The Blog That Never Was: Raising John Wilbur Conner

It is just over four months since Wilbur came into my life. His age is now measured in months instead of weeks, and he has emerged as his own "person."

He is six months old.

His progress impresses me, and is more a testimony to CCI breeding than my skills as a trainer. He learns things very easily. Any bad habits are minor and easily fixed with consistent training. He is very cheerful.

A recap:

It seems, somewhere between 16 - 18 weeks, he learned his name. Like overnight. I did work on his name as I was taught in dog training, but for Wilbur's first three and a half months I thought he was deaf, and I worried that he would think his name was "Don't!" (the general CCI correction for anything). He learned "Drop" readily, as he had to do it all day. Sticks, rocks, cat toys, basically anything in his path, except a toy. Now, with the command "Drop," he actually projectile spits the item from his mouth.

He does an automatic wait at the bottom and top of the stairs, and has stopped chasing the cats. We are working on Petra's chickens, which he did find fascinating, but resisted in a sit/don't.

He waits on command at doorways and out of the car. I have to be more consistent, and then he will do it automatically. (See, it's me, I need the training.)

He lets me cut his nails!!! This after not letting me touch his feet!

The most impressive thing to me is what happens when I put his CCI gold puppy vest on and take him into a store. He turns into a service dog, totally focused and behaved. It amazes me. He disappears by my side, stops when I stop, waits, comes along with a "Let's go."

Things I have to work on:

1. He jumps and licks. Working on that.
2. Roll. He rolls all the time, but not on command. My bad.
3. Heel and side. Should be a piece of cake. Especially if I offer him cake!
4. Better manners in food situations at friends' houses. Tough one, that.
5. Dress into the halti. (Does any pup actually walk into a gentle leader or halti? Come on.)
6. Being more gentle taking treats.
7. Fetch. He is a lab that does not retrieve. What is up with that?
8. Most important: Recall. He comes with a "Here," but I have not really trained in an open, distracting area.

Now that camp is over, I look forward to taking him to more classes, working him and also going for those long walks I love. We can't do the Swamp now (the mosquitoes land on us like a net) so I am going to Jockey Hollow instead.

In Jockey Hollow today, on a long lead, he kept checking on me and doing a "wait" 9 out of 10 times when he was 5-10 feet ahead of me. Next to me he will pretty much stick to me, if working. He did his own roll today, and I rubbed his belly, and I thought about how good he is, how easy to train, and I thought I saw his future.