Clover’s 13 Week Journey

Training Begins: April 24th, 2025 | Training Ends: July 27th, 2025

Behaviors Clover has learned during her stay here:

BEHAVIOR	11 Weeks In Training
Sit	Clover is really good at “sit”! She sits very well to be let out of the playpen, her crate, and at doorways. She also sits before she gets her meals and sits for attention. If she is jumping and I ignore her, she sits quickly.
Down	Clover is doing very well with a visual and verbal “down”! Sometimes she needs a moment to register a verbal “down” (dogs actually are very visual learners and learn visual cues much faster/easier) but she responds to it nearly every time now. If she is not responding to “down”, then pointing at the ground will have her responding instantly.
Name Recognition	Clover knows her name very well!
Touch	Clover 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. This is also helpful as a backup recall.
Recalls	Clover 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. I continue to reward her for natural “check ins” as well while we are walking. Whenever she comes over to me and makes eye contact she gets a reward. This is so helpful for off leash adventures.
Go Into Crate	Clover loves her crate and runs right to it when I say “go night night”! She loves the treats she gets in her Toppl/Kong/etc.
Leash Walking	Clover does a phenomenal off leash heel and is also doing great on a leash. She does occasionally go to the end of the leash when she is excited to see someone/something, but if I stop moving (so she doesn’t get to move forward when pulling on the leash) she’s quick to come back to me and correct herself. She still needs frequent rewarding when on walks to continue to teach her that loose leash walking is super rewarding. Treats are becoming less and less but I still reward for eye contact and walking beside me frequently.
Place	Clover loves her “place”! She goes to the place board eagerly, knowing its a high value place to be. She is also learning to go to a “place” bed in my office.
Stay	Clover is progressing nicely with “stay” — this is one of the most challenging cues for her because she likes to be right next to me at all times! She is doing a good job staying while on her “place” while I walk across the room, throw toys, and drop treats.
Drop It	Clover 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	Clover is able to leave treats that I drop and is doing a wonderful job with “leave it”!
Wait	Clover does a good job letting me walk through doorways first and does a good “sit” and “wait” to be released through them.
Potty Training	Clover is doing so, so well with potty training! She has access to my entire office now and has never had an accident in it. I recommend starting with one small space (such as an office) and slowly expanding her freedom as she is succeeding in one area, but she’s super good with this! I let her out to potty once every hour while she’s awake and active. She will “hold it” for 3-4 hours easily in her crate or playpen during the day.

Clover’s “Home Stretch” Update!

There is so much to be said about Clover – she is truly a gem of a puppy! While tiny, Clover has a heart full of love and companionship. She absolutely adores everyone in the house and loves everyone she meets. When she greets people she often whines because she’s so excited to say hi! In fact, any time she’s super excited she whines because she just can’t contain herself, it’s her signature greeting!

Clover has been quick to pick up her cues and has been working on improving them. Building up her ability to listen to cues in a variety of settings has kept us quite busy, since she’s often distracted in new places or around other people/dogs. At home and when it is quiet she listens super well and “knows her stuff”, she just needs more practice working through distractions and containing her excitement around other people/dogs. She has been such a fun little dog to work with and teach since she loves her training sessions!

Clover, despite being incredibly social and wanting to be around me all the time, does an amazing job being left alone in her crate while I am out of the house. She quickly settles in to work on her snack and is quiet every time I check in on her through my security camera. When I get back, though, she is incredibly excited and whines wanting out. I try to keep my “coming home” greetings very calm so she doesn’t start anticipating me coming home and get restless in her crate. She is sleeping all night without any problems now.

Clover can be a little shy initially with new people, places, and sights/sounds. She has always been this way, but if you just maintain a neutral “it’s no big deal” attitude around her, she quickly becomes curious and the moment passes pretty quickly. She has gotten used to a lot of strange sights, sounds, and people here due to some construction we have going on with our house, so she is well prepared for lots of new things! Allow Clover to approach new people at her own pace and allow her to always be the one to start interactions with new people and she should continue to grow in her confidence.

At home Clover is such an easy, nice, wonderful little dog. She absolutely loves getting attention and can get a little pushy/in your face, but is learning how to relax and occupy herself while I am busy during the day. She no longer needs a playpen and is just gated into my office, where she has had no accidents and is content to chew on her bones or play with toys quietly while I am working on other projects. Clover is going to be such a wonderful companion for your family and I cannot wait for you to get to enjoy her as much as I have!

Clover’s Favorites

Favorite Treats: Clover is not picky at all but she really loves these Nibs and so do I; they break in half very easily. She is also quite fond of Freeze Dried Chicken! She also really enjoys cheese and boiled chicken!
Favorite Frozen Treat (to stuff her hoof/Kong/etc.): Clover is not at all picky about this but she REALLY loves having some canned food in her treat. One can lasts for quite a few stuffable toys. I recommend Purina Pate Puppy Food. You can also use Yogurt (make sure there’s no Xylitol in it… just get plain yogurt), cottage cheese, and peanut butter.
Stuffable Toys: Toppl is my favorite toy to stuff for treats. I recommend having at least a couple on hand. Size small is perfect. You can also use Hooves to stuff and freeze, these are my favorite brand because they don’t smell awful like many brands do.
Favorite Toy: Clover LOVES the flirt pole! She also will occasionally chase a ball but hasn’t been much of a fetcher. And she loves small stuffed toys like this, this and this.
Favorite Bed: She has used this bed her entire stay here (I have two so I can have one in there while the other is being washed).
Favorite Chews: Beef Tendons, Cheese Chews, No Hide Chews, Collagen Chews
Pick at least a couple different kinds of chews so she has some variety – this will help immensely through the teething stage!

Clover’s Photo Gallery

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