Puppy Training

I have stopped horse training for a while because I have been busy and disinclined, though I will need to start again as he has gone completely mental recently. I have begun puppy training. This is a useful thing to do I suspect because, as someone pointed out, she knows her name, when you call out Friday, she runs away.

First and obviously she was taught to sit. I did not teach her this, every one else did when she was really young.

The next thing was to wait till I said she could before eating. This is valuable in a Labrador since they are so keen on food they will knock you down and breathe it in. I try to get everyone who is giving her food to make her wait till they have put it down then said "eat it up". This was funny when one of them did it with a toy and she said "go" and I said to try "eat it up" and she did and Friday grabbed it.

The next thing was for her to not barge inside whenever we open the door, this has gone backwards of late unfortunately.

Then, for fun, we have all begun to teach her hide and seek. I used to play this with Roger, my dog. One person goes into the laundry with the dog and the others hide in simple places, like behind bushes, then Friday is let out and the person with her says "go find" and she goes to find her pack. The kids hid behind 3 bushes and she found them, then they hid behind the same bushes again and Friday must have decided that the key was looking in these 3 places, because the third time they hid in different spot and she was sorely confused. She seems to have the general idea now though which is nice.

Today I was teaching to sit, stay come. To lie down and to crawl. She is much quicker at picking things up now and it is a rewarding experience to teach her things. I was also beginning to teach her to come when she is called even if she has something in her mouth. This may seem odd but usually it is somebodies shoe or shirt or similarly desired object.