Hi David and Andrea
Well here we are on Palmer’s first birthday. We still can’t thank you enough for breeding such a perfect dog and for helping us gain the confidence to take him home. We love him so much and he give’s us back so much too.
He’s just passed intermediate level 2 at puppy skool. This means he has a host of things learnt – sit/down with duration and distractions, go round an obstacle (tree, another dog etc.), fetch and give plus a good number of tasks of more doubtful use (!) – wave and put paw on different objects. It has given Palmer an immense amount of socialisation including on lead walks, off lead play and lots of pub visits. We have also done various agility things – hopping through a tyre, sitting on platforms and his greatest love which is to run through the tunnels.
He is very intelligent and picks many of the tasks up instantly. He even did musical chairs and the egg and spoon race as part of the puppy Christmas party. The less said about all that the better!
Through his puppy months he has been impeccably behaved in the house. Nothing has been chewed or damaged. We only ever had three indoor wees in the first few weeks. Other then that he has been totally clean.
He loves his crate and will return to it multiple times through the day. He goes and opens the door himself but he does like you to close the door properly – he will have come half way out and wait until you do. Over the last month or so we have seen him grow up a little more, he is not so playful and his toy pile is mostly ignored. However, he loves all balls (outside) and will chase for hours if we have the stamina! This has been the highest value reward for him on his recall and he will sit loose whilst other dogs come around him if I have the ball.
He has learnt that the garden pond is a great place to be if he is a bit hot!
My one task to really work on at the moment is loose lead walking. Something I am really struggling with when we go somewhere new or he is excited.
Hope all is well with you both.
Lots of love
Ali and Jim x
