Lovannah

My puppy is now 4 months old, but at about 10-11 weeks we tried the bell system. We attached it to the patio door. Every time we went out with him we rang the bell, encouraged him to ring also by holding a treat behind it. It took a few days, and he figured it out right away, even if we bought to a friends house or the cottage. We show him where it is and make it clear this is the door we go out to do his business. It eliminates a lot of questioning, although he does ring sometimes now if he just wants to go outside. I just praise him, no more treats required, and go outside and cue him to do his business. As for how long he holds it in, we got him at 9 weeks old. Within the next two weeks, he was going out one last time at 10-10:20 pm and would go until 5:45-6:00 the next morning.

Thanks for all the advice!

It beats me why the pic is upside down, but anyway... I’ve read that about the frisbee playing, so I’m very careful at tossing it low, I’m also sitting on the ground when I play with him, such that the frisbee rarely goes over his head in height. And we train....we train...and we train. We have the sit, down, stay (sort of, only in doors so far), come, off, leave it (very good at leave it), shake, working on the roll over. Indoors, all these go pretty well, so I’ve moved on to backyard and walking in the back woods training. I work from home, so I have maybe too much time to spend with him, but he still gets crate time when I run errands or gets too crazy and training didn’t bring him down. And the crate is a wonderful tool, brings sanity to me and my husband at times. And since is still have work to do, he is still « forced » to chill or amuse himself. But, thanks for the info, my plan is to eventually start running with him, but that too not before his first birthday. I keep telling my husband I just need to get a few sheep for my knitting addiction and for the dog....he agreed to the dog...sheep, not so sure.

My four month old BC, Klondike, is high energy, runs at a speed i couldnt imagine, is getting pretty darn good at catching frisbees, is insulted when passerbys on one of our three daily walks dont acknowledge his handsomeness....a joy to have...but boy am I ever tired at the end of the day! Thankfully, when he crashes, he crashes hard and sleeps for quite a while and through most nights. Will I ever be able to broom the house, or shovel the snow without a barking match, who knows...I cant seem to make him get over it, but have managed to train him on most basic commands in controlled and semi controlled environments. Hes my first dog, my first BC, no regrets.....most days