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  1. #1
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Presto is 13 Weeks!

    Time flies!

    Presto is 13 weeks and continues to keep me and the big dogs on our toes. He's settled in well with me going back to work and enjoys his breaks with my dog walker. He has been going to Puppy K for a while and he tags along to my Monday night Open/Utility class, Wednesday night Agility class and Friday night group training. He also comes to my obedience lessons which are split in half between him and Linus.

    Potty training is still on-point as is sleeping through the night. He's mouthy, but came with excellent bite inhibition so the only time I've ever been even slightly injured was when he was learning to take treats or when he accidentally got me instead of a toy. He's gone through his grabbing my clothes phase and I took the opportunity to teach him a leave it or drop it with treats and it went away. He's figured me out and will steal my shoes and slippers but deliver them to me for a treat. He's a smart little guy!

    We started directed jumping exercises and scent articles and we have puppy go-outs. He has a touch (nose to hand), knows how to get on a pivot disc and a platform. He has a chin rest. His hind end awareness is out of this world. We are working on marking for gloves. He has been doing work on puppy agility (wrap and walking on a board). Oh, and he knows sit and stand. We're still working on down as I want a fold-back down. We have mat work and place. He is great crated in the house and the car and he's doing well with sit and wait for door to open. He has a fantastic "in the house cue" which means that he runs from the car to the porch and waits. It is sort of a safety thing I teach all of my dogs.

    This puppy loves to work and is doing well with distractions (other puppies, dogs, etc.). He went to his first obedience match last weekend and is going to his second agility trial later today. I need to get him out to a hunt test soon.

    All the boys are getting along. We are working on not chasing the cat. Presto will call off the cat and when the does approach the cat and the cat doesn't run, he wants to play. I'm not worried about him attacking her, but I do hope that the cat can live a normal life again soon!

    The site still won't let me post pics these days. Darn it.

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  3. #2
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    It sounds like you and Presto are having so much fun! I'm still figuring out how much going places is right for us. You, Shelley and some others seem to take your young puppies more places than I feel comfortable. Even one of my neighbors who is a rabid, multi-titled obedience, rally, utility participant did not take her new puppy to any of those classes to observe until he'd had all his puppy shots. Everyone who walks or drives past, though, must say Hi to Henry. He gets his second round of shots this week.

    We must see Presto! The way I've been able to put a few photos on has only worked from my laptop. I haven't figured out how to do it from my phone. On my laptop, I use imgur.com without having a personal account. I upload a photo and once uploaded, I select edit image, then select the Advanced button. It tells me the file is too huge so it has been resized. Without any further cropping or resizing, I Save the image. I can then copy the image (not the link to the image) and paste it directly into my post. Woody has a slightly different imgur method that he has described recently in an Ask the Admin section. I can't do it his way, I guess because the images I'm uploading are too darn big to begin with. Shelley likes to use tinypic.com. I haven't tried that site yet.

  4. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartrock View Post
    It sounds like you and Presto are having so much fun! I'm still figuring out how much going places is right for us. You, Shelley and some others seem to take your young puppies more places than I feel comfortable. Even one of my neighbors who is a rabid, multi-titled obedience, rally, utility participant did not take her new puppy to any of those classes to observe until he'd had all his puppy shots. Everyone who walks or drives past, though, must say Hi to Henry. He gets his second round of shots this week.

    We must see Presto! The way I've been able to put a few photos on has only worked from my laptop. I haven't figured out how to do it from my phone. On my laptop, I use imgur.com without having a personal account. I upload a photo and once uploaded, I select edit image, then select the Advanced button. It tells me the file is too huge so it has been resized. Without any further cropping or resizing, I Save the image. I can then copy the image (not the link to the image) and paste it directly into my post. Woody has a slightly different imgur method that he has described recently in an Ask the Admin section. I can't do it his way, I guess because the images I'm uploading are too darn big to begin with. Shelley likes to use tinypic.com. I haven't tried that site yet.
    There are some places I won't take my puppy until he's had his second set, but all shots? No way. He's never been to Home Depot, PetSmart, etc. There are a lot of rabid dog sports people around here who are uber paranoid, too, and they are like that about their adults as well. I know plenty of high level competitors that won't allow their Utility titled dogs off leash ever, except in a fenced yard or a ring, because of what could happen. And, I kind of get it. You put a lot of time, money, blood, sweat, tears and love into your performance dog and it doesn't take much to end their career. But, they are also dogs, pets, family members, companions... I'm pretty fact-based, so if I am going to be afraid of injury or rabies or parvo, then I'm going to be afraid of putting my puppy in a car because that's probably the most dangerous thing we do on an almost daily basis. I think the key is being smart about it, which is why I have RTKs, strapped down and located outside of the crumple zone. The entire litter has been exposed to controlled new places, other puppies, adult dogs, cars, etc. since they were five or six weeks old. The puppies were all bred and born to be performance dogs and it's important to get the puppies used to what life is gonna look like for him or her early on. My puppy met 100 people and many new dogs before I picked him up. We mostly work on him being able to focus on me and to work and NOT say hi to people or other dogs. When we are not working we do controlled play dates where he gets to play with or be around other dogs, people, etc. But I work hard to train him that he doesn't get to say hi or play with other dogs or people randomly, so I don't go out and socialize him and encourage people to touch him or dogs to meet him. I do expose him to sights, sounds, smells, but that doesn't include stranger human or dog interaction.

    I'll try a different method to share some pics later today. I have a lot of photos to share!

  5. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Thanks for your perspective on socializing/exposing your pup to people and dogs and varying situations. It didn't particularly occur to me that performance dogs have to be very focused and not flit around the rings like little social butterflies so you have to start early on developing that focus and relationship. For us, a social butterfly would be perfectly acceptable as long as no nipping and jumping is involved!

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    I show my dogs in conformation, so they go a lot of places with us to get used to riding in the crate in the car, and different environments to build confidence. We have a fairly low risk of Parvo here (*knock wood*) and my dog obedience club has classes just for puppies, and they mop the floor before.
    I suggest safe socialization outings for my families, I will private message you my guide that I wrote that I send home with my puppies. I know it sounds dangerous, but lack of socialization can be as bad as contracting a communicable disease, you just have to be smart about it and where you go. Those weeks between 8 to 12 weeks is a very important development phase for puppies, and keeping them home retards their social progress. Monday has had her 3rd vaccination so I have loosened up on carrying her a lot of places.

    Another look at socialization from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior: (It's a PDF file)
    https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads..._-_10-3-14.pdf


 



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