Zumi 8wks
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Sunday, December 7, 2014
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zumi
It's been a long first week with Zumi. But other than the whole crate training chaos she's been a super fun puppy. Very zoom zoom. Not as confident about the world as Pyra was, but I have no doubt we will get there.
Still not so food motivated. Zumi prefers being on the go and can't be bothered to finish her meals. But she is cooperating for a little bit of meal training. Mainly working on crate games, pivoting, fold back downs, and hand nudges.
Outside of meals I'm trying to show Zumi that body handling isn't torture. Not a fan of upside down puppy and leg stretches. She is pretty cuddly but no where near the level of Py or the labradors. As long as Zumi is on the couch she is content to sprawl out wherever. This picture makes her look huge, but she's only 8.5lbs!
I do believe she has now taken a nap with every member of the household.
Vito just closes his eyes and pretends the puppy isn't there.
Lance will play with her but the cuddling was on accident. Actually it's super rare that he was even on my couch to begin with, vs having his own space on the dog couch.
The cat just didn't move.
She is so cute!!!! Since she isn't food motivated will you do some toy training? I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with her.
I've always tried to use toys in training with the puppies I have had. Typically I initially teach tricks and obedience with food because of the number of reps I can get in a short time and because they can be more thoughtful. But then when it comes to their sport (agility AND obedience) I like to switch to toys as much as possible for most things. Lance being the exception since toys are just not a reward for him.
With Zumi I am hoping that as we progress through training food will become a higher value. What drive you use, you practice. I will keep up the toy training seperately. If it comes down to food still being very low value than I will certainly attempt to shape new behaviors with toys but it's not something I have much experience in!
I don't either!! That's why I was curious, because I would love to learn more about it if you use it with her. Jackal is VERY (overly) food motivated so I used it for all of our training, although once a behavior was trained I would sometimes use a toy as a reward. I've never used the toys for the actual training though. I'm looking forward to the training you are doing with her. :)
We've got a Golden that isn't food or toy motivated - Monty! Lot's of fun in training. LOL, we call it contract negotiations.
I'm glad everyone is okay with the new pup.
Monty and Harlow
Hi Laura,
Can you show how the dog door trap works?
Thanks!
You're wondering about the doggy door? We just installed it over the weekend so the dogs are still learning that they can use it. It's 2 flaps with magnets on the bottom that the dogs just push out of their way to go out. It comes with a solid plastic cover that I slide in when I don't want the dogs to use it or when I'm not home.
Those photos are so sweet! She is adorable! Looking forward to seeing her grow :-D