Hi!

I’m Sarah and I have a 9 month old yellow Labrador named Spencer.  Spencer came to me just under two weeks ago now.  My husband and I lost our beloved mutt, Rupert, to kidney failure at Christmas and were looking for another dog.  I saw an ad for Spencer looking for a new home, enquired about him, went to meet him and we brought him home with us.  He is a lovely dog, very friendly, affectionate and playful.  However, he has no manners and his basic training needs a lot of work.

In the two weeks he’s been here Spencer has learned to sit and wait for me to put his bowl down before diving in, not to jump up at me (well, most of the time, he still gets over excited and forgets occasionally), not to mouth me and not to hurtle straight out of the front door and down the stairs as soon as the door opens the tiniest crack.  We still have a long, long way to go on loose leash walking, he pulls like a steam train!  He is doing very well at sitting on command.  And at sitting when he wants something rather than just jumping all over us or grabbing for what he wants.  He is still inclined to throw himself at anyone who pays him any attention while out.  We’re working on that as I do not want him jumping up at people, he’s too big and we do not want to add to anti dog feeling that seems to be around these days.

Spen has been introduced to the clicker.  He likes the clicker.  It means food is available and when you’re a stomach on legs that is always a good thing!  Currently I’m working on teaching him to touch my hand with his nose.  He’s a little unsure and his touches are rather tentative but he’s getting there.  He does know a couple of commands but I have a feeling they may have been taught by the old punishment based methods.  He gets very upset when told to lie down so I’m re-teaching it as a positive thing and  may have to use a different word when it comes to putting it on voice command.  I’m sure that will cause hubby no end of problems!

Overall, Spencer is making great progress and seems to enjoy the clicker sessions I’ve been doing with him.  And here’s a picture of him enjoying himself on the nearby field.  There’s a large pond there which is partially frozen at the moment so he can’t be fully off leash, we don’t want to be in the news because we’ve had to be rescued or have drowned in a frozen pond!  For now he’s on a long line which gives him some freedom but keeps him safe.