Journey of Rue: Rue is 13 weeks old now!!

RUE

Time has gotten away on me yet again , but my little Rue, is not so little anymore. ( ok she is still little ) You can now start to see the slight changes in behaviour.   That need to stay close and follow me is now replaced by a need to explore and ignore me.  I knew this day would come so we change our focus to adjust.  Before we didn't really use any sort of food rewards or treats, all that was needed was praise and a happy voice.  But now I have to up my anti.  Now my presence and happy voice isn't always enough.  We are breaking out the treats a little.  Our focus is still socialization and relationship.  I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.   Training sit, stay, down, come,or heel, can be done later.  The old saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks, does not apply.  You can always teach an old dog obedience. But  the window of socialization is closing quickly.  Socializing an old anti-social dog is WAY HARDER than training that same old dog some obedience.  SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE!!! And when you think you have done enough socializing, DO MORE!   But remember socializing isn't as easy as making play dates and taking your puppy to Pet Valu to meet some people (although those are really good things to do). But you have to meet the "right" dogs and the "right " people.  You need to find some really good kids and socialize your puppy to them.  You need to find cars,trucks, buses, bikes strollers, loud noises and chaos. And when you find those things, you have to be there to guide your puppy through them.  This is where the relationship part comes in. Your goal isn't just to expose your puppy to the big scary world around them and let them sink or swim.  Your goal is to be present.  Observe your pup's behaviour, notice the fears, don't rescue, but step in for guidance when necessary.  If your pup is being a little to confident and sassy, you might have to step in when the behaviour isn't appropriate.  They need both sides of the equation. Leadership is guidance.

  So Rue, has had her vaccinations, and is now experiencing the play yard with the general play group.  She was taken out of her comfort zone of the house with only a few dogs, to a huge yard with a group of new dogs.  Her response was what would be expected: fearful and over whelmed.   As long as the dogs in the group were being fair (ie not crowding her too much ) I did not" rescue" her.

Notice Rue's tail?? A little unsure I'd say

   She tried on numerous occasions to get me to pick her up. I did not.  If dogs were to much in her face I simply asked the other dogs to back off a little. Providing leadership by letting her know that I have her back and she could trust my judgement. Within a short amount of time she was coming out more and more, approach and retreat, as she made her way to meet every dog. Before I knew it she was beginning to play.  This is not just socialization, but also relationship building. She is learning to trust my leadership skills. And this trust comes back into play in other aspects of our relationship, like obedience.   I can't stress this enough,SOLID SOCIALIZATION AND RELATIONSHIP MAKES OBEDIENCE EASIER.  We spend so much time cuddling and loving our puppies ( which is important too ) we sometimes forget about our leadership. And leadership is not just about teaching our dogs a few obedience commands.

July Puppy PACK WALK

  Rue also participated in our puppy socialization workshop in July.  Here we compacted as much socialization into a 4 hour span as we could. From puppy play to kids running around, we tried to incorporate as much "new" experiences as we could. We  even included an all ages puppy pack walk, taking advantage of some pretty awesome older dogs to help guide our puppies.  It was great fun!


We are planning another workshop in August.  If you have a puppy and are interested in a half day of puppy fun and learning feel free to contact me.

In the mean time...get out and SOCIALIZE!!!!