Boru was a champ. With three other dogs, kids of various ages, and a lot of other distractions, he listened very well. He is starting to come when I call him, and came a few times when he disappeared, which was awesome.
The two biggest things I was worried about for the weekend were how he was going to deal with being on a boat and how he'd take to the water. I'm glad to say that he passed both tasks with flying colors. Boru became a natural boat dog, sleeping mostly and enjoying the smells as we cruised the river.
As for the water, I took him down to the small creek behind our house to introduce him to swimming before heading to the river. The first two trips were successful with Boru doing a little swimming. His river experience was just as good, and his instincts kicked in. I took him out in the water, and let him go...he swam right back to the boat.
We also got an unexpected introduction this weekend, the loud bang test. A neighboring river lot started shooting off fireworks. I didn't even think to prepare for this, so I was a little lost on the best way to handle it. The first boom happened when Boru was sniffing in some weeds, and he seemed startled and came running back. I then picked him up and was holding him on my lab during the rest of the display. Every time a firework exploded, I'd whisper "birds, birds, birds" in his ears. By the end, he actually seemed to have that gun-dog perk up after the bang.
I'm hoping that he has positively associated the experience with excitement and not a precursor to being gun shy...
No comments:
Post a Comment