Alpine here! I have been given the opportunity to delivery the update for this month.
At the beginning of the month I spent a lot of time training inside, as it was really cold outside. I haven’t quite developed my “winter feet” and it was a little too cold to spend much time outside. I continued to work on ‘side’ and ‘heel’ both with and without a leash. My human has taken to changing her body position during these which initially confused me but I’m a smarty pants who figured it out. I have been working really hard on proofing ‘sit’, ‘down’ and ‘stand’ as well as increasing the duration of these.
While at work with my human, I have been working on something called ‘settle’ and ‘bed’ which means I have to stay on my blanket. This is hard as there are so many exciting things going on but I get rewarded with food (my favourite!!) and get told what a good girl I am. Of course I already knew that but it is still nice to hear. I have also been working on ‘bed’ at home. My dog friends in the home don’t have to follow that rule, although they regularly keep me company, which makes this especially challenging.
I went with my human to Canadian Tire a couple times this month. This was initially overwhelming as there were so many new sights and sounds but now I am becoming a pro. I made a couple new friends including a large bear and a dog wearing a different looking type of vest. He wasn’t as excited to see me as I was to see him…his loss. I have been working really really hard on maintaining my composure when people stop and complement me. My new default is to sit and look at my human for direction. I love making my human happy and I get so many treats for this.
Yesterday I got to explore the barn and see some horses. They are really really big but I wasn’t scared! I had a blast running through the snow and empty fields. Despite the numerous distractions, as soon as my human called ‘here’, I came running back. I am told that my recall is really improving and get rewarded every time I check in with my human.
I am loving my life as a PADS puppy in training and look forward to the next month of adventures!
Submitted By: Alpine
