This dog is amazing. We have him on collar and leash all the time, except when he goes to bed. So he is drop leash trained, that means that wherever we drop his leash, he will sit and stay, right there. He learned this because he is connected to us the entire time, so that wherever we go, he follows. By keeping his leash loose, he feels like we're holding on to him the entire time. If you pull tight on it the entire time, he knows when your holding on or not. That way when he needs a correction, you can pull the leash back and quickly tug it with a quick little ch-ch. Now the amazing part; when he has to go pee or poop, he goes to the slider door and sits facing it and waits to go potty. Because we have him on leash, we're aware that he has to go now. We make him sit when he goes out the door and before he comes back in, always following us. He even stops and sits, to wait for us to put our shoes on. He goes potty immediately and gets a liver treat.
We had read that the fear age is between 9 and 12 weeks, and we have found this to be true. We conquered certain fears like tile floors, a loud washer and dryer, and a moving vacuum, by calmly and assertively sitting next to the vacuum, in the laundry room, and on the tile floor, with treats or a toy, until he submitted, relaxed and fell asleep. With the vacuum on, within 2 minutes he actually crawled up to it, put his head on it and fell asleep. No more fear! We made sure to never pet him when he was in a fearful state saying "it's ok". Because that would be telling him that it is ok to be fearful. If he bumps his head or gets hurt we don't say, "oh! Poor puppy", we remain calm and he shakes it off and is fine. Less talk, more walk. Everyday we groom him, check his teeth, ears, paws, touch his collar, grab his tail, anything we think a vet or anyone else might do.Then we give him a treat so that he loves every minute of it. Zander receives all of his food in Kongs( stuffed rubber toys), gradually throughout the day. This way instead of having his food all in one bowl, so that he's bored for the rest of the day, he does what dogs were meant to do: scratch, hunt, dig for prey. So not only is he busy and not bored, he also knows that all good things come from us. We are LEADERS OF THE PACK!
He has a kennel in the house and we built him a chain link 7.5 x 7.5 Ft dog kennel in the garage. There he has water, kongs, a small crate, and sod in a pan where he goes potty for when we have to leave to go somewhere. He has always pottied on the sod, NEVER in the kennel. Zander as all dogs will, does challenge us. He will pick up his own leash in his mouth and try to control where he's going to go. And we redirect him and make him go where we want, many times if necessary, until he submits. You basically only have from 9 to 12 weeks for all of this necessary training so we're working hard. We also make sure to introduce him to many people and fully vaccinated dogs. We put our hands in his mouth often so that when he bites hard we can yelp loudly and show him no affection until he submits and lays down at our feet. This teaches him to not bite people. And it's all working. Our many thanks to Dr. Ian Dunbar and Cesar Milan of The Dog Whisperer Show. Their insight into the mind of the dog, (exercise, discipline, and then affection) has made it possible for this family to finally have a dog that is truely lovable and a companion all of the time.
