july 15 2023
This is going to get me in a whole bunch of trouble......buttttttttt... if you see something going wrong and you do nothing about it.. then you are as wrong as the other wrongers .------forgive me... but I’ve been watching the 12 pups.... and puppy training is not one isolated detail after another... it is a process... maybe this is not the brilliantly correct thing to do.... but I did have an idea---- to help these well meaning volunteers—who quite rightly love the pups---maybe a few changes would make a few steps forward....
Feeding---- I did not see the actual feeding with the bowls.... I came in when they took the bowls away- they had fed the pups in the nice clean looking sand area—but the pups then spent 10 minutes eating every last dribble of food mixed with sand-once in a while no big deal but ?daily?
Leash training—I watched someone carefully put the figure 8 on a pup and then give a tug...... with 11 pups jumping around the one ?now on a leash.? .
Keeping in mind--- training is a process....- to address these two situations -----
I would ------- feed the pups in the cleaned out area of kennel 9 and 10. – ( on camera so everyone can watch and picking up dribbles easier.......) no big deal? No it is the start..... I want the pups to want to come in that room quickly with not a lot of my time and energy to get them there.... and a few feedings- and maybe a time or two of spoon feedings in there would accomplish that. Because------- when the group of 12 pups are out running on the hill, I want to be able to let one pup in the gate of 10 and have them go in the “room...” all by themselves-- then I can go in with my can and spoon... and leash.... for lessons. while the other 11 wish they were there....( an attitude to be acheived) ...
Now I have one pup’s attention and can continue with my figure 8 leash...—put the pup’s rear end in a corner so you don’t end up with the pup running backwards and you chasing it with your hand in a threatening position... TEACH THE PUP WHAT A LEASH IS-- takes only a few minutes// check their name off on a list on the wall and do that 11 more times.. then next day or two...walk in a small circle in that room-- maybe get the pup to jump(ramp?) up on a “grooming table” ( it is around somewhere—with the bowl for the cookie) in a week you then have a base of a dog walking on a leash and jumping “up” on command. It is a start...and they are not eating sand.
I don’t know what the plans are for that room, but I would consider putting back a cleaner version of stairs and ramps that I had in there......which was messy but effective..... – so the pups can teach that to themselves automatically- not requiring any of my time—I am big on lazy automatic training.‘if they had a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood as a sleeping loft---- with fencing to keep them from falling...—they would learn ramps and stairs—always a problem with danes---with a window and access to the outside-- even at times access to puppy hill ... you would have “a relaxed puppy to work with”
