Puppy Goals

When Myst came home I had three goals: (1) allow her to be a puppy for as long as possible; (2) to provide many opportunities for building JOY and FUN into our relationship with play, toys, and having many fun new adventures together; and(3) lots of socialization and introducing her to as many new experiences as possible.

Myst arrived in December which was a perfect month for socialization. We seemed to have many people coming to the house that month with visits, work on the house and the holidays. It is always challenging to find ways to socialize before the puppies have received all their shots. Myst loved to meet and play with everyone – men, children, and even the UPS man.

Since it was quite cool in December and we do not have a large enclosed yard much of her early play was indoors. It seemed that every evening she became this “wild child” filled with boundless energy. We did a lot of play in the utility and bedroom. Soon Myst became known as the “soccer girl”. She loved her soccer ball and created a fun game of push the ball under the bed and the scramble under to try to get it out. 

  

Quite early I found that it was time to teach some crate manners. I have found that Susan Garret’s CRATE GAMES are brilliant. I have used them for two of my other dogs and even my Puli has an amazing sit in front of sheep waiting to be released. Crate games teaches a multitude of skills in addition to enjoying going into the crate and waiting quietly to be released. Dogs learn self control; the sit before release is excellent foundation for a perfect start line and sit stays. Once the dog learns to sit and wait to be released, the crate provides a wonderful opportunity to practice recalls. Susan has blended many games for building awesome recalls,  control and passion into training. It is hard for me to not go on and on to tell all of the positives my dogs have learned from crate games since this is one of the easiest and most fun way to train young dogs.

 

SOME OF OUR EARLIEST TRAINING was building BALANCE AND BODY AWARENESS having FUN.