Sonny School

Sonny G completed his final class last night!

Our local Petco has been a godsend this past year, from the early months of attending the many weekend puppy plays to the last few months of training classes.  I honestly don't know what we would have done without it.  Sonny was socialized with other dogs there. He would run and play and burn off steam and come home so tired out that he would sleep the rest of the day away. The weekend puppy trainer at puppy play, Ryan, loved Sonny and would always take care and pick him up for a rub. At six months old, he aged out. Man was that a sad time. I felt a little lost without it. 

The classes were invaluable too. Trainer Lynda doesn't sugarcoat or let one get away with too much (2 legged as well as 4) and she was great to work with! After Sonny was neutered, we took a long break from class. At one point I was losing my mind with Sonny. He was entering a new phase of life and decided he didn't need to listen anymore. It was as if he lost every bit of training he learned and reverted back to young puppydom. I was losing it at times because I didn't know what I was doing wrong. DW took it upon himself to call Lynda and get a few words of advice. We quickly realized we needed to get back to basics. Once we did that, everything was fine and life with a young jack turned back to normal, or as normal as life can be with a young jack in the house.

If, in the future, we go back for advanced work, Lynda will be our go to teacher.  After all, Sonny isn't too cool for this school!

Happy National Puppy Day!

Almost a year old and we still consider Sonny to be a puppy.

Here are then:

and now:

photos.

I miss the young tiny baby Sonny.  Those sweet-crazy-fun puppy weeks go by way too fast.  Sonny is maturing into a good dog though.  We comment every single day on what a truly good boy he is.  He rarely barks, is relatively low energy for a young Jack, doesn't wake us in the night and will usually stay quiet in his kennel until we get up,  he doesn't beg from us at the dinner table and, if told, will lay down patiently while we eat, he rides well in cars (in or out of his travel kennel), he snuggles and loves being held, he's good with people, kids and other dogs.

We have yet to introduce him to a cat; although, a while back he watched one through the window walk up the driveway and scare away the wild turkeys and deer who were grazing together under the bird feeder.  Sonny has been watching the deer, turkey, squirrel, birds and chipmunks through the window from the first day at our home, but he has never seen the cat.  He didn't like what he saw that day and barked his feelings through the window as the cat sat looking back unflinchingly.

The only real frustration we have with Sonny is when he gets a hold of something really juicy like a glove, a shoe, a sock, a piece of mail and refuses to drop when commanded to.  At those times, he will run away cat and mouse style like it's the coolest game in town.  There are no amount of pocket treats one can produce to get him to come, stop or drop.  That's when I bolt for his cupboard and grab something to trump whatever item he has.  Only then will he, reluctantly, let go and move on.

To all puppies great and small, Happy Puppy's Day!

This Jack Russell cannot be trusted

Even at 11 months old, Sonny cannot be trusted to be in rooms of the house by himself for any length of time. Although, less and less, find myself craning my neck around the corner to see what he's up to. He's getting there though as he is well on his way to full maturity.  Sonny is an aggressive chewer. If he doesn't have something he enjoys chewing on (rawhide, bone, ball), we're afraid he'll go after things we enjoy sitting on. Sonny was diagnosed resource aggression which has pretty much taken rawhides and bones out of this daily rotation. And balls are just for play because, if given the chance, he'll chew through any type of ball in no time.

Each day, week and month that he matures, the more he gets to be by himself.  One day, we may even try leaving him loose in the house when we are not home. One day... Until then, it's kennel time.