Puppy party for two!

This week I took 3 puppies to the beach for an hour and we had a totally fab time! Did I let them run around like lunatics, jumping on each other play fighting, grabbing, rolling over and splash each other for an hour until they were totally exhausted…You bet I didn’t!!

I spent around 20 minutes with each puppy (one is my own cocker Sid, the second his sister Rosie and Charlie the giant schnauzer who is around 4.5 months). Each are at different stages of their development both physically and socially. Sid has had slightly more experience off leash than the other 2, Charlie a bit more than Rosie who has not had much so far. Charlie being a large breed we need to take more care with to make sure he doesn’t overdo it. But why only 20 mins well that is how long I had divided by 3. It will do no harm for the other 2 to wait in the van (provided its safe) while I work with one. I want each puppy to get the most out of the experience and I have found it is nigh on impossible to teach a puppy (often any dog) when there are other dogs present, unless the other dogs are more mature and you have excellent control over them.

We didn’t do anything special,  practising a little loose leash walking along the prom (always a challenge) maybe some downs with treats to practise ignoring passers-by with other dogs (on a day with better weather I may have sat for a few minutes and had an ice cream with the puppy sitting calmly by my side). We also had some short high energy play sessions on the beach with my puppy and our toys, lots of retrieving and a bit of tug, and also praise, cuddles and treats every time they check in with me. They can have a mooch and a sniff and a plodge or a swim but I’m always watching for other dogs so I am ready to distract my puppy with a game if need be, and because we play regularly everywhere we go they know it’s going to be great fun.  I feel I am still very much at the beginning of my journey towards becoming a dog trainer but I know that the trainers/owners that spend quality time interacting with their dogs and have the best relationships with their dogs generally have the best behaved dogs. So I need to spend quality time as I did yesterday playing with my dogs, I want the puppies to remember the fab time they had with ME at the beach not my other dogs or worse someone else’s, If I let that happen what do you think they would want to do the next time we go?