I'm very pleased with Wee Pup Badger.
Last night I took him to Henry's dog training club for the second week in a row. Henry wasn't very pleased about this as he adores going to dog club, its like a dog social club and very friendly, all the dogs get to know each other and all the humans talk about nothing but dogs, that to me is great.
I decided to take Badger as he is getting increasingly wild. He's only 8 months but because we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere he rarely goes on a lead, has absolutely no traffic awareness cos he never sees any, he also never sees any other dogs apart from Henry and Molly and the farm dogs. He spends his days rolling around play fighting with Henry and ignoring me. I decided it was time to take him in hand and add a bit of training.
So last week we went along and it was a nightmare. As we walked into the hall Badger started growling. He didn't stop growling until we got into the car to come home. It was terrible, he was grumpy and determined not to do anything I asked, I think this was made worse by him being on a lead for the whole hour. Still, I didn't give in, I eventually got him to walk to heel, well just, and when it came to the fetch excercise he came into his own and loved it. By the end of the hour I felt we had made a eeney weeeney bit of progress which was confirmed by Badger as he howled in the car all the way home!
Badgers exploits in week one made me all the more determined to have a well trained dog so off we went again last night. To my amazement as soon as he got out of the car Badge dragged me to the door of the hall! He went in full of gusto with no growling and said an enthusiastic hello to a puppy labrador. He also tried to jump all over the labradors owners but we are moving one step at a time here.
In the class Badge struggled a bit with walking to heel due to wanting to desperately speak to the dog in front, but we actually managed to get him to sit at one end of the hall while I walked nearly to the other end and called him, and just to add some icing to that one, instead of running straight past me he actually sat in front of me when he came! Brilliant!
I can't say how pleased I am, I had begun to worry a bit with his growling and rebelling but I thnk with a bit of practice and persistance he will be ok.
The only problem is that I think he has adopted me as his owner, he lays on the floor by my feet while i'm on the computer and every evening he snuggles up with me on the sofa - Other Half isn't happy, but then he isn't the one taking Badge to dog club.
Oh and he howled in the car on the way home again last night, it's so funny!
Look at me now!
About Me
- Henry the Leaphound
- I'm a gorgeous Saluki/Greyhound and I live in Scotland in the countryside with my new owners. I'm about one year old and had a rather rough start to life after being neglected and starved but that's all in the past and my main passion is to enjoy life to the full and get everyone around me to join in.
1 comment:
Wow. What a clever Badger. They say that collies need a job to do so if they don't work, they need obedience training and agility or flyball etc to keep their busy brains occupied.
You'll have to set up a run for Henry and Badger to do at-home agility. Of course, that would involve the obligatory bounce on the trampoline ;-)
Spottie Boy obviously can't do anything like playing catch etc but where we go for our evening walk, we often see people playing with throw toys with their dogs and he runs up and down alongside the dogs as they catch and fetch. He seems to really enjoy it and comes back to me with a great big smile and lolling tongue.
Mad x
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