This was approximately 2 weeks ago and she has now decided she wants to try to be the leader of the pack. She has moved past my rescue who is happy to sit at the bottom ( a good thing as no fights - they will share food, toys, water, and other prize possessions without so much as a growl. My little girls has grown from 10 lbs to 35 lbs. She is excelling in puppy class (socialization and obedience) and has no fear of other dogs/people which makes the next step of advanced obedience before protection training starts.
My larger Mastiff gent, is very easy going but she has not moved past him to the top. He is a confident/protection trained dog who is non reactive but periodically says piss off puppy I am sleeping and don't want to play. He doesn't play that much but likes to run with the other two.
At 4 months she now understands sit, down, down to sit, will not move from either position until I say a word. I can put a pile of dried liver in front of her and she will not move an inch until I say a word - teaching her patience, stand, come, heal, place which means go to where I point and she lays down and does not move until I release her. To get her using her brain I teach her little tricks for fun like shaking with both hands and she has to know her right from her left - stand on her back feet and do a high five. All these are good practice for paw coordination as Bouviers use their paws/legs as weapons with their mouth.
They are hand fed or work for their meals, but the few times they eat from a bowl, they all have to go to the feeding area and sit and look at me, I put the bowls down and when I say the same word they are allowed to eat. If this sounds mean, it isn't. I have to be in control as she will be at least 80-100 lbs of confident Bouvier that will be a working dog/part of the family used to keep the coyotes away and to protect the members of my family that need to be or protect the house. My Bull Mastiff already knows and is middle aged.
It is a lot of work - 10 minutes twice a day for 3 dogs is an hour of training a day and 1 hour on both days of the weekend. One for socialization/obedience and a lot of fun for the dogs and when she is older (12 months minimum for her safety with joints/muscles/teeth) she starts protection training. This does not include every time we go out, they have to sit and wait for the humans to go out, and then I release them and they can play, run, or I take them for a controlled walk.
Where I live is not the placid place it used to be due to drugs and other issues. This past weekend we had a group of 4 men parking in front of the houses off the road, and watching for 15-30 minutes. A few neighbours noticed as did family and told me. I waited for them to arrive and they parked. I grabbed all three dogs and said heal and starting walking towards the grey Oldsmobile and they drove away.
Even untrained dogs, are an amazing deterrent to people who have bad intentions.
Enough about dogs.
My larger Mastiff gent, is very easy going but she has not moved past him to the top. He is a confident/protection trained dog who is non reactive but periodically says piss off puppy I am sleeping and don't want to play. He doesn't play that much but likes to run with the other two.
At 4 months she now understands sit, down, down to sit, will not move from either position until I say a word. I can put a pile of dried liver in front of her and she will not move an inch until I say a word - teaching her patience, stand, come, heal, place which means go to where I point and she lays down and does not move until I release her. To get her using her brain I teach her little tricks for fun like shaking with both hands and she has to know her right from her left - stand on her back feet and do a high five. All these are good practice for paw coordination as Bouviers use their paws/legs as weapons with their mouth.
They are hand fed or work for their meals, but the few times they eat from a bowl, they all have to go to the feeding area and sit and look at me, I put the bowls down and when I say the same word they are allowed to eat. If this sounds mean, it isn't. I have to be in control as she will be at least 80-100 lbs of confident Bouvier that will be a working dog/part of the family used to keep the coyotes away and to protect the members of my family that need to be or protect the house. My Bull Mastiff already knows and is middle aged.
It is a lot of work - 10 minutes twice a day for 3 dogs is an hour of training a day and 1 hour on both days of the weekend. One for socialization/obedience and a lot of fun for the dogs and when she is older (12 months minimum for her safety with joints/muscles/teeth) she starts protection training. This does not include every time we go out, they have to sit and wait for the humans to go out, and then I release them and they can play, run, or I take them for a controlled walk.
Where I live is not the placid place it used to be due to drugs and other issues. This past weekend we had a group of 4 men parking in front of the houses off the road, and watching for 15-30 minutes. A few neighbours noticed as did family and told me. I waited for them to arrive and they parked. I grabbed all three dogs and said heal and starting walking towards the grey Oldsmobile and they drove away.
Even untrained dogs, are an amazing deterrent to people who have bad intentions.
Enough about dogs.