Linus – 12 Week Journey

Training Begins: February 2nd, 2025 | Training Ends: April 29th, 2025

Behaviors Linus will learn or begin learning during his stay here:

BEHAVIOR	7 Weeks In Training
Sit	Linus is very good at “sit” and will sit before being released from his playpen, before going through doors, for his food, for attention, etc. He listens to the verbal and visual cues for “sit” very well. We are working on him holding a sit for longer durations as he tends to want to pop right back out of it as soon as he does it.
Down	Linus is doing great with the visual “down” cue (taking my finger at his nose level and pointing to the ground). He’s still learning the verbal cue but is starting to respond to it without needing a visual prompt!
Name Recognition	Linus responds very well to his name.
Touch	Linus touches my hand readily.
Recalls	Linus has come a long way with his recalls and responds to nearly all of them now. The only time he struggles is when he is playing with other dogs.
Go Into Crate	Linus is doing a great job with his crate and runs right to it when he sees me getting his bedtime snack ready! He is sleeping all night and sleeps for 2-3 hour periods during the day (though often wakes up after an hour or so, but plays by himself in the crate when he does this).
Leash Walking	Linus is still learning how to walk on a leash. He does off leash heeling pretty well, and that has transferred nicely to his on leash skills. However, of all things, Linus falls behind a lot. He is easy to encourage along but he definitely runs out of steam fast! He does still occasionally nip at the leash; I just redirect him and move on.
Place	Linus goes to his “place” when it’s pointed at but is not offering to go on it without prompting yet. I am thinking he’s not a huge fan of the cot and will be experimenting with other types of “place” such as a bath mat. While he will go on the cot, he doesn’t like to stay on it for very long and has to be lured back onto it a lot.
Stay	Stay is one of Linus’ biggest challenges. He wants to do whatever he wants to do, and staying in one place isn’t that! I can take 1-2 steps away from him and return quickly and he can handle that, but struggles with distance and duration. I think he gets bored of it real quick and wonders why he would just sit there! He is making slow and steady progress, though.
Drop It	Linus doesn’t tug much at all so we haven’t had much of a chance to work on this skill. He does drop things nearly instantly when presented with a treat, though.
Leave It	Linus is doing a good job with “leave it” with treats in an open hand and a few treats being dropped on the ground from a few inches. I will gradually make this harder and harder for him but he is progressing nicely.
Wait	Linus is doing great with “wait”, though tends to be the last one to sit when we are on our way out the door and is always the one holding up the group! Haha. He does eventually sit, but I haven’t pushed for a very long “wait” with him because I know he’s not ready for it yet. A brief sit and very brief “wait” before being released with “ok” is going quite well though!
Potty Training	Linus had quite a few accidents his first couple of weeks here (he was one of those puppies who would just squat mid playing and pee and keep on playing) but hasn’t had an accident since those first couple of weeks. I can tell when he has to go potty because he gets very antsy (running around in circles, whining, dancing at the playpen gate if he’s in the playpen, or wandering in circles when he’s out of it). But he does not have any clear indicators yet, it’s just subtle signs. He is needing a potty break about once an hour when active at this point! That being said, Linus will drink a LOT and then needs frequent potty breaks (every 20 minutes) after having drank a ton.

Linus’ Midway Update

Where do I begin with Linus? From the first day he arrived to training I knew he was a special puppy. He fit right in with everyone and while he wasn’t very interested in learning until recently, he was always happy to be around everyone and did his best to participate in everything in his own way. Linus loves to be where the people are and is such a social butterfly who wants nothing more than to cuddle and say hi to everyone he comes across. He loves dogs and people and doesn’t know a stranger. Because of his love for people, he does struggle with jumping on people in his excitement, which we work on with every interaction. Ignoring him until he has “four on the floor” works within a few seconds once he gets his excitement out, and once his feet are on the floor he gets lots of attention and cuddles!

Linus more recently has started to enjoy his training sessions. He is a slow and steady learner who has been improving every week. While he doesn’t learn a cue in one session, he stays focused and really tries his best and loves his time spent in his solo sessions. He has a much harder time in a group because he loves the other dogs so much they are very distracting to him. Linus also struggles if you don’t have the right treat, and this boy is quite picky! Sometimes I find a treat he loves and by the next session he sniffs it and walks away. This has made training him a little difficult. The only thing he has consistently really loved are those treat pouches with the soft food in them, but I ran out of those and he knows it! I can use canned soft food (but it’s very messy) and I’m trying to find less messy treats he actually loves. He does like turkey quite a bit and that has gotten us through many sessions and he also recalls well for it.

Linus is a pretty relaxed puppy the vast majority of the time. However, when in a new place and when first seeing people in the morning or after being crated he gets major zoomies and races around, jumps straight into the air, and lets all of his excitement out. It’s pretty adorable and funny, and honestly, I just wait for him to calm down before interacting with him and it hasn’t been an issue. Just stay out of his way, he will run into you! The only time it is an issue is he also tries to do this when we first go on a walk. I just stand still and let him get it out before walking so he’s not associating pulling and being a crazy boy with getting to move forward and zoom around freely. It helps if he can get his zoomies out on a long line before we begin walking. During the day he benefits from a couple of good walks or play sessions (he loves the flirt pole!) but otherwise isn’t a super energetic guy. He loves to curl up in his donut bed and enjoy a chew!

He has been getting more freedom outside of the playpen lately and has done a wonderful job. He really likes to lay underneath my desk (I have a bed there as it’s a favorite spot for many puppies/dogs) with a chew while I’m working on my computer. Linus has been a joy to have around and we love how snuggly and people oriented he is – he’s a real gem of a puppy!