As many of you know I have a litter of Newfoundland puppies born Nov 7 of last year. Now that the puppies are 3 months, we have been focusing more on doing some training. The puppies are getting use to the crate and quite often can be found sleeping in there withouth being asked. They are being asked to wait for their meals and of course I started working on the leash training. Started off with collars (which was no big deal cause they are used to wearing the collar on the grooming table) and then trailing leashes behind them. We took them on trips out to the barn where they could explore while trailing the leashes behind. But on the first walk I decided to start with Velvet. I took her out, got her dressed in collar and leash, loaded my pockets with treats and off we went. Well there was the struggle at the door, then of course the puppy crazy scene where it looks like she is dying. I of course used my happy voice and cookies to get her attention and move her forwards. She got all excited and was jumping and crazy but moving forward. We continued this way down the lane and by the time we returned, I was exhausted. She was still crazy and jumping at me looking for more treats. I had a sense of dread thinking I have to do this 3 more times. Then I looked over at the fence and saw Wellington, the puppy's father, who had noticed the leash in my hand was quietly wagging his tail. Wellington loves his walks and so thinking I could kill two birds with one stone I grabbed the dignified gentle giant, and Wreck(named for his crazy destructive behaviour) at the same time. Wreck saw Wellington and immediately started jumping at his face and cutting him off and going crazy. What did Wellington do???? Nothing. Yep nothing, he just kept walking. If the puppy walked in front of him he just walked right into him. He ignored the obnoxious jumping at his face and even the biting at his tail. He just kept walking. At first I was impressed at his patience but then I realized we were not one quarter of the way down the lane way and the puppy just started walking too. Right beside him and me at a perfect heel. He was still happy, tail wagging looking like he was on top of the world, walking as if he had been walking on leash his whole life. It was the most enjoyable walk. Needless to say I walked the other 2 puppies with Wellington all with the same result. Definately going to have to put Wellington on the payroll! He is by far the best dog trainer I have seen! Of course I should have know that. I used other dogs all the time to help me evaluate dogs, calm dogs, even excite dogs if I need to. I use other dogs to bring a shy and timid dog out of their shell. So why not use well balanced mature dogs to teach younger dogs how to walk on a leash? Wellington didn't mind the extra walk time either. It was a perfect day.
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