Otter's Puppy Log

Boogie

Boogie

Moderator
Location
Manchester UK
I would be interested to hear more about how puppies are selected in terms of assessing for sociability. I guess it is important that pups are super comfortable with humans, but do they tend to actively seek out interactions with people other than their humans?
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Well, Guide Dog pups are bred and selected for extreme boldness. This gives quite a training task to all involved! They are full on ++ They must be both super bold and confident and ignore all comers. The thing that makes it work is that they are trained, from the moment that they have a lead on, that lead/jacket/harness means no interaction with anyone except the puppy walker or trainer or owner. Once the owner goes ‘on class’ (the final stage of the process before they are on their own with the dog) the trainer doesn’t interact with the dog at all, just the owner.

Once the lead/jacket/harness is off then all bets are off - so a rock solid recall is needed, their owners can’t even see what they are up to. So that’s what I put huge effort into - total ignoring of everyone/everything on lead, whilst walking ahead and not looking at me, plus perfect recall off lead. These two things take a good twelve months to get perfect. Spencer is there now and I’m glowing with pride. Yesterday, at Church, a bloke (who I know well) came up to fuss Spencer and I said in a loud voice ‘don’t you dare even think about it!’ - the bloke jumped a mile hehe! So I smiled and said ‘in Christian love, of course’ :p They can fuss him in controlled circumstances, it isn’t a complete ban - but this bloke is a wind up merchant (you know the type :rolleyes:).

:)
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Candy

Candy

Biscuit Tin Guardian
Location
West Yorkshire, UK
Joy is also a cautious little ' look before you leap' dog and has been since a tiny pup. It's just how she is.She can be quite wary of strangers, particularly men if they put a hand over her head in the direction of her collar. She really dislikes drunk people, male or female. Has this caused any problems? Well, no! I have come to love and respect her natural caution and sensible-ness. I have had far fewer heart stopping moments with her than with Solstice who appeared to have no sense of danger whatsoever! She is open to trying new things, she clearly loves our adventures and exploring new places and is a total star on train journeys, so that's not a pessimistic dog, nor an anxious one, just a dog that likes to think things through first, like I do. It means planned and gentle exposure to new situations, it also at times means me being assertive on her behalf, removing her from the vicinity of people she's uneasy around or asking them to stop doing whatever is making her uneasy. She's the best little dog in the whole wide world, as I frequently tell her. So will your lovely Otter be. After all, wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
snowbunny said:
This is true - they are just labels. As Hannah Branigan would say, you need to operationalise it! It's all just behaviour. "Pessimism" and "stubbornness" aren't behaviours. What behaviour is the dog displaying, and what is the function of that behaviour? Then it's a case of manipulating the situation in order to get you a behaviour that gives the dog the same outcome, in a way that you find acceptable. If there is no change necessary, it's just daft to try to force it because someone else thinks we should.
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I will have to think about how to reply to your earlier post @snowbunny, just so much good stuff to ponder over! :) And you have articulated the difference between a behaviour and a label for me so well. The approach I would have appreciated goes something like this..." Oh, lovely Otter, she seems a wee bit shy today, shall we look at doing something different for this exercise? What do you think? ....Then give me time to shape a response, and together we work on a modification of the exercise.
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
Otter is now 3 months old. She has been with us for 4 weeks, and OMG do we know it! She is lovely, sweet and clever, very much a live wire, energetic, alert and In. To. Everything. You need eyes in the back of your head, cables, remotes, knobs and poor Benson all fair game. We are both knackered. The biting though, oh heck! I have scratches, nicks all over, despite being armed permanently with 2 lambies to shove into her dear little mouth. Seriously, gone are the days where my pockets held loose change, a nice lip gloss, mobile....now they have soft toys, a few bits of kibble, and a clicker. Maybe I should add a first aid kit.
She is very well put together 3-month-old puppy, LOVES to race around at 100 miles an hour. Bramble loved to run around, but she was more like a Bambi and struggled with her co-ordination. Otter, you blink and she's gone...blink again and she is there, manic grin right by your side! Beep beep!!! Roadrunner!!!:shock:

Preparing for our road trip to Cornwall, her big sister Bramble is coming too, so wish us luck!

Benson could really do with a break....

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I mean seriously, would you take a ball of this????


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Otter thinks about it....:wasntme:


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You can see that one day....she will be a "grown-up:inlove:" Not yet, just want to keep my puppy for a bit longer...


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HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Just wow! What a glorious little thunderball she is :rofl: Lucky lucky girl to have joined such a loving, patient pack. Can’t wait for the months ahead!
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
Very busy couple of days, and lots of exposure to new things. Yesterday the long drive, Otter was very good in the car, I think it helped having Bramble there too. Bramble has always been a good passenger, calm and generally stretches out to sleep when she realises we are on a long haul trip :)

Today was a really busy active day. A lovely walk in the sunshine on the beach, followed by dinner in a restaurant. We got there fairly early and we were seated by 7 pm. When we arrived there were only a few seated guests, and no dogs. By the time we left it had become quite busy! And other dogs had arrived. Carbon, as usual, was as good as gold. Bramble is not really used to eating out, however, she has a naturally calm disposition, and happily sprawled her long body halfway across the floor! Otter was very good. Quiet and curious, settling with encouragement, meaning lots of treats dropped on the mat when her focus was calm and more on the goings on from waitress and guests than staring at me. I also dropped treats when her body become more relaxed with hips tilted to one side.

Oh and the fish n' chips with mushy peas was highly rated according to @Emily_Babbelhund :celebrate::clap:

A quick video....


Otter at the beach....:sun:


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