BLAKE: Another month down the line - baby steps improvements!

Well, it's been over two months now that Blake arrived here. Doesn't time fly.

Things are improving very gradually, but they are... a bit of two steps forward, one back, two forward, three back... but we will get there.

Things have actually been quite settled. Until yesterday, we haven't had any further incidents, and when everyone is calming (usually in the evenings), everyone is sitting with me calmly and chilled.

16th April

Blake is also better now with waiting, stopping when I tell him to, he is now backing away when a dog growls, though still doesn't understand when someone tells him to bugger off (e.g. the other day he was play bowing at Skye who didn't want to know and had a go at him - just pretending, no intention to hurt him, but nevertheless telling him clearly to get lost - and he just kept play bowing. Neither Skye nor Blake were really understanding each other).
I am now at a stage where he doesn't wear the harness anymore indoors as he is fine being led around by the collar, which is a great improvement.
He still occasionally panics or just gets worried and then goes into stupid mode, which makes it virtually impossible to control him then. But these incidents are also getting much less frequent.

Yesterday Blake caught his harness on the bench accidently when I had him in the garden harnessed and leashed and in his panic slipped it and started racing around the garden mindlessly like a fury, with the other three dogs in hot persuit... and me chasing after them like a demented banshee trying (successfully in the end) to prevent a major incident that would jeopardize their still fragile relationships. Flash listened when I told him to stop, and in the end, Blake jumped over the low fence which stopped Jesse chasing him. I then got all three into the house, and then retrieved Blake afterwards. I am so glad as nothing further happened as another major kerfuffle would have caused a huge amount of damage to their relationship, perhaps irreparable. But we are fine, slightly more wary but nothing that can't be fixed.

So the whole things is still very hard work, but there are small steps of progress and we just keep at it. As Blake gets older, he will also settle down a bit, helped by the training that I am doing along the way.

Three weeks ago (7th May), Blake also got neutered (picture below taken when he came home).

All went well and after he broke the clip on the lead a week after the op, and he was racing around Knettishall Heath with a goldie, I didn't bother keeping him on lead in the garden any longer. The wound healed really well and he is doing great.
Several times before he got neutered I took him to the vet's just to sit in there, let him get used to the environment, feed him loads of treats... and it was working as he is now quite happy to go to the vet's. Result!

Keeping him calm after neutering... that was a whole different story!

Last Sunday, he went to his first obedience show. He was hard work (yet again... seems to be a recurring theme with this boy) as he doesn't do "doing nothing", but he eventually settled, realised that he can't go up to every dog, and actually also greeted a few dogs calmly (with a bit of my help) rather than bounce all around them. He really does need a polish on his doggie etiquette!

24th May after the obedience show

At least he was a little bit tired

I also took him to Kamal's training day earlier this month and he did great! Kamal loved him, and Blake really is a joy to train. So far we are doing heelwork foundation, retrieve and working on sits and stays... though the latter is a challenge as he really finds it hard to sit for longer than a few seconds. We will see whether Louise's magic hands will help a bit with this when she comes for the chiro next month.
I have also started taking him to obedience training at West Suffolk, although he is - yet again - hard work there as he doesn't like doing nothing. But the training itself went really well. Unfortunately there are no regular classes anymore now at the moment, but hopefully we can resume them soon.

I have also introduced Blake to the flirt pole, and boy does he love it! It is like a lure coursing event in my garden when he gets going. It is a great reward thing, gives him an outlet for his chase drive and it is a great tool for self-control games.

And oh my god, does he love water! In Knettishall Heath, there is a pond/river where we let the dogs have a paddle after our group walk, and Blake goes absolutely mental. That's also where he broke the lead clip, but wow, he adores water. I can't wait to take him to the beach one day.

So, here we go. Things aren't easy yet, but much easier and things are getting more settled. Hopefully as the hormones settle more, and the boy is getting a bit older and more chilled, and together with all the training in general manners and obedience we will at some point be able to get rid of all the baby gates again. Until then, I shall just enjoy the madness that is Blake - bless him!