No, really, this is the last "catch up" post! Promise! ... Maybe. And then it'll be back to your regularly (well... not really...) scheduled Me posts! We just have a lot of ground to cover in only a few words, so it's taking up a little more space than we thought it would.
The past five weeks have been hell! Hell, I tell you! But the good kind. "Puppy blues" lasted damn near six months with Grem, but this only lasted a couple weeks... though I'd be lying if I told you I don't still get frustrated and want to rip out my hair in rage.
If you know anything about me, you know that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I got Grem. He was my very first dog and I was surrounded by people who still believe in the dominance method combined with the most possible force to get the dog to behave. The amount of times I alpha-rolled, ear-pinched, face-snarled, hit, bit, smacked, spanked, and terrorized Grem is a number I can't count on both hands. The guilt that stems from being so ignorant about him and his behavior is something I wrestle with every day when we take a walk and he lunged toward someone, when he shies away from a hand moving too quickly toward him, or when he nearly backs out of his harness in terror at a foreign stranger approaching. However, I've learned to accept that my mistakes were a product of ignorance and misinformation, and I try to forgive myself despite the lasting damage I inflicted upon this poor creature.
Aw, Mom. It's okay. You're doing the right thing now and that's what counts!
Thanks, bub.
Now, when I started seriously considering getting another dog, I was already well into PR/R+ training. I've foregone the old ways, cringe when the term "alpha" pops up, and try my damnedest to never force, yank, jerk, pull, yell, scold, or scream at the dogs. (That's not to say I haven't, because I have -- all I'm saying is that I put a great effort into remaining calm and level-headed. We all make mistakes!) One of the driving factors toward getting a pup was that I wanted to start with a "clean slate," so to speak. I wanted to raise a pup on R+, socialize, and do things right.
I got lucky. Ghost is a blessing. He and Grem mesh together perfectly, from play style to temperament, and balance each other nicely. Ghost is much calmer, even at fourteen weeks, than Grem was at five, six, seven months. Ghost is calmer than Grem is now! He's smart, handler-oriented, friendly, and moderately active. He took to crate training within hours, knows "go crate/crate" and has picked up on sit, down, stay, wait, leave it, heel, shake/paw, high-five, spin, whirl, and sitting for opportunities. He doesn't nip, bite, or shriek.
He's a very easy puppy, to be honest. Compared to Grem's puppyhood, he's a saint!
If I wasn't already sold on R+, seeing Ghost learn eagerly, without fear, and quickly has completely sealed the deal. I will never, in a thousand years, go back to the forceful methods I used on Grem. I regret what I did, and while I can't go back in time, I can try my hardest never to make those mistakes again. Have I yelled? Yes. Have I gotten frustrated? Of course. Have I done things I shouldn't have? Well, yeah. I'm very lucky to have dogs with such forgiving temperaments that I can lose my cool and not scar them for life, but that does not mean it's okay.
Each day for me is an exercise in discipline -- not for them, but for me. Discipline in the sense that I must keep my cool, I must not punish, and I must not take my frustrations out on the incredible creatures I share my life with.
We say we train our dogs, but in my case, my dogs train me.
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