Peanut’s 13 Week Journey

Training Begins: December 18th, 2025 | Training Ends: March 22nd, 2026

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

BEHAVIOR	7 Weeks In Training
Sit	Peanut 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	Peanut is doing well with “down” and follows a hand signal of pointing at the ground very well. She is in the process of learning the verbal cue. Dogs are very visual beings, so verbal cues can take far longer than visual cues. We introduce verbal cues in this manner: “Peanut, down.” Pause. Point to the ground. New cue (verbal) > Pause > Old cue (visual)
Name Recognition	Peanut knows her name very well!
Touch	Peanut knows “touch” very well and loves to do this behavior! I hold my hand out and say “touch” and she will touch her nose to my hand. This cue is very useful for getting them redirected and focused on us.
Recalls	Peanut has a great recall, though sometimes patience is required if she has zoomies or she is playing with her friends. With no distractions, she recalls nearly instantly. In a stimulating environment (such as friends running around), it can take her a few seconds to realize she’s been called. Overall, she’s doing very well with this, and we will continue to practice it around distractions.
Go Into Crate	Peanut has been doing really well with her crate. She was resisting going in for about a week but I upgraded her to a much roomier crate and she’s been doing great ever since! She typically runs right to her crate when I say “night night” and happily eats her treat and goes to bed.
Leash Walking	Peanut is doing a fabulous job heeling off leash and is starting to go on formal walks with the leash attached, and is doing well! The leash is a little distracting for her (she likes to bite at it sometimes) but she’s getting better at focusing on me. We keep walks short (around 10 minutes) and very positive. I cannot wait to get her out into stores on the ground!
Place	Peanut loves “place” with a nice, soft dog bed. I think a bath mat, rug, or dog bed will make for a great “place” for her when she goes home. She goes to her “place” bed when I motion toward it, and is even starting to go to it with just the verbal cue.
Stay	Peanut does really well with staying! I’m able to take many steps away and am also starting to add in some distractions (like thrown toys). While she remains on her bed, she does have a hard time sitting still so often changes positions while maintaining her stay. I’m not picky about that with puppies, as long as she doesn’t leave her bed, it counts!
Drop It	Peanut is practicing “drop it” while playing tug with me and doing well. Certain toys (like the fuzzy rope toy she loves) it takes her a bit longer to register the “drop it”.
Leave It	Peanut is progressing nicely with “leave it”. She will leave treats that are in my hand, and leave treats that are dropped from a small height.
Wait	Peanut is learning to “wait” at thresholds such as in her crate and at gates and doorways. She was pushy around doors when I first got her but is getting much better at waiting until she’s told she can go through them.
Potty Training	Peanut is doing really well with potty training and hasn’t had an accident in several weeks. She will dance by the door, jump on the door, and even bark if I don’t move fast enough to signal she needs to potty. She does have one quirk – she excite pees. This typically happens when I first let her out of the crate in the morning, or anytime she naps in it throughout the day. If I do not talk to her and go right to the door, she’s fine. If I talk to her, she will squat and pee. Usually excite peeing goes away once they are a little more mature and able to ‘hold it” better. I trained a service dog who got over his excite peeing at around 8 months old, for a reference. Keeping greetings calm and making sure she goes potty before saying hi to people will help a lot.

Peanut’s Midway Update

Peanut has been a joy to have here at training! She is such an athletic, playful, and sweet girl. She really loves playing fetch (she will fetch again and again and again!) and as long as you have a squeaky ball, she’s your best friend. She is not super snuggly yet, though when I sit on the floor with her she will retrieve her ball and come back to me and climb on my lap for a quick cuddle before chasing her toy again.

Peanut has been moved out of the puppy suite and into the big puppy area of my home. She did struggle for a day with the change (whined a little in her new crate and had a hard time settling that day) but is doing much better now. She also had all of her friends go home in the same week so she had a lot of changes happening at once and handled it all fairly well, though she definitely misses her friends! She is now more independent and only visits the puppies for play times, and isn’t living with them all the time. This is important for her development to start transitioning toward eventually going home. She is now in my office and is also learning how to be a good girl while loose in the room, learning how to settle more, and entertain herself while I am busy. She is GREAT at entertaining herself, especially if she has a squeaky ball! She also likes to lay down and chew on her chews.

This sweet girl loves people a whole lot! She is all tail wags in the stroller in stores and begs for attention from everyone. She does get a little shyer when on the ground when meeting new people (she’s small, so it’s a little intimidating when new people are leaning over her to pet her!) but she gets over it quickly. She does great when people sit on the ground to meet her, or sit in a chair where they are a little more on her level. This is all very normal for puppies, especially as they go in and out of fear periods and are learning to be more confident. If anyone throws a ball for her, she is instantly their friend, so having toys, treats, and lots of love to give her will help her continue to gain confidence and continue to love people! Her brother was very shy, she actually didn’t show shyness until more recently so she likely is in a fear period, and even so, her shyness is very short lived.

Peanut is such a fun, spunky, and sweet puppy! I cannot wait to continue to see her grow and flourish over the next 6 weeks. She will be able to go on the ground starting the first week of March, so she can start socializing in a different way which will be so much fun! I will keep you posted on her progress, of course!

Peanut’s Favorites

Food: Peanut is eating Hills Sensitive Puppy food. You can find it on Amazon, Chewy, or at Petsmart/Petco. Most of them have a good discount when you set up subscribe and save for the first time.
Favorite Treats: Peanut is not picky at all, but she really loves these Nibs, and so do I; they break in half very easily. She also loves chicken and turkey!
Favorite Frozen Treat (to stuff her hoof/Kong/etc.): Peanut really likes this canned food and also enjoys peanut butter and cheese whiz. I use a Toppl (size small) for all of her crate snacking. I coat the inside with peanut butter and add a spoonful of canned food. I am currently not freezing, but she will probably need her snacks frozen pretty soon since she cleans them out really quickly now!
Favorite Toy: Peanut LOVES the flirt pole and also really likes this tug toy and these balls. She does a pretty good job fetching and also just likes to carry a ball around! She also loves latex squeaky toys. For tug toys, check Amazon and their website to see which has the better deal. Their website is here, and she loves several of the varieties they have: Tug-E-Nuff
Favorite Bed: This bed has become everyone’s favorite for around the house! She also likes having a Primo Pad in her crate, and I usually accompany it with a blanket like this.
Favorite Chews: Beef Tendons & No Hide Chews

Peanut’s Photo Gallery

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