The journey that we have been on is hard to put into words. Mom and I decided that we would get a homestead protection dog in a couple years. We agreed on a German Shepherd and I started researching the breed and possible future breeders. Before we knew it, we were hooked up with an amazing breeder that had a litter of German Shepherd pups brewing. Pups were born, pictures were posted on Facebook and, at a day old, a check was in the mail. The journey had begun…a couple years sooner than we were prepared for.
I have never raised a puppy. Scraps, our Staffordshire terrier mix, was a rescue. He had his own set of issues and I am so beyond words incredibly grateful to have traveled the roads that he led us down. He was hard work but, looking back, we would have failed this new journey if we didn’t have the foundation of training him and helping him become a wonderful companion. His training brought connections to outstanding trainers, knowledge of training techniques and understanding of canine psychology.
Understanding…the key word. If you choose to try to train a dog without understanding it then you will fail. Plain and simple. You cannot change what you do not understand. A dog doesn’t lie, they don’t play mind games…they are honest…and, if you are willing to listen, they will tell you what you need to hear.
Our breeder uses the puppy culture protocol to raise and evaluate her dogs. It is an absolutely amazing program. So much so that I’m not sure that I could buy another puppy unless it came from a puppy culture program. It’s totally super amazing and if you haven’t heard of it then you should look it up.
Part of that program is evaluating the puppies in order to properly place them with their new families. Gotta tell ya, the evaluator was right when it came to our Jazzy! We asked for a Schutzhund dog and, by golly, that is exactly what we got!!!
Hard headed, determined, unwilling to back down, persistent…plain ‘ole stubborn! Everything that you need in a Schutzhund dog…
She was beyond cute!
She hated being left alone. The first day that we had her she screamed every time that we put her in her crate. I mean SCREAMED! There was no “off” switch. She could be dead tired but, because she was so persistent in getting what she wanted, she just kept going and going and going…. Those cute photos of puppies falling over from exhaustion and sleeping? Yeah, totally not her…
At 8 weeks old puppies typically go through a fear phase. I was determined not to mess her up during her fear phases. We brought her home at 8.5 weeks old so the first week I slept on a cot next to her kennel so that she would stop screaming and go to sleep at night. Every night I would move the cot away a few inches until by the end of the week I was across the room from her.
We tried everything to make the crate a “happy” place but she never bought into it. I would go to work with ears ringing and nerves frazzled beyond repair because our girl hated being locked up and was so tenacious in what she wanted that she wore our nerves thin.
But, she sure was cute!!!
Then came the training… Zero, I mean ZERO food drive. I tried chicken, I tried pork, I tried several different rolled dog foods, I cooked her special homemade tuna-burn-your-nose-its-so-stinky treats…I even tried hot dogs. NOTHING!
Fortunately, one of our trainers had a solution. Unfortunately, it took so long to get her food motivated that we lost a good chunk of training opportunities during her prime training age. It’s a good thing she’s super smart!
Alright, so now that we have her food motivated…she decides that she needs to bark at every dog that she sees… Cause that’s totally helpful… Pretty sure that I can see that dog over there without a heads up that includes barking and lunging. Add in her desire to fence fight with the dogs next door through the privacy fence along with attacking Scraps every time he steps a paw outside and now we have a slippery slope headed towards a reactive dog.
Did I mention that she’s cute???
Our schutzhund trainer started working her on the field with other dogs so that she could get used to having them around without barking at them. And then in an attempt to get her into a group setting, off to puppy class we go. Although, by this point, she’s six months old so it’s not really a puppy class. The trainers were great. They let us sit a little off to the side so that we could manage her without overwhelming her.
It was hard but little by little it started getting better. Did I mention that we’re attempting all of this with only a flat collar? Ugh…not an easy task!!!
So today, my puppy grew up right in front of my eyes…and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Today, my puppy rushed out the back door at puppy speed…because that’s the only speed that she knows…and then calmly laid down on the warm concrete to sunbathe.
Today, my puppy didn’t try to attack Scraps as soon as he was out the door.
Today, the dogs next door barked. Today, she bolted straight for the fence. Today, a quick, “hey, uh-uh!” and she stopped, turned around, looked at me…and came back. Today, my puppy listened.
Today, my puppy fell asleep on the living room floor for two hours. Today, my puppy took a nap without being forced to.
Today, my puppy aced puppy class. Today she decided that paying attention was more rewarding than barking at the other dogs.
Today, I was able to sit outside with a glass of wine without putting it down every 3 seconds to do puppy damage control.
Today, I was able to relax and truly enjoy my puppy.
Today…made every day that we’ve struggled to nurture her into an amazing dog…today made it totally worth it.
Until next time,
TT
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