Welcome to Puppy Boot Camp
Oh boy! I am so tired. I was up at 3am this morning to pre-empt Mik's contribution to the early morning dawn chorus. Its an "amusing" little choral number in three parts for birds, puppy finishing with a rather irritated solo contribution from the kitten, Jez. I am finding it very hard to get the pup to settle. Or perhaps I am too sensitive to his indignant, attention seeking wails. Anyways, he has been here for a little over a week and in every other way he is a puppy to aspire to. He is adorably cute and rather affectionate when it suits and amusingly aloof when it doesn't. He can fetch, has the rudiments of sit still and walking to heel but he also has a very deterimined little spirit in him and always needs to get the last word in. This he did to best effect when shut away from what he wanted to be amongst! I realised then that I was in danger of being overwhelmed by him and that if he wins life really would become desperate. Domination by a small furry brat? No thanks! But how to re-dress the balance? My problem is that I have no prior experience of training a pup, let alone a beagle one. These are stubborn headstrong beasties but also very smart. And can smell a schmuck a mile off! I was falling into the trap of trying to be mommy to the beagle boy and this is no good. He needs strong discipline and leadership and his respect should, with fair and kind training, follow...oh ok, I don't expect miracles and I realise I will never compete with the scent of a rabbit for his attentions but how often does he expect to chase a rabbit in central Chch. Actually, we better check our fences because I have just realised the little boys next door are all excited with the new bunny rabbit they have acquired......
BUT I NEED A NIGHTS SLEEP SOON, NOW PUHLLLLLEASE! I cannot imagine how I would cope if the baby beagle had been a baby PG instead....I think perhaps my maternal instincts would be extinguished even with happy hormones coursing through my veins!
So, we contacted Janice of Tevra Dog Training and she offered us an hour long session last night. We put him in his travel carrier and headed about 15kms up to Kaiapoi. When we got there he was interested by the change of scenery and the smells (Janice has 6 champion grade obedience dogs). Janice would not acknowledge his presence and continued to talk to us. Now,when you are the most adorably cute little brown eyed puppy in the world such a snub cannot go uncommented upon. He tries to interject into the conversation, is ignored, a whine of attention seeking that is met with more cold shouldering. Then he decides that being excluded just is not going to work so he whines and barks a bit louder. But Janice is ready and informs us that she will just shoot him and pulls a gun. Luckily, its a water pistol and gives him a quick squirt. He is stopped in mid squack. Tries to open his mouth again, another squirt. Hmm this is the first time he has been treated this way and he really doesnt know what to make of it. So, miracle upon miracles he shuts up and sits there quietly. Round one to Janice! From then on its amazing, he can't do enough for Janice nor even us; with the requisite treats to reinforce his good behaviour. He had been starved from about lunch time on Janice's advice so that bribery wasn't so difficult on an empty stomach!
So, he went to bed quite tired last night and I was instructed to get up before the barking, howling and whining started, take him out and bring him back in with minimal words other than instructions to go "potty" (its him or me i tell you!). I went into the room and he was sleeping and so it was with no little malice or spite I got my own back and woke him up to take him out to a frosty star and moonlit morning pre-dawn. I think the cold must have resulted in a bladder compression so it didnt take long to "go" and I am not sure who was more pleased at getting to go back to bed! At this stage I would love to report that I got a lie in...but alas Mr Woof has not yet had his bark put at a peep...So at 6-30 I was up again. But am not to concerned at this since his clock has already had a week of being programmed thus.
So, boot camp has begun. He is no longer the centre of his little universe here in our little corner of Chch. I was pretty hard on him - limited his formal feeding and used the food instead as the lure/treats for to reward his good behaviour. We want him well behaved not portly! My main aim is to ensure that he understands and accepts his place in the "pack" as basically the lowest of the lowest mutts. We worked a little and often but I still allowed him time to play a little, sleep but all on my schedule not his. I certainly feel less overwhelmed by him and the responsibility now... and found I had time to attempt the mountain of ironing, go shower, bake baguettes and croissants, do some chemsitry tutoring and not feel like I was not in control of my space anymore. And really, does it matter if there are still muddy paw prints at the kitchen door?
I have been feeding Jez little treats of Miks food in his full view. Making Mik sit there and wait for his whilst the cat is paid lots of attention and he is ignored. He still takes off after the cat but not quite as much as before. I think they might get on better when the pecking order is better defined.
I hope we can make a great little dog from a wonderful little puppy. It would be such a shame to spoil his potential because we couldnt show him tough love eh?
Anyways, was a glorious sunny day here - nice 27 Degs so we spent the day in the garden. I set up his X-pen in the shade and he was put back into when it suited me. With a little but not too much disagreement from master mik beagle.
