Thursday, November 10, 2011

Hobart's Progress

Hobart is learning so fast. He's gotten the hang of stand, kennel, roll, and heel pretty well. He knows sit, down, shake, here, let's go, hurry, off, lap (I'm pretty sure), wait, and his name. I'm happy at present, because he's four months old and learning more every day. He has one more month to prepare for going in public and I intend to get him ready. He's doing really well on housebreaking and he's learning to walk nicely on a leash. Hopefully I'll be able to do a good job and get him to graduation (or maybe being a breeder). I just hope I do well.

Meanwhile, Hobart's nose is turning brown. It's weird, but I haven't seen any yell CCI dogs that don't have brown nose by six months. It's cute on most dogs, but it's strange when you're used to a black nose!
~Elijah & Hobart II

10 comments:

  1. Elijah, Look how far Dembre has made it! You did great with him. You are doing well with Hobart. I know YOU WILL DO WELL, Because you already are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Elijah,
    Don't forget that it is not the puppy raiser that makes a puppy graduate or not. So remember to do your best but it is the pup that defines its fate not you. No matter whether the pup graduates or not you will have done well :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Madison and Madison. It's always great to have input from others who have gone through the same thing I have!!! :)

    ~Elijah (& Hobart II)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well done, Elijah and Hobart!! I've been reading from you and others who are "waiting" to get their pups out in public. But in our region we are encouraged to start from day one. Do you mind sharing the philosophy of your region for waiting? I know there are many ways to be a Puppy Raiser, so I just want to learn from all different perspectives. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. According to CCI's NC policy we must wait until the dog is 5 months old to go inside places that do not allow pets. One reason is that in strange environments the puppies tend to pick up fear. Another is that CCI feels like we can't convey a good image of service dogs when we have a small puppy in public. Our program manager is considering trying to change the age to four months, but for now we stick with that policy. I know that GDB does take them out early and they seem to do fine so I'm not opposed to the idea :)

    Sorry for the long explanation :D
    ~Elijah & Hobart II

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Elijah. That makes sense. And while we are encouraged to take them out from day one - the outings are short, and it might just include sitting on a bench in observation to get the imprinting of their world before that 16 wk mark. Seems like there are benefits to both ways - at least that takes some worry off the Raiser - more than one way to view socialization. =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's very interesting! I didn't know things were different in other regions of CCI :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. The best of luck to Hobart; out in public is a bunch of fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I know. I enjoyed that so much with Dembre so I'm looking forward to taking him out!

    ReplyDelete
  10. different regions of GDB do things differently, too. We are encouraged not to do much until 4 or 5 months, not only for fear reasons but also for health reasons, but there are other raisers in other regions that have their pups on public transportation at 3.5 months, at movies, sporting events, etc. and their pups seem to turn out okay. After raising 2 "soft" (aka, not inherently brave) puppies, I'm a huge believer in the conservative approach. Sure there are puppies that will do fine with massive exposure at a young age, but those pups will do just as well if they're not exposed until they're older, and the softer puppies will benefit from the maturity time, too, and then you avoid possible negative reactions that can happen when that pup is too young. When I raised for GEB, I was told that GDB as a whole exposes puppies to too much, too early, and my GEB pup didn't get a puppy coat until he was 13 months old. He graduated and works in the Bronx. How's that for conservative? :)

    ReplyDelete

We love hearing from our readers!
Thanks for stopping by,
Elijah and Hobart