Lucy's First Neighborhood Walk

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lucy turns 11 weeks old tomorrow. Yesterday she got her 2nd set of shots and the vet gave her the go ahead to attend a local facility's Puppy Romp and Puppy Classes. Also he said she could start walking in the neighborhood as long as we stuck to sidewalks. Up till now we've been practicing on lead walking indoors and on the back patio. Lucy walks very well at home so I was real curious how things would go out in the real world. Last night we took her for her first offical WALK.

At first Lucy didn't want to go out the front door. She's never BEEN out the front door before, so her reluctance was understandable. DH had to pick her up and set her down on the walkway outside to get her moving. Once she was out she was on her way. She did MARVELOUSLY on lead! All those walks around the house every day paid off. Occasionally she got excited and ran ahead or shot to the side, but then she remembered that's not where she's suppose to be and would come back to my heel. If she felt any pressure on the lead at all she knew she was walking too fast and would slow her pace and take her position. She responded well to the command, 'WAIT' at intersections too. With the new experience and all the distractions I was really quite amazed at how well she did. In the beginning I did notice she stumbled off the curb a couple times, and even stumbled over her own feet. But a block or 2 later she had the hang of it.

She LOVED being out and about. This will open an entirely new world to her and give her a great outlet to expend some of that puppy energy. So much stimuli out on the streets with cars and people and other dogs and new sounds. I feel like we've reached our first major milestone, with many more yet to come... Puppy Romp Sundays start this weekend!

[DeeDee and Sheila]

Lucy is just doing so well. Those walks around the house must have really helped. Its awesome that she just wasn't all over the place, pulling, etc. She sounds like a very nice puppy. Can't wait to hear how Sunday goes.

[Karen P]

That is fantastic. Maybe she can give lessons to other puppies that are not so good at leash walking !!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Now the fun starts...for you and for Lucy. My advice is take her everywhere! I think it teaches our puppies to be confident and independent. It also gives you both the opportunity to practice your puppy manners which will help so much later. It's also fun to show off your adorable Doodle puppy!

[Kathy Spyker]

Good for Lucy, It sounds like she's doing great!!=) I bet she'll have a ball with the other dogs at the romp. Take pics!!!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

It's exciting, isn't it? My vet made us wait until 16 weeks (parvo pretty bad around my parts) so you can imagine how we were going stir crazy. It was like a whole new world when we could actually go to the park and go on walks. Congrats!