Terrible Fives

Monte seems to thoroughly enjoy his trips to The Dog Den and he takes full advantage of the opportunity to be a normal dog and work on bite inhibition. As soon as the car door opens, his olfactory senses are triggered by the scent of other canines, and he gets amped up.

We are working on calmly approaching the facility. This last week we walked around the corner to a Mexican restaurant before joining playtime. The Montessori school next door was having a rummage sale to raise funds, so we had to pick up a few "new" toys, which made his wait even longer.



Remembering the joy of training a young puppy who is seemingly attached to our waist with an invisible leash, eager to please, and hanging on our every word. This describes the first five months of puppy raising. Monte celebrates his five month birthday and officially enters the Terrible Fives, which in human terms is a combination of a defiant two year old and an independent teenager.

On Monday night, Monte was eagerly anticipating playtime as we walked to the building. Unfortunately for Monte, we had signed up for another training class. Monte thinks he knows all the stuff and he does for the most part, however, his hearing appears to be impaired by dogs, birds, leaves, bugs, horns, grass, whistles, shadows, ...

Since he has entered the Terrible Fives, Teenager Class is very appropriate. The first class was a refresher of puppy class: marker word, SETTLE, WATCH, SIT,and DOWN. The WAIT command was introduced. This made Monte look smart because we were able to leave him standing and walk through the door until released (OK). We have been practicing this command for quite some time; his training started at eight weeks of age.

The training classes offer us a great opportunity to "proof" his responses while working and playing with other breeds and being guided by expert trainers. The sessions also remind me that we are working with a young puppy and our expectations need to be tempered.

Many Thanks to The Dog Den Staff (unofficial puppy sponsor),
Monte, Banjo, Cinder, Neva, Marley