Ethan graduated from his off-leash training!

cover.jpg


About 3 months ago I enrolled Ethan, my golden retriever dog, to a dog training program. Since I knew nothing about dogs and he was already growing up so fast before I get to learn how to train, I just decided to hire a professional lol. I chose the off-leash training for him which has the basic commands (sit, stay, come, etc), behavioral training, and most especially walking without a leash. This training focuses on how to walk the dog properly and how they should behave, even on situations when there's aggressive or barking dog nearby.



The beginning


s.jpg

Ethan at 4 months old

I first got him when he was already 4 months old. He's already quite big and strong and he was constantly pulling the leash when we walk. Considering I'm small, I know pretty sure when he gets bigger I will be pulled uncontrollably with such force. xD




IMG_6668.png

The first meeting he had with the trainer, this was his behavior. He would try to bite literally everything (golden retriever puppy thing haha) and is very out of focus. I understand he's a puppy and needs to bite often cos he's teething but this should be corrected as well and let the puppy know what exactly to bite and not some random thing.




IMG_6668s.png

This was their first training session. They trained alone for a month and a half, walked around the neighborhood without me.




Progress


By the time the puppy learned the commands, I went with their walks for the first time and was taught on what to do, how to execute the commands, and explained to me the purpose or what the trainer was doing. I first walked with them when the dog learned the basics and after a few days, they walked again by themselves to proceed to the next part of the training which was walking without the leash.


IMG_6669.jpg

Ethan at 6 months

He then learned how to walk off-leash like this. Of course it wasn't an easy thing to do since there will be distractions around and my puppy's attention span was short haha. The trainer said he really gets distracted easily compared to other dogs even though they have already walked a lot. I guess it's cos the house is not noisy so he's not that used to it.

After he learned to walk like that, I had to walk with them again for weeks until completion.




My development as an owner


IMG_6691.jpg

This is Ethan, not the owner haha

When the dog undergoes training, the owner gets to train as well. I needed to learn how to handle the dog and to know their behavior too so it's also like 70% owner training.

At first, I really didn't have authority on him. Like, sure he knows I am his mom and he will follow me around but it doesn't mean he will automatically listen. He was really stubborn and wouldn't listen to me easily even though he understands what I say.

I am not dominant in nature. I'm not interested in being a leader cos I'm more of an observer/listener type of person. I didn't know the nature of dogs back then (them needing an alpha) so I had to learn how to be an alpha too.

I had to research as well on how to be an alpha and slowly made it clear to my dog that I am the leader (and not him) and slowly I had established it to him. It wasn't easy but I did.

Walking with Ethan wasn't easy when I didn't have authority on him but when I did, boi it became smooth af lol. Now we just chill in walking!

Another development I had was being confident in walking around stray dogs. Some dogs can really bark and be territorial when you pass by, so at first I avoid the streets with those ugly ass motherfuckers. But now, I have nothing to fear as I learned how to shoo them to not touch my dog.




Completion


IMG_6735.jpg

That proud face

After 3 months of training, he's finally done!

He now knows how to walk with me without a leash. He knows he shouldn't walk first (I should lead the way), he knows to stay close to me and to ignore distractions like barking dogs etc.

I will still walk with him with a leash tho but I plan to have the very long one so it feels like there's no leash at all (cos no tension) but I will still have just in case. The reason behind is he is still young and has a short attention span. After like 40 minutes of walking he gets tired and would be out of focus so there are times he would stop listening to me haha. It's normal though as he is still an 8 month old puppy. I just need to continually do the training that he learned.

Also since there are times he gets so excited around kids that he just wants to play with them and ignore me completely. Although he doesn't bite, it could potentially be dangerous if there's no leash in case he runs to the kids playing cos he can bump to them and knock them off. There are also kids who are scared of dogs and we don't want them to feel any fear and respect their space.




IMG_6708.jpg




IMG_6731.jpg




IMG_6737.jpg

STAY!




eth.jpg

"I'm already 8 months old!"

Can you imagine he was just a little baby a few months ago and now he's this big??? He grew up sooo fast! If I didn't train him I would be deadass dragged on the streets because of this big playful mf.

He's not done growing yet, and I'm really glad he is trained now. :3

He learned and I learned a lot as well. Now I can be chill with walking with him and no stress!

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
7 Comments
Ecency