Darby-13 Week Update

[KrisBam]

Here is Darby at 13 weeks!  She is getting cuter as she grows :)  Thankfully, she is starting to get the house training.  She's starting to bark and go to the door when she needs to go out.  We're working on basic commands and she is doing OK...unless something better catches her attention.  We're having a little trouble keeping her from jumping on us to greet us.  Please share anything that has worked for you.  She's going to be a big girl and this could be a problem.

Darby is a sweetheart and we love her!!  We will love her even more when she stops chewing on us :)

[sandy]

Adorable!!  

[Laura and Angus]

She is adorable!! With our puppy Angus, we kind of ignore him when we first get in and put all our stuff down and then greet very calmly. If he tried to jump on us, we would say "Off!" And wait until he would stay all 4 paws down and then we would quietly and calmly greet him with pets and playing. For us, the ignoring until calm was both very difficult and very worthwhile. Greeting with a quiet, calm voice too! Puppy will get this with consistency. We're still working on greeting visitors without jumping of course ....Angus is 10 months....

[Lauren Johnson]

Such an adorable little face!!!

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

So, so cute! For jumping, we ignored (like Laura mentioned) too until he was calm, and/or asked Rip to "sit for pets" when he tries to jump on others. Or I'd leash him when expecting visitors, and step on leash if he was about to jump. I'm pretty strict about the jumping prevention routine because I have older parents and I'd never want a 39lb dog to knock them over. 13 weeks = so young and excitable though, you'll get there with patient consistency... Enjoy him, he is adorable!

[Laura and Angus]

Yes! We do the leash thing for visitors too. He calms down much faster now at 10 months than at 13 weeks, but controlling the environmental has been crucial for us too

[KrisBam]

We really need to work on the calm environment!  We have 4 children who get so excited to see her when we get home.  They use the high pitched,sing song voice to greet Darby...of course she jumps :)  One of my girls has Muscular Dystrophy and Darby knocked her over today.  We know we have to get control now before she gets hurt.  Darby is usually very gentle with her, she was just too excited while they were playing.

Thanks for the advice!

[Laura and Angus]

Oy, yeah controlling an environment with lots of kids is certainly tough. You'll definitely want to talk with everyone about "calm voices" around puppy and demonstrating to them what that means, but aside from that you might need to have a physical separation between kids and Darby (or a leash) until everyone calms down when greeting. It's important for everyone to be on the same page for training to happen. Good luck!! 

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Totally, Laura! I nagged mine so much in the beginning (what else is new?) "No talk, no touch, no eye contact, until he is very calm." Did they listen? Ugh... :)

[Laura and Angus]

My boyfriend and I were constantly reminding each other of the rules...it's hard to remember everything!! Just takes practice for puppies and humans :) 

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

I bring Rip in the car when I pickup my boys from school and it has become the most lovely routine. The boys (16 and 13) love to get in the car next to him (no more fights about who gets the front seat cause Rip is in the back, and no ability to jump!) and then one or the other of our sons gets "kicked out" of the car to walk their puppy back home - so he gets a bit of a walk with them every weekday. This also helps their leadership with him in a great, bonding way. With these pups there is so much good fun and love! Enjoy Darby :)

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

SWEET!!!