Proud Parent Of An Honour Roll Doggy

It's been six weeks since we last posted about Zeus being in puppy classes and wow, did that time ever fly by! The six weeks taught us the commands for sit, sit stay, down, down stay, loose leash walking, leave it, puppy push ups, touch, watch me, and lots of socializing skills. I really enjoyed the classes with Zeus and I feel that it helped me make sure he got the much needed dog and people socializing in. And for $130 it was worth it to know we are teaching him the right way and start him out socializing with dogs his own age range. The next step would be the intermediate class, (another $130) which I think Zeus would do well in, so we are looking into that. It was bitter sweet having the last class, but Zeus passed his exam with flying colours and even got to wear a graduation cap for photos. A nice way to end things and get a few photos with his classmate Winston, the English Bulldog. They really hit it off and I hope we get to see them around the PetSmart again soon.

Zeus and Winston the regular english bulldog. He is two weeks older but you can already see how much bigger Zeus will be.

It just so happened that on the day of our last class there was a Santa photo opportunity available so we were able to get Zeus' Santa picture done. He was very good about sitting with this strange man for the photo, thank goodness. That is something I agree with 100% about this breed, they are very eager to please their humans, as we saw with Zeus' training and with him listening to us about new situations.

Lately, we are remembering about not only all the fun and joy of having a puppy is but some of the downsides as well, like how fast they grow. One piece of advice I would pass on about getting a puppy is to think about the time of year you want to have one during. We got Zeus right as he was growing during the winter months, so we are having to get jackets only to see him grow out of them in weeks. We tried using an old shirt of mine but that didn't work as Zeus did not like walking with it on. It was too long and dragged on the ground and he was not sure how to do his business with it on. Next we went and picked up a jacket that was one size up so he had room to grow into it and hopefully have it last a bit longer. We also tried looking at used clothing stores but with no luck. We found a sale on at Ren's but it was still close to $50, as we needed one that allowed our harness clasp to work with it from the top and our options for this weren't many, surprisingly. Our hope is we can add Velcro onto the jacket as he grows and next year when he is full sized get him a proper one for years to come.

My old shirt didn't really work out

This jacket works much better

With growing puppies comes growing adult teeth. I remember with Titan he would chew everything! We gave him lots of options to try and keep our house safe, but alas he still managed to chew a few things. Well Zeus is teething big time, but I feel like we have been lucky so far and he has been sticking to chewing on toys and treats we give him and not destroying our house yet. I say "yet" because he is only just 5 months and we still have lots of puppy crazy to go. The crate training is a big help for this and also the fact that there is almost always someone home with him. So far we have only found one of his baby teeth that had fallen out, but we can see many adult ones growing in. And in just weeks he's visibly gotten taller, wider, and stronger.

Thankfully, as Zeus is getting stronger we have been working hard on his leash skills, and I am happy to report he is making progress. He knows that he can't pull when he's on the leash. If there is any tension on the leash we just stop completely until he turns around and comes back so there is slack on the leash, then we can carry on. Some times he is so smart he just does a quick circle and takes off again so we have to make sure he is actually walking back towards us. He catches on quick! He seems to only really pull at this point in his training when he sees a person or another dog that he just has to say hello to. But I have been trying to teach him a sit stay until the person or dog owner says it's okay for Zeus to say hello. Today we had a first major break through as a jogger was running by beside us. I was able to have Zeus sit and have eyes on me with his "watch me" command. He did look at the jogger as he ran past, but at no point did Zeus try and get up or pull towards him. There was a lot of excitement after that and much praising.

Now I knew that this breed was not an energetic breed, but Zeus takes that to a whole new level. Our Danes are also lazy but they at least enjoy going out for a walk no matter how small. Zeus, on the other hand, hates it. It we pull his harness out he actually runs and hides! Right now while we are doing training I am walking the dogs separately so when I take Ares out we make sure Zeus is in his crate. So some days when we take out his harness or leash Zeus just goes to his crate as if to say "I'd rather stay here and sleep please". We always make sure to keep walking time fun and use positive reinforcement and treats so eventually we do get Zeus geared up and ready to go. Then comes the next hurdle, he thinks just because he is dressed for adventure time it means we go in the car. So every time we head out for a walk he beelines it to the car or truck and stops. It's great he loves car rides so much, but he still needs to exercise so with some persistent encouragement he eventually walks with us. I am hoping that he will learn to like the walk as much as Ares does, but only time will tell. One of the things I really liked about our training is that we were told to set a time limit and not a distance. When you are doing walk training it's very stimulating so even if you only make it to the end of the driveway you are still tiring the dog out with mental stimulation from the training.

One dog LOVES walks....the other....not so much

We had our first real snowfall recently where there was some snow staying on the ground and Zeus seemed to really enjoy that and Ares was teaching him how to catch snowballs and the best spots to eat the fresh snow. Everything Ares does lately Zeus seems to follow right along and shadow him. Ares has been teaching Zeus how to look out over the yard and make sure no squirrels get in, the best spots for sleeping, best spot on the couch, and everything in between. The two are bonding exactly like I had first hoped and play all the time now with toys or just running around together. One of the things Ares taught Zeus was to make all the noise when playing so it sounds a bit hectic but they tire each other out so nicely and then pass out and sleep together. The two are just so sweet and fill my heart with so much love and joy. Ares is an amazing big brother!

Everything seems to be moving along so well that I just get so excited thinking about what adventure will we have next. I'm planning a Christmas photo shoot so hopefully Zeus can use some of his new found skills and give me a few good photos to post on the next blog. Until then here are some videos to enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb0a4CVutqQ - Zeus going over his training for his exam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqqJTP7GpgM - Zeus enjoying the snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4irrAfFBdA - Zeus learning to play dead in the cutest way