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I’ve been finding puppy training both easy and very stressful. An combination, I realise, but here we are.

Hodi seemed to “get” sit and come almost immediately and can do it both inside and outside (garden only at the moment).

Down on the other hand is taking a substantial amount of time. He has the mechanics of the movement and will follow my hand, with treat or empty, down to the lying position (elbows and belly on the ground), but he does not respond to just the command.

I think I am just being impatient and need to get rid of that as it will be affecting Hodi as I try to train him. He is only just over nine weeks old, so I should not be expecting a miracle overnight.

Hodi had his first visit to the vet this morning, for his first vaccination. Apart from the major “A” road to town being closed with no warning and no diversion, the visit went well. Hodi was checked out and given a clean bill of health by the vet; with a little food to eat he didn’t even notice when the vet administered the injection.

He cried in the car both ways, mainly when the road was bumpy, and with the main road closed I had to use the back roads, some of which are single track lanes and not well maintained. When we got home, he made a dash for the utility room to use the puppy training pad (I was impressed as I’ve never put him on one before, but he got the right spot).

Afterwards, we went to the living room which seems to be his favourite room, and I gave him a treat ball loaded with some of his food.

Continue reading “Hodi Had First Vet Visit”

I’ve been getting Hodi out into the garden quite often so he can go to the toilet outside; he’s actually surprised me by asking to go out for the toilet, rather than my having to watch him closely and grab him if he looks like their is going to be an “accident”.

He’s only just over 8 weeks old and asking to go out. Impressive in my opinion.

I also discovered when out in the garden that he is already quite a fast runner.

This makes it all the more urgent that I start off lead training him as soon as he has had his first two injections.

Well, after our first night, we were up fairly early on day two. He seems to be eating pretty well. When you first bring a puppy home, you are advised to keep feeding them the same food the breeder is using; the breeder should also give you a supply of food so that you can buy a supply before you run out.

The breeder had told me which food they were using when I viewed the puppy’s a second time (I’d already reserved Hodi, I just didn’t want to wait to bring him home before seeing him again) and had sent me a picture of the bag:

Continue reading “Hodi’s Second Day”

OK, so I’m not talking about entire nights out for Hodi; for most of the night he’ll be tucked up in bed inside the house, but for when taking him outside for going to the toilet in the evening, I decided that I needed something to keep him in a small area.

It’s still dark at night for quite awhile and Hodi is a small, mainly, black dog so would be hard to find if he escaped my view at any point.

So, how to limit him to an area? I could put a lead on him and control him that way, but thought it might be better if I could pen him to an area without a lead.

Continue reading “Night’s Out for Hodi”

It’s just a little under two weeks before I can bring Hodi home.

I saw him when he was a day shy of three weeks old and I thought I’d like to see him before he comes home, so I arranged to pop up to see him yesterday.

He was two days over six weeks and has grown quite a lot between visits; he is still very cute though.

Part of the reason to go back was to let him get my scent again, so that when he comes home, he will, hopefully, recognise my scent. To that end I asked the breeder if I could leave an old T-shirt with him, which I had worn for a few days and used as a pillow case. This will allow him to have my scent for the next two weeks until he comes home with me and I am hoping this will help him settle into his new home.

The breeder was happy to accept, so he has the T-shirt with him (it is an old one which I regard as disposable; after all it is with Hodi and his six siblings, so will get well-chewed by them all.

We’ll see how well he settles once he is here, but the wait can’t end soon enough.

A big part of being a responsible dog owner, is training your puppy to obey commands. It’s a long time since I last did this; in fact, it was pre-Internet, which tells you how long ago it was, and we largely managed this by guesswork and trial-and-error rather than actually knowing what to do.

I’m taking a different approach this time by doing research prior to the puppy arriving. I’ve been using the Internet, but also came a cross a book which seemed to get positive mentions, so picked up a copy.

That book is Total Recall (not the one of which you’re thinking) by Pippa Mattinson:

I’m not far into the book yet, but it seems to make sense and I will, in three weeks be looking to put it to the test when Hodi arrives. I’ll be reporting on our progress when that time comes, but for now, I’ll continue reading.