Walking to Heel ....ish

Rohan started off walking to heel brilliantly after his trip to Campcolis but as the week has gone on he's slipping a bit. Still 100 times better than before but he still can't get the hang of walking right next to us rather than half a yard in front.

It's back to basics with some focused walking to heel training rather than just doing it when we're out for normal walks.

He has also discovered the joys of rolling this week. Thankfully it's not in another dogs poop, but it is in wet mud. Beginning to think we should have gone for a black lab instead!

He is still crazy when he see's another dog and will always run after them, thankfully so far his cuteness is winning him friends rather than annoying other owners as he torpedoes towards them.

His teeth are coming in at a rate of notts and they are sparkly white. We've introduced the toothbrush but he's not feeling the meat flavour toothpaste at all. He's still mouthing a bit but hopefully once the rest of his teeth are in we can all move on!

Other than all of that he is lovely, especially in the mornings. he always gets a cuddle of Robbie before he gets ready for work. Its definitely our favourite part of the day. Early evening and he's a maniac!

We can't believe how fast he is growing. Things that he was far to small to reach before he is now getting to with ease. He is losing his hiding places around the flat as we can now see bits of him sticking out. He is also a ton weight to carry around.

Rohan v the Dog Whisperer

We took Rohan up to Campcolis yesterday to meet a gun dog trainer.

We wanted to get him some one on one sessions as puppy classes are good for socialisation but he doesn't learn much as there isn't any individual time.

John Clark has a great reputation for training both working dogs and pets so we wanted to give him a go.

It took him about 5 minutes to get Ro walking to heel.

Rohan being Mister smarty pants avoided some of the training areas by responding first time and working out really quickly that if he picked the trailing lead up in his mouth he could run unfettered. I love it that he's a clever dog but Rob and I will have our work cut out trying to out smart him!

John's training methods are positive. Don't put your hands on your dog unless in praise. Strong vocal commands and firm lead work are all it takes. Rohan turned from Mr. Mischief into a dog wanting to please whoever had his lead and it was lovely to see him in his natural breed environment. It was great that he was wagging his tail the whole time so was receptive and happy in the training. Apparently if his tail was down or straight up we'd be in for problems.

John advised us that I should be the one working most with Rohan as ( block your ears Emily Pankhurst!) women are weaker when it comes to dog training. We'll both go to the sessions but I will do must of the work under instruction. Robbie just has to practice having a deep voice!

We've booked another session for a couple of weeks time.

I took Rohan out this morning and he was great, I had to check him a couple of times and felt a bit of a plank shouting heel in the street but he responded really well, gone was the straining and gasping for breath. He was a pleasure to walk.

He also taught us a better approach for dealing with Rohan's mouthing (another tooth out today!) which has worked really well as well. I think it is mostly about changing your mind set to demand your dog behaves in a certain way rather than asking it if it wouldn't mind!

As you can see from the photo's Rohan finally destroyed what was left of his puppy bed at the weekend, very please with himself he was too. he then tried to sleep in the bit that was left which he is clearly too big for. Very cute!

Beaten by a girl!

We took Rohan to see his mum , sister and Isla at the weekend. He and Isla gave as good as they got but his sister Scout totally dominated him. He spent most of the visit on his back. He definitely had fun.

He had his last puppy class last night, he did really well apart from ruining the moment when all of the dogs were lined up on their own and being good by piling into the rottweiler puppy next to him.

He is booked in for a visit to John Clark at Campcolis on Sunday, ( think the Dog whisperer for gun dogs) we're having a one on one session to hopefully get a handle on how to get Rohan to come back and ignore other dogs when he is off the lead and to walk to heel properly when he is on it!.

Big Boy Bed

As Rohan is trying his best to destroy his puppy bed he is now the proud owner of a big boy bed of his own and very smart he looks in it too. Fingers crossed it lasts longer than his first bed!

He is doing brilliantly at the moment. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he is still a baby and not to expect to much but he picks so much up so quickly. He is now a dab hand at hide and seek. No scenting yet just off the sound of our voices but he loves playing it.

He went down to two meals a day this week. He was like a crazy thing yesterday trying to tell me I'd forgotten to feed him. He's currently making his way through a Bonio ice lolly to take his mind of it.

He has his last puppy class on Monday so I'm trying to find a good next stage training class for him. I really need him to learn to ignore other dogs quite quickly so he can start coming out with me when he hits six months and can walk further during the day.

Freedom at the seaside!

Rohan V's the Lake

Well at least we now know he can swim.

We took Ro on a forest walk on Wednesday night and he normally skirts around the lake . Not this time, he threw himself in at the deep end. Prompting me to shriek at Rob to go in and get him! After a couple of cries of 'Swim Rohan Swim' , the cutest doggy paddle emerged and he made it back. I did think he would be a little shaken up but he wanted to get straight back in again.

He wasn't quite so thrilled by the bath he was subjected to on his return!

At puppy class on Monday night he was an absolute debacle. He is normally top of the class as the youngest there but I could hardly get him to stand up let alone do any of his usual tasks.

He definitely has a mind of his own, but it did make me realise that you can't take it for granted that he knows something, we have to keep re training every day until it becomes second nature,
at the moment he is solely performing for treats!

We really need to work on his ignoring other dogs. At the moment he wants to make friends with everyone but as all dog owners know not everyone likes someone else's dog charging at theirs friendly or not.

Rob is going to bring him on a couple of my shorter dog walks this weekend and we'll see if we can get him to walk quietly.

It is really apparent that Rohan is getting more and more aware and starting to use all of his senses, I thought by never giving him treats/leftovers from human plates he would never learn to beg. He has turned into the 'Bisto kid' this week, whenever we have tea his nose goes ninety to the dozen and he stares balefully at us. The good news is it is still a half hearted effort and he will go and lie down after a minute but we need to work on it.

The biting is still there, albeit in much smaller occurrences, as I think he is now in teething. We are taking the approach of saying no once and if he doesn't stop taking him out of the room on his own for 10 seconds. It sometimes takes a couple of goes but he does get it.

He has also started jumping up at people so that is a major working point for next week, Hopefully it will kick in alongside the leaving other dogs. I do feel like I spend an awful lot of time saying no and its really important to remember to heap the praise on when something goes well.

We're going to take him to the beach this weekend, definitely going to use a training line though, not feeling a rescue from the North Sea in Autumn!