Our little munchkin has been building a great vocabulary for himself over the past two weeks and we have been so amazed by his intelligence and enthusiasm to learn. He has been learning so quickly and has learned so much in two weeks, that it was just impossible for me to blog about his milestones at his learning pace.
Thanks to Tom Kane, a good friend and colleague of mine, I began the process of teaching Walley some English vocabulary much earlier I thought. Tom is also an absolute dog-lover and once had a gorgeous Golden Retriever himself and now his son has an adorable Golden Retriever; so he knows the best ways to teach a young Golden Retriever puppy and I couldn't have asked for a better mentor. Tom encouraged me to go home one day after work and teach Walley to "Sit". I went home that day and decided to try my luck and patience to see if a two and half month-old puppy (Walley, at the time) could comprehend the human way of teaching to "Sit". Much to my surprise, Walley had actually learned the "Sit" command in exactly 3 minutes of teaching him. I just sat with a cookie in my hand, exactly like Tom had instructed me to, and showed Walley the physical meaning of the word "Sit". The moment he sat down on his own, without me showing him the way (or rather making him sit with my own hands), I gave him a cookie as a treat and he was so excited. Walley and I did this "Sitting and Treating" for the next ten minutes and by then, Walley would sit down as soon as I said "Walley, Sit". How amazing and exciting! Walley and I waited for Elwyn to come home that evening to show him the first lesson our cute and smart little puppy had just learned. Elwyn's face lit up with pride and amazement.
So, the next day when I told Tom that Walley knows the meaning of the word "Sit", even he was happy and excited for us; and he told me to teach Walley the next lesson which was to "Stay". I went home that evening and taught Walley to "Stay" in position after he has sat down. In exactly 4 minutes, he perfectly obeyed the "Stay" command with no mistakes. I gave him a Chicken liver treat each time he obeyed the new command. So, he would sit when told to "Sit" and would stay in the sitting position when told to "Stay" until I would ask him to come towards me and get his treat; which also meant that he learned the word "Come", at least gradually. We are still working on "Come" right now.
Walley learned to "Sit" on November 9th, "Stay" on November 10th, "Sit and Stay" on November 10th. "Sitting" was his first milestone and "Staying" was his second.
I didn't want to confuse or exhaust Walley too much so I didn't teach him anything new for a few days after he learned to "Sit" and "Stay". Walley would just practice "Sit and Stay" that whole week upto the point where he would "Sit and Stay" as we were preparing his meals and until we told him it was OK to come and eat his food, although the whole time he stayed in position, his food would be kept in front of him. Now, that is called patience and obedience when a dog and this case, puppy, stays in the "Sit" position with his food lying in front of him until asked to "Come" and eat. What an accomplishment for Walley and us!! He also sits and stays in position when we are riding the elevator of our apartment building.
A week later, after Walley had learned to "Sit and Stay", I thought it was probably time for his next lesson. I went home one evening after work and taught him to "Lay down", This was a little challenging for both Walley and me as "Sit" and "Lay down" didn't make much difference in a dog's position. Nevertheless, I kept showing Walley the physical meaning of "Lay down" and he kept trying to understand me. Alas, after a good ten minutes of showing him the way to lay down, Walley perfected the act! He laid down so gracefully and looked at me. He got the much-awaited treat as well. This was Walley's third milestone. He learned to "Lay down" on November 20th.
Now, Walley obeys three commands in a row and perfectly with no mistakes. He sits, stays and lays down as soon as he's been told to. This is absolutely incredible learning for a 3 month old puppy!!
We also taught Walley to be "easy" when he takes a treat or toy from our hands. So, now, when we are ready to give him something, he doesn't just grab it from our hands. We say "Walley, easy" and he gently takes the treat or toy without grabbing it. It's so lovely to watch him do that. It's just as though he knows that his teeth would hurt us if he grabbed anything from our hands and hence when we say "easy", he would need to be gentle.
I need to mention now, that it's not just cookies or liver-treats that Walley has been getting when he learns a lesson or obeys a command. Elwyn and I have been praising Walley every time he does a good thing. Whether it's potty training or vocabulary building; it's all about positive reinforcement! Walley knows and understands that every time he's been a good boy he has either earned a treat or praise/petting and most often, he gets both!!
Walley is slowly and yet keenly learning all the house rules as well. He is doing fairly well with Potty-training. We have been noticing less accidental "Pee" and "Poop" at home when he's in his crate. (I have to say that Crate-training has been working very well). He tries his best to go outside and eliminate.
As Walley's parents, Elwyn and I have learned that with just a little patience and lots of positive reinforcement, training and teaching our puppy is a piece of cake!!
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