Remember This

Kolby turned 12 weeks today and our three month old puppy is an official Rock Star. Warning, I am so darn happy that I will freely admit that I am going to brag.

Last week, Kolby walked into Puppy classes speaking and he had a lot to say, so it took a good while before he silenced. Let me rephrase, he was barking because I never once gave him the Speak command. He would look at me and bark. After chatting with our Trainer and getting the entire class working on Speak and Quiet, and having one on one homework about this matter, we focused on his voluntary voice all week. 

Since Saturday Kolby is now 95% Quiet all. the. time. It is night and day difference. Case in point, we walked into class today, and he was silent and remained silent. Yes!! I am thrilled. 

We have gone on outings, and he has been silent. We have gone on outings and he has also accepted his Gentle Leader. If you have been reading along, you will remember that last week Kolby was Schooled about putting on his Gentle Leader. He was a bucking bronco when I tried to put it on him. But - no longer. He has graduated to the Medium sized Gentle Leader, so today it took about five tries to get the correct fitting (that is soooo hard to do!). He was such a gentleman the entire fitting and remained a gentleman while wearing it. Insert applause here. Thank you. 

I noticed today when we were in our first store that it felt like Kolby was gliding on his leash. It felt identical to just dragging the leash on the floor. Kolby does not pull, lunge forward, or lag behind. I had to pass the leash around to my kiddos for them to feel. It was awesome!!! He was wearing his Gentle Leader too. Happy Dance for Kolby!

I really, really, really do not want to compare Haddie to Kolby. But I am so over the moon about this topic, I just have to. Haddie was best on her Gentle Leader, but even that would not always stop her from pulling. If she was determined about something, she would just pull and not care if her nose was being pulled sideways as a result. Thankfully we got this under enough control before Turn In, but it was by far her biggest struggle through Raising from day one. 

I am seriously crossing my fingers and toes that Kolby has the no-pulling trait down naturally. I will make sure we do everything we can to keep it this way. I can imagine him 80 pounds one day, and we absolutely need this gliding on leash thing to stick!!

Class was amazing. My son worked him for the first half, I worked him the second half. Kolby sat when my son would come to a stop. He held a very long Stay command as directed by our Trainer. He was not distracted by the other puppies, and he glided through class on his leash. Before Kindergarten class had started, Kolby sat in a heel by my side watching the older puppies work in their class. He sat and watched for ten minutes. He only broke his sit twice, and I didn't even ask him to Stay. He volunteered that part. Have I mentioned that Kolby loves to sit (wink), it is true. 

To end the perfect day, we swung into my friend's house on the way home (she lives 5 minutes from class). She has three cats and two adorable children and a very nice husband. We put Kolby in his kennel in their kitchen and let their three cats hang out with him. Kolby didn't care, the cats were a little leery and not so sure about the black shadow in the box, but all was fine and it was a perfect experience for Kolby. 

And he didn't bark. Or whimper. 

Remember This - today was a great day in the life of puppy raising Kolby!!