Catch Up with Clover (8 months old)

It’s been a few months since I last shared a Clover update, and a lot has happened!

Let’s start with the basics:

Toilet training and commands

Clover is almost fully house trained. We have the odd accident here and there, which is more my fault than hers if I wait too long to take her in the garden. She is really good at going to the back door when she needs to go outside.

So far, Clover will perform on command:

– Sit

– Wait

– Down (lay down)

– Paw

– Up (stand up on hind legs)

With encouragement, she will roll over.

Personality

Clover is full of life! Her personality really shines through, especially when she is hungry. She is extremely sociable with other dogs but proceeds with caution when approaching humans who do not have a dog with them. We thoroughly enjoy walking with our village neighbours and their furry friends on weekend mornings and Clover is allowed off the lead on the field so that she can burn off all of her energy.

She is incredibly fast when she runs. I’m thinking of training her in agility to stimulate her physically and mentally. I think she’d be quite good at it, especially as she is so motivated to learn by food. I’ve started encouraging her to run through a tunnel and jump over a hurdle (her size, not human size).

Rules in the house

We have certain rules for what the dogs can and can’t do, some of which Clover completely ignores.

The best rule that she sticks to and accepts is ‘No sleeping on the bed at night’. I have been so strict since the day that we brought her home that we now don’t have any problems at all. Even though Clover can climb out of her pen, she sleeps on her own bed on the floor in the pen all night until we invite her onto the bed in the morning around 6:30/7:00am. Eventually, we’d like to progress to her sleeping in the kitchen during the night.

Something she does do, which drives me crazy, is climbing on the table. Her leg muscles are now strong enough that she can jump onto the dining table without climbing on a chair. We’re desperately trying to stop her but she can be quite naughty and nothing we do seems to deter her.

If you have any suggestions for stopping her from jumping on the table, please let me know!

 

Grooming

Clover has been groomed twice now by the lovely Jo at Scruffy Tails and Jo gives her a cute ‘teddy bear’ cut. Clover’s fur grows so fast, mattes quickly and falls in front of her eyes if I don’t trim it. She is a low shedding dog and I only notice the fur when I’m wearing black jumpers and black leggings.

Therapy dog

If we could manage Clover’s barking, she would be a great therapy dog. She loves to play and she adores tummy tickles. I think Clover is treated too much like a princess at times and we (James and I) need to work on being the alpha.

Hopefully in our next update, Clover will be a little more disciplined!

If you have any training techniques, please let me know in the comments below!

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Thanks for reading!