12.9.16

Fizz at six months

W​ell, Fizz the border terrier puppy has now been with us for 4 months.. She is now 6 months old and has totally made herself at home. Despite never being allowed on the sofa since she got here she tries every night to leap up for a cuddle, every night I calmly place her on the floor and say 'no' - she doesn't not look convinced.


Things she has learned include sitting on command, giving a 'paw' , lying down, rolling over on command, and letting go of something when asked.



In the last couple of weeks we have been working on recall training, moving from the 10m long lead (a loose one, not a flexi lead) we have progressed from hysterical excitement and the desire to run and play with every dog she sees, to hysterical excitement and the desire to run and play with every dog she sees BUT she will now come back when called - so that's huge progress. Cheese in tiny pieces seems to be the thing that finally swayed it - that and the realisation that there is an almost endless supply of dogs to play with where we walk, so coming back when called just means you have to pause and then can play again later.


She adores every dog we meet, but is good at doggy etiquette (finally!) She watches from a distance for the other dogs body signals, approaching on her belly if they look dominant and are holding their tail high, approaching low and slow but not crawling if they hold their tail level, and bouncing like a lunatic tigger if they 'play bow' at her. Her favourite play is a mix of chase and play wrestling, unfortunately many owners panic when their dog joins in, berating them for 'biting' (they are not) and telling them to 'play nicely' - Fizz does not want them to be gentle, she is small but feisty and loves a large dog that plays rough best of all! haha



Finally having stopped biting our ankles she still likes to play bite our hands and wrists and I'm not sure how to stop this - she doesn't bite hard enough to hurt, but I can see a child could be scared.

She is still fussy around food. We have given up on canned food as she is so fickle about which flavours she likes. She is having fish and potato and seaweed kibble with a little sardine mushed into it - her breath is now appalling! But she loves the fishy goodness.


When we leave her she mostly sleeps in her crate, though Mr TM did leave her loose in the hall (we have stair gates) one time when he popped to the shop and she was fine. The only thing she has chewed has been the handles of her toy basket - an anxious wait as the plastic 'passed' but she's fine now and as the handles are no more she has stopped chewing it.

She appeared to house train almost by magic. Constant repetition and reward seems to work every time, that and the clicker training. House training in summer is great as we've been able to leave the door open a lot, now we are teaching her to let us know she needs to go out even when the door is shut, and she's pretty good, she can hold her wee a surprisingly long time on a rainy day too (when she doesn't want to go out!)


So that's our Fizz, six months old, allowed off lead on walks, housetrained, mostly not biting (only in play and not painfully) and not chewing things that are not hers! What a great dog. We are all extremely pleased with her. Oh and of course, she's adorably cute! Grown men stopp to coo over and cuddle her! And she even lets us dress her in fancy dress! Who could ask for more!!

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