Boots is 20 weeks! Wow how time flies. He has all of his immunizations and is officially able to walk around the world on his own. Good thing too because he weighs 20 pounds. He absolutely LOVES car rides. In fact he'll run around to the passenger side of the car and waits for me to open the door so he can come along. He loads up on his own now which is so nice. I still help him out because it's kind of a high jump out and his joints aren't fully developed yet.
This week we worked on the following...
Lesson 2.11 "GO TO BED" (Boots knows this cue but this week we started adding distance where I can stand over 10 feet away, give the cue and Boots will run to his bed and lie down. We'll continue to lengthen and strengthen this behavior with an end all goal of staying on his bed for an hour by the time he turns one.)
Lesson 2.8 "LET's GO" (This is usually a cue I give when my puppy is walking on leash but this week I also made it a point to practice off leash. I use this whenever I want my puppy to move. If he's napping on the floor and I need to go somewhere, I can say, "Boots let's go!" and he'll get up and follow me.)
This week we plan on completing the following:
Lesson 3.16 "FIX" (This tells your puppy to pick up his leg and let the leash out if he's accidentally stepped over it. Whenever the leash gets stuck under my puppy's leg I can say, "Fix," and my puppy will lift his front leg to untangle the leash without me having to bend over and do it. So nice!)
Lesson 3.17 "GET YOUR LEASH" (Just like it sounds, this cue tells my puppy to bring me his leash. It's a little tricky to teach especially after focusing on not mouthing the leash for so many of the initial weeks - guess I could have reversed that haha! - but it is a nice one to have in your bag of tricks. Sometimes I accidentally drop the leash while out and about. This cue tells Boots to pick it up and bring it back to me. Again...so nice!)
As for field trips, we are going to STORES! Boots has been to several stores in the past but always rode in the cart. This week he'll be on his own four paws so we'll get some nice loose leash walking practice! I plan on going through all the behaviors he knows as well to help Boots generalize them in a new location.
Also this Wednesday at 1:00 PM Mountain I'm teaching the last week of a six-week Canine Coaching series "TRAINING 101" which is an online puppy class for members. I hope to see as many of you there as can make it. I will record it as well and post it on the Canine Coaching page for those of you who can't attend. This week is all about YOU and YOUR PUPPY so bring your questions. If you want to be sure and get your question answered on the call, email it to me at info@baxterandbella.com today with "CANINE COACHING" in the subject line.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, please contact us online at BAXTER & Bella and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Happy Training,
Amy
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