So much of what we do with puppies to help them grow into nice, well mannered dogs is a balancing act. We balance setting firm boundaries with allowing dogs to express their natural needs and desires. We show dogs the behavior that we like and discourage them from the behavior we don't like. In all this balancing though, it's important to make sure the dogs are getting their needs met. They don't have a verbal language to tell us what they need so we need to be able to either read their body language or anticipate their needs.
As I mentioned before, play is a great way to exercise your dog and to teach them skills. I want to be involved in their play too so she doesn't think that all fun things only happen with other dogs. I really want her to be tuned into people. When she is keyed into people...
She'll respond to you even when there is really exciting things going on around her. She's doing really well at this and is quite attentive to people. She'll drop almost anything she is doing when I call her. On a rare occasion I still need to remind her but, for a puppy her age, she is doing really well.
She is still getting plenty of exercise and this definitely helps with her attentiveness. She even gets her exercise needs met in my small yard. That's the beauty of the circle in the middle of the yard. Even if there are no other dogs around, Mollie will run circles around that tree.
And again the balance...she gets enough exercise and her little mind gets worked and in turn we have the nice calm, quiet moments with sweet little Mollie. What a good girl she is!
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