Chuck 12wks

I feel like I didn't do that much new this week with Chuck, but when I looked back at what he was doing last week we really progressed quite a bit.  The nice thing about puppies is that they learn so quickly!

House manners are going well and he seems to not be picking up quite as much stuff off the floor.   Chuck is also starting to learn that he is not allowed up on the couch (unlike the rest of our pets who take over the couch at will) and is pretty accepting of this fact.

We also went on our first real outings this week!  While Chuck has been out in public quite a bit, we hadn't yet used his cape to gain access to areas dogs are not allowed.  His first trip was to Target.  Of course he promptly peed on the floor less then 5 minutes into it.  Damn dog just wanted to eat wood chips when I tried to have him go before we went inside!  Once cleaning up our little mess we continued our outing and Chuck showed off his awesome attention and great walking skills, even offering downs whenever I stop moving! Of course I am shoving his kibble in is mouth every 5 seconds :)  We also went to the mall and Best Buy this week where Chuck did great and had no more accidents.

Training focus:
Chuck has been doing great with touching a target with his foot so this week I worked on placing the target at different heights.  He's not doing any "rises" yet (and won't until much older) but he is having to touch a target very low on the wall or on my leg.

Pivoting skills have progressed so Chuck is now learning to get into "heel" and "side" from front position without the help of his stool.  He still needs a treat lure for this.

Shaping the retrieve/tug is going slow.  Chuck does it great in a play session but I am still not getting anything more then an open mouth on an object when in a training session. 

Crate games went well!  Chuck will run into a crate from 15ft away and voluntarily stay inside with the door open until he hears "ok!"  I have been adding some mild body movement to start working on the stay concept.  Basically I plan on teaching Chuck a stay using both his crate and his mat before I start naming it and doing it outside of the crate/mat. 

We have also played some random shaping games this week to get Chuck thinking.  I'm not sure what I had him do but all involved interacting with a box.