Monday, December 9, 2013

Ving a Ding

AKA da Ving Nut (spoken with Austrian accent), and Ding Ding.
L'il M pretending to be a dog with Ving
It's hard to believe that Ving has only been with our family for 1 month.  He is such an integrated member!  Ving is 8-months-old today, and has shown sooo much improvement over the past month that it makes me adore him all the more, and shows the potential that I really think he has to turn that corner into a really good dog.  I cannot imagine our house without him anymore.
Dillon and Ving try to get a little of the dog bed that Queen Esme is hogging!

Taking a look at the list of things to work on with Ving that I created last month, improvement can be easily measured:
  1. Recall- currently it is horrible off-leash.   Improved, still a long ways to go before I'd have any confidence.
  2. End the reflexive keep-away game. This has much improved due to almost continual wearing of a drag line, and much positive reinforcement of good choices he makes.  
  3. Settle in the house without a tie-down.
  4. Don't pick up things that aren't dog toys in house. Related to #2- much improved!
  5. Respond to his name.  I have a horrid cold right now, so maybe this is temporary, as my voice sounds so different from how he usually hears his name. Pretty darn good now, except under exciting distractions.
  6. Take food more gently.  To add to the fact that he gets excited about kibble, he has a canine with the tip broken off which makes his tooth really sharp! Rarely is this a problem anymore, but we won't cross it off just yet.
  7. Quiet behavior when he wants to do something else.  He has gotten better in the crate during the day, and is great all-night, but early mornings while I am relieving him and Esme are tough (when it's not his turn!) Very good, in general, but near dinner time or if he knows I'm doing something fun, then he sounds like a shrieking monkey.
  8. Four feet on the floor.  He's a kangaroo hopper if you hold his collar when he's excited to get somewhere.
Ving has just recently (like in the past 2 days) been freed of his constant drag line.  He no longer plays a circular game of keep away indoors when he gets something he shouldn't have (my floor plan aids Ving in this game!).  I can trust him not to steal attended food on the coffee table.  As long as Ving gets a good outing or an hour of good exercise, he settles in the house as well as any 8-month puppy I've known.  He has even shown that he will take a quiet day (no outing, minimal exercise), and still be chill in the house.  The next day better have some exercise though or he becomes Naughty Ving.
Ving in the snow

Outings with Ving are fun.  He is aware of everything, and requires me to constantly be paying attention and marking/rewarding his decision to stick with me in the face of people, interesting objects, and most difficult, other dogs.  Yesterday's trip to Home Depot was like taking L'il M to a toy store.  Forklifts, Christmas decorations, people, bins with small metal parts that made fun clinking noise all delighted Ving.  Unusual to our local Home Depot, no other dogs were there.  Maybe the frigid 14 degree weather kept them home, but not an adventurer like Ving!




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