A week with Charlie the foster Lab

Seven days living with a Lab Puppy

Teenagers can be cute by tiring too. Charlie has a lot of young healthy energy as most Labrador Retriever puppies do. He wants so bad to play with my three dogs, but so far they are not amused with his puppy antics and will not play with him. Maybe they are getting too old for puppy play. Charlie pounces at them and barks in their faces. He also runs circles around them and from time to time goes under the large one or jumps over one of the smaller ones. Lobo my large male German Shepherd dog mostly ignores Charlie and Gigit the blue heeler mix wants to bust his but when he will not listen to her, "Get Lost" warning growl.

So like most teens he picks on the one that he gets to the most -- my little terrier, BooBoo. BooBoo curls her lip and snaps in his face and growls, but this just seems like a fun game to Charlie so he keeps going back to her for more. I have to keep asking Charlie to leave her alone. If I had another young adult dog I think they may play together well. My dogs are just getting a bit too old for his active play.

Charlie still doesn't show much interest in balls or toys -- maybe he just was never given them when he was younger.



Charlie likes to run through puddles, but so far he hasn't taken any dunks in my goldfish pond -- I'm sure my fish appreciate this -- he is a bit much for my little pond. Charlie also like to bite at the watch coming from the garden hose, until I try to wash him with it, then he rather not. I have not taken him yet to the two ponds to see if he would take a swim. Most Labrador Retrievers like water, but not all.

From Charlie

Charlie doesn't like the rain pounding down on the tin roof and barked and whined a lot on two nights when we had downpours along with lots of lightening.

Clicker Training

HEEL: This week I have continued to work with getting Charlie to pay more attention to me on our heeling walks on lead. He is doing pretty good about not pulling on the leash but he does keep walking ahead of me. When he reaches goes ahead and draws the leash taunt I reverse direction and when he catches up and is alongside me I click and treat him. He will learn that the only time he gets a click and a treat is when he is in the correct heeling position. From time to time he does catch himself as he is passing me and slows down and looks at me. I click and treat him to his good self control.

He is now eating both the dry dog food and the hot dog slices on our training walks. Charlie also like raw chicken gizzards which I cut into small pieces with a scissors.

DOWN: Charlie had a hard time figuring out down. I had to keep placing him in the down position time and time again before he had a light bulb moment and figured out what I was wanting him to do. Some dogs can be trained down just by moving the food out in front of them on the ground while they are sitting, but this didn't work with Charlie. He is still slow to go in the down position but should get faster with more training.

From Charlie

Handling

Charlie has no problem with being handled. I can put my fingers down his ears, between his toes, tug on his tail and ears, and even lift his hind legs a bit off ground by his tail without him showing fear or nervousness. He will also let you clip his toenails without a problem. Of course I am clicking and treating him for his calm behavior at my antics.

Charlie is available for adoption from Labs4Rescue http://labs4rescue.com/

Dog Clicker Training - Teaching the Down Cue


Puppy: 2 Month Yellow Lab Tricks

If you are on a roll and want to learn more here is another video to watch:
YouTube - Re: Every Dog Must Know This: How To Train Your Dog To Stay http://snipurl.com/sknjr

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