Training and achievement board 2017

Solar begins 2017 as a 6 month old dog, weighing 31Kg, still very much a puppy who needs to explore the world around him.

This page is a dedicated log which will chart his progress over the coming days, weeks and months.

Like every dog owner at some stage they reach a point where the cute fluffy little puppy that entered their home, has before their very eyes become very high maintenance for little reward, almost a one way street.

Today marks a change in that, Solar is a bright healthy and intelligent dog who requires some positive guidance.

From this morning, 1st January 2017 Solar will have his training and achievements recorded as progress, negatives will be listed as challenges, so follow a long and see how he progresses.

We are not qualified trainers, methods and trials are all of our own ideology.

Challenges going into 2017

• Barking at the open fire
• Barking and jumping at the TV
• Chasing gulls and crows in the park
• Digging in the garden
• Drinking from the fish pond
• Inconsistent coming when called
• Pulling on his lead
• Lunging at cars and barking
• Road walking

Any new additions will be listed as a new challenge.

Below is a table and each item as a challenge will be scored out of ten along with the date it was updated. Further down will be a log of any notes in date order.

January 2017
8	Today there will be several small walks down our road, to help get familiar
7	A couple of trips to the park and three car journeys; Halti collar is causing an issue, Solar rakes at it and ends up making a wound on the side of his face. This gets worse when he does not get to play, but he is hard for Sue to control without it.
6	Morning walk in the park involved a lot of pulling on the lead, tracking where others have trod previously. Tonight Solar returns to Grazeley village Hall to continue puppy training.The training is going well, Sue and Solar were even doing a few off lead heel and come commands.
5	Playing football in the garden is helping the play/learn; Commands of "Drop it" "Down" and "Watch me" being done without food rewards.
4	Solar was a little less distracted by traffic when walking in the park this morning. But pulling on the lead remains a key issue to be addressed.
3	Solar continues to bark at the tv; But each time he does he is taken out of the room without any fuss.
2	Walking around the park, Solar remains on lead until we feel more confident of him returning when called and no longer concerned he may leave the park and get hit by a car or bus etc.
1	A walk to the local park using a rope tugger toy helped Solar focus.Keeping Solar focused on the toy enabled us to get to the park and do a circuit. Excitement in the toy helped, but Solar was so keen to play part of the walk was him going backwards. Once in the park his focus remained intent on the toy, but he always wanted to eat the end I was holding. Near the end of the circuit he accidentally, or so he says, bit my index finger causing a cut. All in all as a first outing it was a walk with no major issues or incidents. Observation is key; Solar is very focused, and when we found a quiet area we did some heel walking without the tugger toy, he focused well to the voice command and was given a special treat of a small piece of cheese. However returning to his tugger toy was at speed pulling on the lead. We both returned home fully satisfied with our exercise.