Training

This morning at 6:30 when I woke to take Vasco out for his morning potty break he was up and ready to go! He was so excited, bouncing around and running around like mad. It was great to see him with so much puppy energy and took all my fears away :)

We've been working on "Fetch". The breeder said that Shelties are not an instinctively retrieving breed so that's one of the most important things to be working on at this stage in his life, since he'll need to know how to retrieve if he wants to do other more advanced things with show or work or other advanced skills. Also, it'll provide years of enjoyment for me in the future if I can play Fetch with him. Very true. She gave me a bunch of papers on puppy life stages and what happens when and what should be developing and fostered at what point in their lives. It's very interesting.

I'm really working hard with "Come" and "Sit" as well. Vasco's got "Sit" down pretty well. He'll do it usually 2 of 3 times, but "Come" is still in the works. Sometimes he'll come running, other times he'll just pretend he didn't even hear you *grins* cuz he's Vasco the Rascal.

As for housebreaking and potty training... it's been going well. He's only had two small accidents so far, both of which were my fault because I knew the time was coming up when he needed to go soon, but I put off taking him out.

He's been really good though. He's very mild when you pick him up and loves his crate. When he's tired, he'll just walk to my room and go into his crate and falls asleep. My mom thinks he's eerily good and calm for a puppy. He has hardly barked or whined at all. But my mom was put a bit at ease when she saw how frisky he was this morning when he was playing outside.

I've been trying to get him used to car rides and such since it'll be helpful to him when it comes time to fly. He was car sick when we brought him back from the breeder and he threw up in the car, but he's been getting more used to it I think. He rides calmly in either my arms or someone else’s when we're in the car and either sleeps or snuggles under an arm. I'm looking forward to when my Sturdi bag (the carry on that I'll be using with him in flight) comes in, so that I can get him used to using that.

I've also been trying to socialize him with other people, children, things. I took him when my brother and I went to Walmart this morning. He got to see the carts and the many cars in the parking lot as well as people walking to and from the store. (He walked really well on the leash too! Another achievement.) I also brought him to Bruce's home this afternoon so that he could meet Bruce's 2 year old niece. I want him to get used to children and be comfortable around them. But you gotta be cautious when introducing a puppy to children because children have to be instructed that puppy is not a toy and that you have to be gentle with him (ie. don't hit him, pull on his tail, yell and scream, etc :) I hope to bring him to Petsmart sometime so he can get meet some other dogs. Faith and him have a cautious truce going on. They'll both curiously sniff at each other but if one gets too personal, the other will back hastily away. Hope and Vasco though are another story. Hope seems to hate Vasco, or at least see him as an intruder, while Vasco's terrified of him because he's so big and loud compared to what he's used to. Vasco grew up with older shelties so he's got a healthy respect for the bigger dogs, but Hope's huge comparatively.