February’s Tasks

Because I lost my voice for several days, the pups have been excused from training on anything new. But today, voice working again we began with our new task – sit & stay. Both pups are unable to stay still and if you move 1 step away from them, they come too, as if they are attached to your ankle with a piece of elastic, so this is going to be a major achievement if they manage it.

I have tried several different treats as a reward for training but there is no question they both favour the pro-biotic puppy treats, so we will have to make sure we have plenty of them in the house. We have done one session of training this morning and they were surprisingly good. The first time I managed to take 4 steps away from them without them creeping forward, and they stayed still until I called them and then they came to me and sat again to have their treat. The second time I managed 6 steps backwards, they stayed where they were until I called them and then they came and sat to get their treat. This was just too good and couldn’t last – and it didn’t! The 3rd time they just kept shuffling forward, jumping up and generally dancing around my legs with no intention of sitting and staying, however – they did well twice and we can build on that.

As I sit typing this I can hear them in the other room, mainly I can hear Brandy who has learnt to growl, and does so all the time when Brinkley gets too close. Brinkley likes to spend time close to his brother and generally starts by walking on top of him, which Brandy isn’t too keen on and now lets him know. Brinkley also has a habit of trying to steal Brandy’s food, again, not anymore – he gets the growl, and so Brinkley is starting to be a bit more cautious in his approach. We are trying to stop Brandy from growling at his brother but we can’t always be around so it’s going to take some time, another task for February.

Any finally, it’s going to be a difficult week for both the puppies and us because this is the week when they have to go into kennels, we are certainly not looking forward to leaving them and I would imagine they won’t be too impressed to be left. I’ll let you know how they get on and how they are when we pick them up.