The past six months have been so busy this ole blog has been neglected! So here we go getting up to date. So Samson is now just over a year old, starting to fill out and stronger than ever. Sadly I have caved in to the Halti brand, it was next to impossible for me to get him to heel. The trip to Pets at Home left a very hacked off dog, but he is used to it now and the improvement is massive. He benefits tenfold, when I go into town he can come along without worrying I am going to be dragged around and have burns from the lead! He doesn’t pull and he knows he doesn’t have his strength on side.
Behaviour wise Gregg and myself are very pleased with him. Sam’s dad is up for sale on A1K9 at the moment, and the bio of him shows Sam has inherited all his good nature. He is good on lead passing other dogs, he listens. Great with children, just earlier we were sat outside a pub with a inflatable children’s castle and slide and a little toddler brushed up against him and he just sits there with a grin on his face. His house behaviour has always been good and in the past couple of months he has the two rooms downstairs to himself when we are out, no more crate. Usually when I come in he is sleeping on the sofa, which turns out to be perfect dog bed size.
Now then, training. Our main concern was the bolting. We tried next to everything and listened to advice. One person told us to try a long lead. Well, I think they should of came along and held it, utterly pointless! He just didn’t respond. In the end we decided to go for balls, seeing as though he loves them so much. We bought a massive plastic ball and a classic ball on the rope. If he returned one ball he got the other as a reward. The improvement was fantastic. I now feel comfortable walking him off lead on my own providing I am sure the horses are far away. We practised with both toys a few times and he picked it up quickly. Now we just take the ball on the rope out, and if I have that it my hand he will stay close off lead, recall prefectly, sit, down and speak on command. If I have thrown the ball for him it is quite a different matter, but he does stay near and he will drop the toy. Hopefully with practise he will continue improving.
We paid a trip to a training ground just past the common a while back to see what training classes they did. Working trials are what we are after really, and luckily a woman was opening up the hut and came over to talk to us followed by a couple of others. They all seemed nice enough, all show dog lovers. One owns show Tervuren’s, and instantly asked is he was a Malinois, “obviously a working one”. Yes, thank you, he is and all the better for it! I had a problem with a couple of things they mentioned, one being that one of us is the trainer. If this is true then it will be me at the sidelines, as Gregg wants to work with Sam as a career. I personally do not believe a dog can have only one ‘master’. He isn’t stupid. He knows if I tell him to get down then he will get down, and he knows he can play rough with Gregg but has no chance with me. Anyway, they do offer working trials but we have to pass a basic class first, recall etc. In the next couple of weeks we plan to join. I would love to go to a working club where we aren’t the only mali owners, as it is clear the few people which participate in the working sector there own GSDs, but there is no where close and this club is in walking distance. Long walking distance, but do-able.
A couple of weeks ago we made a trip down to Devon with Samson to see my parents. He got to swim a lot, and he loves it. It’s funny that he should swim to collect a ball and return it to us straight away, but on the common it seems too much like hard work! We took him swimming every day and it kept him slightly more placid which was important because he was staying in the house with Rocky, my parents working bred Springer Spaniel. Rocky was rehomed by them nearly two years ago. He was a failed gundog, he is a great big whimp and any loud noises leave him quivvering and hiding behind the sofa. As a dog he is pretty funny, a real personality. Sam and Rocky got on pretty well considering they are both ‘entire’ males and it is Rocky’s house. Sam is still boisturous, and Rocky put him in his place when needed. I’m pretty sure he has a better holiday than we did, adventure style!
