Liba’s 8 Week Journey

Training Begins: May 1st, 2025 | Training Ends: June 26th, 2025

Behaviors Liba will learn or begin learning during her stay here:

BEHAVIOR	4 Weeks In Training
Sit	Liba is really good at “sit”! Sometimes you have to be patient if she is really wound up, but she listens to it nearly immediately. I have no problems with her during solo sessions, but group sessions she can be jumpy and it takes a few seconds for it to register.
Down	Liba follows the “down” cue really well with a hand signal and we have begun the process of a verbal “down”. Teaching a verbal cue goes like this: First, I say the verbal cue. “Liba, Down”. Then I pause for a couple of seconds. Then I point to the ground. We will repeat this many, many times before she will start to respond to the verbal cue before needing the hand signal.
Name Recognition	Liba knows her name very well!
Touch	Liba loves to “touch”! “Touch” is when I hold my hand out and they touch their nose to my hand. I use this to redirect them, get their attention, or for an easy cue to distract them or help them settle down.
Recalls	Liba does a great recall, and I honestly still can’t get her to go very far away from me! This will change as she ages and becomes more independent, so we are working on those recalls every chance we get!
Go Into Crate	Liba can tell when it is nap or bed time and will run straight to her crate for her treats! She has regressed a little this past week and will finish her treat and then whine for a minute or so. This is completely normal and usually resolves within a week or so. She is sleeping all the way through the night and taking 2 hour naps throughout the day.
Leash Walking	Liba is still in the early stages of leash walking, but is doing a good job! She does get distracted by the leash itself (bites at it) but when I tell her to leave it, she refocuses. Liba goes on very short walks right now to ensure the entire walk is a success. These small puppies can’t go far before they lose focus and start to go crazy on the leash and I prevent that by slowly increasing the duration of walks. So far, she’s doing well for her age!
Place	Liba loves her “place”! She goes to the place board eagerly, knowing its a high value place to be.
Stay	Because Liba is such a little shadow, “stay” has been harder for her. When I step more than a couple of steps away, she wants to follow me. She is getting better and better with this and we are keeping it easy and positive as we slowly build on distance.
Drop It	Liba is doing well with “drop it”. She isn’t a big tugger yet, so we haven’t had a ton of opportunities to work on it, but when we do she is quick to release items for a treat.
Leave It	Liba is able to leave treats that I am holding out in an open hand. We will be working on her leaving dropped treats next!
Wait	This one has been one of her more challenging things to learn – especially when she’s with the other puppies. Liba is the Tigger of the group – so bouncy around gates! Waiting for her to have “all four on the floor” takes some patience. When she is by herself she is much quicker to sit to be let out of gates/doorways.
Potty Training	Liba had a rough first couple of weeks with potty training but is making huge progress. She was peeing in her playpen the first 1-2 weeks and I was having to let her out every 10-20 minutes to avoid this. Now she is lasting 30-40 minutes in the playpen without needing a potty break. Out in an open room, I am keeping it to 30 minutes or less between potty breaks right now and she is doing well.

Liba’s Midway Update

This girl is feisty! Liba started off shy and as she has gotten comfortable here, she has become the puppy who talks back and is keeping me on my toes! And yes, she literally talks back. When I give her cues she doesn’t want to do in the moment, she will bark at me instead of complying (this is especially true with sitting to be released from her playpen). It takes some patience but she will comply, she just has to sass first! She has become the most bouncy, energetic puppy in the group and is a master at zoomies!

With all that energy comes eagerness to learn. Liba really thrives having her brain worked and enjoys all of her training sessions (with a zoomie sprinkled here and there throughout the session). It does take her longer to learn things because she still acts like a brand new puppy in her mannerisms (one of the things they do when I first get them is have grabby paws for treats… she still does this and they usually outgrow this by now!) but she has made so much progress in so many ways. She listens to her cues nearly instantly now, and is able to stay focused for much longer periods of time. She really loves her one on one times throughout the day and is a much calmer puppy when it’s just her and me. With the other dogs, she definitely struggles to focus – but she loves them and is going to be such a well socialized puppy! I’m starting to incorporate some more sessions where I include one other puppy with her so she can start to learn to focus around distractions.

Despite her energy, Liba is a super cuddly puppy and loves to sit and cuddle. She will melt on your lap and just soaks up all the belly rubs she can get! She’s a super sweet puppy who wants nothing more than to spend time with her favorite people (which will soon be you!) You can tell when she’s starting to get tired because she’s more nippy than she is cuddly. She isn’t much of a biter aside from when she is overtired or overstimulated. In general she is really good about only chewing on her toys or bones.

Liba loves her short walks through our woods and is doing really well on our shortest trail with heeling and walking nicely on the leash – she is bouncy while she does it but she maintains a heel! She will have her moments where she pulls or forgets her manners and starts to get her signature zoomies, but if I stand still and wait her out, she settles back down quickly. I also like to give them some off leash time on our property and she does a really nice off leash heel and she also recalls very well!

As she matures she will start to settle and all of her training will really click into place. Right now, enjoying her puppy antics and celebrating all of her successes is the best way to learn and grow with her! She is picking up on her cues really well and has grown so much in the 4 weeks she has been here, I cannot wait to see how she continues to learn over the next 4 weeks!

Liba’s Favorites

Favorite Treats: Liba is not picky at all but she really loves these Nibs and so do I; they break in half very easily. She also really enjoys turkey!
Favorite Frozen Treat (to stuff her hoof/Kong/etc.): I picked Royal Canin puppy cans up recently and everyone has really been loving it.
Favorite Toy: Interactive Toy (this is a new one here and everyone LOVES it!) — she also loves anything that crinkles!
Favorite Bed: Flat Bed – this keeps her comfy without making her too hot.
Favorite Chews: Beef Tendons

Liba’s Photo Gallery

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