from Rich...
December 17th/18th:No formal training on these evenings (my notes were blank)...I was worn out from the week (work and Chukar). We did take him on a couple of car rides, he has been a trooper so far. We are prepping him for the long drive to eastern Washington for Christmas.
December 19th:We did a session outside, concentrating on sit, stay, come...for the first time he responded to the come command, without me yanking on his lead. His attention span is noticeably longer, measured in seconds I might add.Now at 9 weeks, I can really see his personality coming through. He is getting more and more comfortable with us and his new surroundings.
December 20th:Over the next two weeks, I did not keep any notes, I will be pulling from memory and my wife's blog...We ventured over to my wife's parent's house to introduce him to a dog for the first time. He was very inquisitive and super excited to play with the other dog, a Maltese poodle that is 12 or 13 years old. Chukar would chase after Max, slide into him and then roll over, playing the submissive one the entire time. Our goal is introduce Chukar to as many dogs as possible in the coming months (Look for a future post on our Norm's experience in Fremont)...of course after his shots are handled. The initial experiment went well.
December 21st - December 30th:More of the same...Sit, stay and come. During this time frame, in addition to obedience training we wanted Chukar to start meeting people and other dogs as frequently as possible. After another round of shots, it was off to my parents' house for Christmas. The four hour trip went awesome! Chukar is a great traveler and did a great job when we would stop for breaks...Save for the time we stopped at Indian John Hill, too many smells to get any business done.We made it all the way to Kennewick and Chukar got to meet my folks' miniature dachshunds...They wanted nothing to do with Chukar, but it added to Chukar's experience with other dogs.On the 27th, we were back home and it was a great day to get Chukar outside for some "school" work.... By this time, he realized what it means to put on the collar and don the lead.
December 31st - January 3rd:We were off to Lake Wenatchee for New Year's festivities, it turned out to be a great opportunity for Chukar to travel some more, meet even more people and experience snow for the first time. There wasn't much formal training over the long weekend, but looking back, I really think exposing him to many different places and people has helped with his temperament and attention span.
January 7th:We decided that it was a good idea to take Chukar to Norm's (a bar that encourages you to bring your dog) in Fremont for some trivia and to watch the national championship...Within minutes, I was doubting our decision. Chukar was going hog-wild between the masses of people and dogs, it was quite a site. Low and behold, within fifteen minutes or so, Chukar came into his own and was being very polite to the "others" and sat below our table, taking in the sights. He did however have an accident, which pissed me off, but it was my fault, not his. Overall, we were there for two hours, he met at least a dozen dogs, we couldn't have been more proud of him.
January 9th:Even though Chukar and I hadn't nailed sit, stay, come quite yet (we're still having fits with stay), I decided it was time to introduce the game of fetch. I set up the check-cord, strapped on Chukar's collar and we were off to the backyard. I was using a small fetch dummy. We set up for the first attempt and I was having issues with the cord...I finally got those issues worked out, I got Chukar really excited about the dummy and I made a toss of about twenty-five feet and yelled "fetch!". Chukar ran out there as fast as he could with a stiff cord attached to his collar and he grabbed the dummy. I gave the whistle one loud blow and yelled, "Chukar come!". By golly, during all of that commotion, I forgot to tug the cord...turns out I didn't need to. He came right to me and I ordered Chukar to drop the dummy. It took some coaxing, but he eventually dropped the dummy.This went on for a dozen or so rounds, each time he was getting better and better...After the tenth try or so, he was losing interest, I unhooked the cord and we ended with some sit, stay, come work...In all, a very good day for Chukar and I.
He is almost caught up....so fun!
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