shorthorsemom
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2008
- Messages
- 2,386
- Reaction score
- 454
I thought I would share. I have two adult childless friends that got a puppy a few months ago as a spontaneous gesture when one of their two senior dogs passed away. When they told me they had purchased a lab puppy I had one of those OMG moments. I have been a dog trainer since mid 70s and I have 6 dogs of my own and although I shared their joy when they showed me their new little lab bundle of joy named "zeus" I also had one of those "what were you thinking" thoughts in the back of my mind.
For some history.. The husband has stage 4 liver failure and the wife was recently disabled by an on the job horrible accident and is recovering from a crushed foot with pain level off the charts. The husband is not well and the wife cannot walk and she wears a boot and here is this gorgeous male lab puppy with GIANT feet. Yikes. I offer my help and they say, no thank you, he is the "perfect" puppy and both of their old guys were "perfect" puppies too.
I helplessly watch for a couple of weeks as puppy rides behind the steering wheel of their car, listens to them tell me about how puppy sits down at the supper table with them with his own plate of food and sleeps in their bed while owners argue on who feels good enough to let him out in the yard to potty at night and then complain about accidents. They were raising him without a crate and they thought leaving him intact and having him sire puppies in the future would be fun. yikes.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when they brought him over to show me one afternoon and complained that he wouldn't walk on a leash. I watch they struggle to pick up this enormous puppy and carry him everywhere he wants to go, I work with him 5 minutes and agree, yes he does not know how to walk on a leash and discovered the harness was pinching him in the armpits. I offer to assist the housebreaking and leash training and help a little on the manners training and they agree so he came to my home for an afternoon.
They brought him to me and dropped him off and I learned he was smart and willing and I had this pup going potty with the help of my veteran dogs showing him the way, had him walking nicely on lead and I crate trained him by they time they came back to pick him up.
I discovered that this puppy is VERY smart, willing to learn and if I were picking an obedience or search rescue dog I would probably pick him. Yikes, smart puppys in lenient homes can be a nightmare, puppies get crazy without enough mental stimulation.. I suggested doing every other day training sessions and he was advancing quickly. I gave owners easy homework assignments so they could feel a part of his training. Quickly noticed that they were not doing any of the homework and they admitted so and I noticed puppy starting to regress on his training and I would spend half my training session winning the battle and the other half enjoying the result of winning.
Marrige is shaky between the two owners and they do not agree on anything and they fight about the puppy and husband pretty much does his own thing and keeps saying puppy always listens to him but not to the wife. What I see is puppy is now gaining control at their home and each time I get him for training he is bigger, stronger and more spoiled. Yikes again. I work with training the owner when she comes to pick him up, but am seriously limited by their physical limitations. even asking them to do some eye contact exercises and clicker training and two days later they admit to doing neither.
Puppy has now gained 13 lbs in 4 weeks and now outweighs 4 of my 6 dogs. He leaps right off the floor and launches at his owners heads and knocks their glasses off and sends things flying. He bites everything because he is teething. He snarls at possession of bones now. He steals food from their other dog and is trying for total leadership. He IS in control of their house. It is sad watching the destruction of a fabulous puppy by folks that should have considered an older rescue lab to pour their hearts into and spoil for life.
So now... I have offered some "Puppy boot camp" at my home. Told her that puppy was fast approaching the point where he will be too strong to handle, and I offered her an "intervention".
He will come stay with me for 24/7 training and they can visit with him here. When I have control and consistant training on him, I will then return him to them and continue private lessons in their home. He will get dog food here and not eat from my plates. I can resist those cute big brown eyes.
I need another dog like a hole in the head, but the trainer in me cannot watch them destroy the temperament of a wonderful puppy with their love. Some owners can just love a dog to death and this is what I am watching. He bites their faces and when I ask what they were doing when he did the biting, they say... "well, I was kissing his lips"... ahhhhhhhhhh I see.
I already got them to quit hitting him with news paper and showing him poop and pee and sticking his face right over it and scolding him. sheesh. I have my work cut out for me, but considering he was house broken reliably in my home in about an hour, I know I have puppy brains to work with.
We have 200 acres and you should see him track, relax and walk on a loose lead and explore every crack and ditch and rock. He is calm and happy and loves his walks once I win the battle of who is in control.
The battle was getting tougher and tougher to win each day because he was getting away with murder and then coming over for a 1 hour training session and going home to comit more crimes.
I felt good when the wife with the hurt foot said, " I need a break and I hope you can help us"... I will do my best. I keep telling myself, it will be good for me. This is my random act of kindness for the month. the adventure begins...
Anyway... to keep this from being a book, and I will let you know as a training story in the making how it works taking puppy into bootcamp. Zeus arrives in 1.5 hours. Let the games begin sherlock. stay tuned, this might end up being a fun and dramatic thread. If you could have seen this 56 year old mom (me) wrestling a puppy in a field yesterday (because I refuse to lose) you would have had a good laugh. I won but I think I had youtube material in humor there for a bit. cheers.
PS, little stinker trys to eat rocks and corn fodder. He now has a nice booda bone to carry on our walks. Did I say what a natural retriever he is? take care and wish me luck folks.
For some history.. The husband has stage 4 liver failure and the wife was recently disabled by an on the job horrible accident and is recovering from a crushed foot with pain level off the charts. The husband is not well and the wife cannot walk and she wears a boot and here is this gorgeous male lab puppy with GIANT feet. Yikes. I offer my help and they say, no thank you, he is the "perfect" puppy and both of their old guys were "perfect" puppies too.
I helplessly watch for a couple of weeks as puppy rides behind the steering wheel of their car, listens to them tell me about how puppy sits down at the supper table with them with his own plate of food and sleeps in their bed while owners argue on who feels good enough to let him out in the yard to potty at night and then complain about accidents. They were raising him without a crate and they thought leaving him intact and having him sire puppies in the future would be fun. yikes.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when they brought him over to show me one afternoon and complained that he wouldn't walk on a leash. I watch they struggle to pick up this enormous puppy and carry him everywhere he wants to go, I work with him 5 minutes and agree, yes he does not know how to walk on a leash and discovered the harness was pinching him in the armpits. I offer to assist the housebreaking and leash training and help a little on the manners training and they agree so he came to my home for an afternoon.
They brought him to me and dropped him off and I learned he was smart and willing and I had this pup going potty with the help of my veteran dogs showing him the way, had him walking nicely on lead and I crate trained him by they time they came back to pick him up.
I discovered that this puppy is VERY smart, willing to learn and if I were picking an obedience or search rescue dog I would probably pick him. Yikes, smart puppys in lenient homes can be a nightmare, puppies get crazy without enough mental stimulation.. I suggested doing every other day training sessions and he was advancing quickly. I gave owners easy homework assignments so they could feel a part of his training. Quickly noticed that they were not doing any of the homework and they admitted so and I noticed puppy starting to regress on his training and I would spend half my training session winning the battle and the other half enjoying the result of winning.
Marrige is shaky between the two owners and they do not agree on anything and they fight about the puppy and husband pretty much does his own thing and keeps saying puppy always listens to him but not to the wife. What I see is puppy is now gaining control at their home and each time I get him for training he is bigger, stronger and more spoiled. Yikes again. I work with training the owner when she comes to pick him up, but am seriously limited by their physical limitations. even asking them to do some eye contact exercises and clicker training and two days later they admit to doing neither.
Puppy has now gained 13 lbs in 4 weeks and now outweighs 4 of my 6 dogs. He leaps right off the floor and launches at his owners heads and knocks their glasses off and sends things flying. He bites everything because he is teething. He snarls at possession of bones now. He steals food from their other dog and is trying for total leadership. He IS in control of their house. It is sad watching the destruction of a fabulous puppy by folks that should have considered an older rescue lab to pour their hearts into and spoil for life.
So now... I have offered some "Puppy boot camp" at my home. Told her that puppy was fast approaching the point where he will be too strong to handle, and I offered her an "intervention".
He will come stay with me for 24/7 training and they can visit with him here. When I have control and consistant training on him, I will then return him to them and continue private lessons in their home. He will get dog food here and not eat from my plates. I can resist those cute big brown eyes.
I need another dog like a hole in the head, but the trainer in me cannot watch them destroy the temperament of a wonderful puppy with their love. Some owners can just love a dog to death and this is what I am watching. He bites their faces and when I ask what they were doing when he did the biting, they say... "well, I was kissing his lips"... ahhhhhhhhhh I see.
I already got them to quit hitting him with news paper and showing him poop and pee and sticking his face right over it and scolding him. sheesh. I have my work cut out for me, but considering he was house broken reliably in my home in about an hour, I know I have puppy brains to work with.
We have 200 acres and you should see him track, relax and walk on a loose lead and explore every crack and ditch and rock. He is calm and happy and loves his walks once I win the battle of who is in control.
The battle was getting tougher and tougher to win each day because he was getting away with murder and then coming over for a 1 hour training session and going home to comit more crimes.
I felt good when the wife with the hurt foot said, " I need a break and I hope you can help us"... I will do my best. I keep telling myself, it will be good for me. This is my random act of kindness for the month. the adventure begins...
Anyway... to keep this from being a book, and I will let you know as a training story in the making how it works taking puppy into bootcamp. Zeus arrives in 1.5 hours. Let the games begin sherlock. stay tuned, this might end up being a fun and dramatic thread. If you could have seen this 56 year old mom (me) wrestling a puppy in a field yesterday (because I refuse to lose) you would have had a good laugh. I won but I think I had youtube material in humor there for a bit. cheers.
PS, little stinker trys to eat rocks and corn fodder. He now has a nice booda bone to carry on our walks. Did I say what a natural retriever he is? take care and wish me luck folks.
Last edited by a moderator: