As promised, I wanted to write an update on our first few days and weeks with Barbet puppy Thunus. He’s been an absolute joy and pleasure to have around. We haven’t had just one puppy to focus on training in over two years, so this has been a great reminder to Walter and I in the art of raising one puppy.
Starting from the first night, we crate train all of our dogs, so Thunus went through the same. That first night was a bit rough as Thunus was a bit whimpery and restless which is completely understandable as not only did he leave his siblings/pack he was in route to our home for nearly 24 hours with us. So, our technique is to have the puppy next to our bed in a smaller crate and every time they whimper, we put our hand down near their crate to let them know we are there. We also took him out a few times during the night as he was on a different time zone. After a few days of this he would happily walk into his crate at night and snooze away.
Then, potty training has begun. The key on training puppies is noticing their schedule. To start, take them out immediately as they wake up– always! Then when they go to the bathroom praise them. After feeding, play time, nap take them out. We’re trying to have Thunus ring a bell at the door so every time we go out with him we encourage and praise him every time he rings the bell. They’ll still have accidents, but if you keep a keen eye on watching them the Barbet will get the hang of potty training in no time. If we do catch an accident, we simple say NO and take him outside immediately until he goes outside.
From there, we’ve been working on training him to retrieve toys. We do this in our hallway with all the other dogs outside to minimize distractions. We don’t do this too long as puppies have short attention spans so maybe 5 minutes tops. We’ll toss is 3-4 feet at first, within arms reach, and encourage him. At first he’d run after the toy then see us and run back sans toy; however, now, 2 weeks later, he’s beginning to bring back the toy. Of course lots of praise, petting, and sometimes treats to reward his efforts.
We’ve also begun taking him to beginning obedience which our Kennel Club of Columbus Indiana teaches on Tuesday nights. Granted he is the youngest in the class, but that doesn’t deter his stellar Barbet manners. We’ve started with “watch me” encouraging his attention on the trainer (either Walter or I). Then walking on a leash as well as stand and sit.
Outside of training, he often snoozes hours away at my feet often placing his soft fluffy head on my toes. He’ll play with the other Barbet who teach him manners and romp outside chasing down frisbee champ, Isis. He’s discovered frogs, flowers, strawberries, and various other joys. One of his favorite things to do inside, is turn the toy basket upside down, spewing toys all over the floor, then gleefully romping around playing with the tiny dragon to rope, often rolling over with a toy in his mouth. It’s as if he’s created his own imaginary play world.
Memorial day weekend, we’ll journey to DC (a mere 10 hour drive) to his new family, Walter’s amazing sister Nancy who had adored and owned Dyna. They are beyond excited and will continue his obedience training and hopefully therapy training. We’ll miss him like crazy as it’s hard to not get attached to any dog, but all the more reason to visit DC often and Nancy visit us with Thunus.
Hard at work…
