Our puppy Maple turned 16 weeks old on Friday. She had her last kindergarten puppy class with my husband, and we’re planning to do another couple of rounds. The next batch they call “middle school” which is done around 6 months, and then there’s “high school” at 10 months. My husband has said these first classes are really reinforcing what he’s been learning on his own, but have been the best for exposing her to other dogs for socializing. The newest commands she’s learning are “lay” and “leave it.” She’s been wanting to grab laundry out of laundry baskets so the “leave it” one we are practicing a lot. She definitely doesn’t want to do that one. Another challenge is getting all of us to use the same command words, and be consistent with it. It’s taking some practice and lots of patience.
Maple, 16 weeks old, fox red, female Labrador Retriever.
Puppy Training Challenges:
- Keeping her from jumping up and putting two paws on the counter and kitchen table
- Jumping up on the couch
- Figuring out how to contain her now that she’s outgrowing the collapsible, portable pen we’ve been using
- Trimming her nails (going to have the vet do it at her next appointment)
- Dealing with the sporadic play-biting, or sometimes not-play biting that seems to happen more in the after dinner, before bedtime hours
*If you have any helpful tips, please leave a comment below. Thanks!
If you missed any of my previous posts, they’re listed below.
Catch up here:
Puppy Go Bag: Preparing for a puppy after losing our family dog
Puppy First Days Home: Meet Maple!
Puppy Adventures: weeks 8-9
Puppy Adventures: weeks 9-10
Puppy Adventures: weeks 10-11
Puppy Adventures: weeks 11-12
Puppy Adventures: weeks 12-13
Puppy Adventures: weeks 13-14
Puppy Adventures: weeks 14-15
We’ve adjusted the amount of food we’re giving Maple. We were giving her half a cup three times a day. Then I got a text from my husband that he found out we were supposed to have increased her food about a week ago. Shoot. Maybe she was biting because she was hungry? So sorry girl. I told him it was okay. It’s been so much to keep track of. We’d get her caught up. So we increased her food, actually to double what we were doing around week 14-15. She would be getting a cup every meal time. She loved this change of course. As I understand it, the amount goes by weight, so please don’t take any food dispensing tips from me. The takeaway is, puppies grow quick and there are different amounts you give them that requires keeping track of their weight increase. I believe my husband also said we’ll increase again, and then at one point we’ll decrease. So he got out his phone and entered a few reminders to keep all this straight.
Here’s what “lay” looks like. She didn’t do it because I asked her to, but what a good girl, right?
Until next time, make it an adventure!
