Friday, January 28, 2011

Growing Up Spotty

Derby pup is 20 weeks today! He's definitely looking less like a puppy and more like a little spotty dog. I think the realization that he *is* going to grow up is finally starting to sink in. Darn!

With this realization in mind, I'm finding myself in the "what should I be doing with you" stage. Not that we've been sitting around doing nothing (although some days that sure would be nice!) - I'm just starting to think more about foundation type work that is appropriate for his age. It's so easy to forget that he really doesn't know all that much. I think Peyton must have learned everything while he was sleeping because I sure don't remember much of our puppy training. :)

One thing I know we need to really start working on is better puppy manners when greeting people. He thinks everyone wants a Derby puppy in their lap (complete with kisses), and now that he's getting bigger, that's not always the case. Now, I do know that if I was a really good puppy trainer, I would have trained a polite greeting from the very start, but since the idea of having a puppy that *really* loved people was pretty novel to me, I decided that I was going to enjoy his enthusiastic greetings while he was small and just deal with having to train a different behavior later on. Like now. :) Hopefully it won't be too difficult and in fairness, he does have a very gentle way of crawling up your leg.

Here's a little video of us playing around on the agility field last weekend. Such great attention even with all of the noise from what must have been target practicing nearby. Good spotty pup!

7 comments:

Jenn said...

what a good spotty puppy! That set up or find heel is awesome!!!! That is one thing that I never did teach Steeler very well. Did you shape it?

He can come crawl in my lap any time. :-)

Achieve1dream said...

He is sooooo smart and cute!! I love the video.

Kim said...

Thanks guys! And yes Jenn, I shaped it - although it's not really on cue yet since I'm trying to get rid of the boing(!) part. :)

Lisa said...

Awesome puppy! He's going to be a great, versatile Dal. What wonderful focus and attention he has! I'll bet he's a ton of fun to work with. Sure seems like he learns very quickly.

sakemartyr said...

That is amazing that at 20 weeks he's so developed training wise! great job & he's so pretty! :)

Jenn said...

LOL - I didn't see much of a boing! Don't you just love how fast the puppies learn at this stage???? I almost want another one.

Sherri said...

WHAT A SHOW-OFF!!! ;)