him behind for our bigger walks and he could come out around the park once a day.
It is one of those things I look back and think why did I need to take him everywhere? It was a bit much for him, but I learned my lesson. He had stopped crying in the crate now, which had been moved to the living room, with the rest of the dogs. And he didn’t bat an eyelid when we left him alone.
The changes I observed was Louis being more adventurous at being away from me, and being much more into toys and chews. Instead of following me from room to room (which I had let him away with to see if it would stop) he was happy to play with toys or chew away on an agreeable medium. Learning from other people’s experiences I was still very wary about letting him meet strange dogs, however my classes provided an excellent place for socialising with adolescent dogs and of course lots of people.
People generally don’t see young pups of this age as they are not allowed out until the course of vaccinations. Very briefly on this subject I have witnessed more negative issues because of lack of socialisation than ever seen a pup with problems from being out so young. I highly recommend that pups get taken out as soon as possible. Even if their feet never hit the ground, carry them places to meet lots of people, see and hear lots of everyday sounds. The younger the better.
Louis’ training was not as intense this week every couple days I would do a session with him. The most important thing was his name and there was no issue with his recall. A pups brain at this age is taking lots of information in.
What I realised was that he would not choose to go to sleep. If something was going on he had to be there, whereas my past experience with pups taught me that pups will tell you when they are tired, I had to remember to confine him to his crate to make him rest. I learned this the hard way, one night we had a bit of a fall out. He had come with me to classes and then we went out on a last walk at night with the gang. Louis started to pick up what looked like stones to me and I told him ‘no, walk on’ he kept doing it (I think now that it was salt that they had just thrown down for the frost). After chastising him by pinching his scruff, he went right back to doing it again. I picked him up and used my voice, stronger this time. Again I put him down and he went back to doing it. He wasn’t hungry, it was like he had gone mad, he knew what ‘no’ meant. Again I lifted him and this time an angry ‘no’ and held his snout. He struggled and got angry (fighting me) and I held him tight until he calmed. Then put him down and he ran off! I called him and he kept running, so I caught him up (he was only tiny) and asked him to come to me, he took off again. I was worried at this point, either he was playing up (at 7 weeks?!) or he had gotten a fright from me. I decided to ignore it, I picked him up and brought him home. He collapsed in his crate and fell asleep. It dawned on me that he was absolutely exhausted and I guessed he would have forgotten all about the incident by morning. I was right, and strangly he didn’t try to pick up the salt (or whatever it was) again. I decided that I was doing a little too much with him, and that I would leave him behind for our bigger walks and he could come out around the park once a day.
It is one of those things I look back and think why did I need to take him everywhere? It was a bit much for him, but I learned my lesson. He had stopped crying in the crate now, which had been moved to the living room, with the rest of the dogs. And he didn’t bat an eyelid when we left him alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment