I'm sitting in the conservatory having my after walk coffee before starting work in the "office" which is all of 1 minute away upstairs in the spare bedroom. Poppy has toddled off now but up to about 5 minutes ago she was sitting next to me bolt upright looking intently out into the garden. When I say sitting next to me, she actually pushes into my side really firmly which is both nice and slightly damp at the same time. She's growing up fast and changing. When she came to us at first she was manic, uncontrolled, full-on, in-your-face, but still lovely. It seems such a long time ago now; as if she's been with us forever. Actually it's only 10 months. Now, she's a well behaved (mostly), polite (mostly), gentle (mostly), Labrador. She has filled a really deep hole left when our girl, Lady, died. The dog before is still with us, of course, but Poppy has firmly taken up the reins now and brought huge amounts of pleasure into our lives again in that way unique to dogs.
So how are things going? Well I still can't have breakfast without being badgered to go out for a walk, and I still can't get her evening meal later then 4 o'clock. She's the most persistent dog I have come across. Mind you, it's only me she does it to. She knows a soft touch when she sees one! Walking on-lead she is now as good as I'd want. Slack lead virtually everywhere. I still need to be cautious as the odd cat, squirrel or blackbird in the wrong place can light her rocket - brace! brace! She used to lunge at other dogs when she was on her lead and all that has stopped too. Her recall needs a bit of work. She tends to ignore me a bit but she will always recall to Rosemary - very annoying!
Training-wise in other areas the gundog stuff is actually coming along very well considering she had to un-learn sniffer dog stuff and start with a fresh slate at 2 years old not 6 months old in an ideal world. I have to say I very nearly gave up in the early days of her gundog lessons. Ian (the guy in the police who found her for me) is a very good judge of dogs and said he didn't think she'd be any good as a gundog. That kept coming up in the back of my mind as our trainer and I struggled with the really basic stuff. We are definitely not there yet, but we have moved up a gear and our next outing with Poppy is in a proper hunting environment - woods and lakes - to see how she gets on out of the training field. I'm working really hard with her at the moment on steadiness and "go back". The steadiness is not bad but she's having difficulty with "go-back". When she does go back for a blind she will now hunt for it, though, and is picking up on the hunt whistle.
Must go and do some work now. Then maybe a spot of training with the Pop Dog around coffee time!
So how are things going? Well I still can't have breakfast without being badgered to go out for a walk, and I still can't get her evening meal later then 4 o'clock. She's the most persistent dog I have come across. Mind you, it's only me she does it to. She knows a soft touch when she sees one! Walking on-lead she is now as good as I'd want. Slack lead virtually everywhere. I still need to be cautious as the odd cat, squirrel or blackbird in the wrong place can light her rocket - brace! brace! She used to lunge at other dogs when she was on her lead and all that has stopped too. Her recall needs a bit of work. She tends to ignore me a bit but she will always recall to Rosemary - very annoying!
Training-wise in other areas the gundog stuff is actually coming along very well considering she had to un-learn sniffer dog stuff and start with a fresh slate at 2 years old not 6 months old in an ideal world. I have to say I very nearly gave up in the early days of her gundog lessons. Ian (the guy in the police who found her for me) is a very good judge of dogs and said he didn't think she'd be any good as a gundog. That kept coming up in the back of my mind as our trainer and I struggled with the really basic stuff. We are definitely not there yet, but we have moved up a gear and our next outing with Poppy is in a proper hunting environment - woods and lakes - to see how she gets on out of the training field. I'm working really hard with her at the moment on steadiness and "go back". The steadiness is not bad but she's having difficulty with "go-back". When she does go back for a blind she will now hunt for it, though, and is picking up on the hunt whistle.
Must go and do some work now. Then maybe a spot of training with the Pop Dog around coffee time!
