It’s been a while since I posted so just wanted to give everyone an update.
Puppy is nearly 6 months old and honestly feel like we’ve done this, we’ve came out the other side.
We struggled with the teething and biting mainly, also had a tiny baby when he arrived so I had my work cut out
couldn’t find puppy classes, so went with a 1on1 trainer. That was an expensive mistake. Wasted a tonne of money for a
tit trainer. Paid money to go through weekly sessions of stuff I’d already taught him because she wanted to know what he could do
I was teaching him stuff during the week and then she’d come and be like oh you’ve done that let’s see how he does it and he learnt nothing new with her apart from plaster him all over her Instagram making out she taught him it all
My mistake I guess. We finally found puppy classes and sacked her off, and now he attends 2 classes a week and he is loving it! Mainly for the socialisation aspect, my last dog was reactive after being attacked so I’m keen to keep him well socialised and they’re a great bunch so he adores going and doing different stuff every week. Deffo recommend puppy classes over 1v1. He’s great with dogs and people, he’s super calm which isn’t usually a trait of the breed but he does have his moments of course. The breed are known for being strong and pulling but we’ve got his loose lead walking perfected at present and even my 8 year old can walk him which loads of people are amazed at
(obviously we’ll keep training at it though ready for the defiant teenage stage!).
We’re always complimented in the street by his looks, movement and training wise. I got stopped by a car the other day and asked if I’d show him as he has great potential apparently. We already practice showing etiquette in our group classes so I’ve booked him into his first show in 2 weeks time. I’ll let you all know how we get on but it all sounds super fun and more socialisation for him really.
We had moments in the beginning where we thought “what the
duck have we done” “we can’t do this” “send him back” and lots of tears (mainly from me
) I guess I’m trying to say. Keep at it. It gets better. So much better. Puppy’s are Dickheads. But that stage soon passes. We’ve all got this
I remember crying to my partner saying “I don’t like him” for weeks, now I absolutely adore the spotty idiot more than anything and couldn’t imagine sending him back.
We know it'll pass as well but when you are in the moment it doesn't feel that way!
What age did your pup stop? We have training classes a week Monday we also do some training ourselves (we went to puppy pre school and got some tips!) We know we aren't alone either but it's so hard!
