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!

Yesterday evening I took Samson out and we walked to the cathedral and back. I find it interesting how he reacts when we are out late, just me and him without Gregg. If anyone talks to me or approaches he really watches them. He is protective but still if someone asks to stroke him he is fine.

It’s been a while since I have uploaded any videos or photos, so this week I will have a go at just taking some pictures. I went through the park the other day and saw the lion which a while back I took a photo of him next to. At the time he was the same size as the little concrete lion, but god, things have changed, it’s now as if Samson is the lion, and the concrete lion is the mouse!

Still need to work on the recall.  I’m looking online at the moment to buy a long leash so we can hopefully improve his recall and make it become a good thing.  I think it’s going to take a fair few chunks of hotdog and cheese!  On top of that I want to work on heel.  I’m contemplating giving clicker training a go.  I find with heel that Sam may see it as a punishment.  He pulls so hard now on lead, so I say heel, he ignores so I correct.  Then he heels for a couple of seconds, and as soon as I praise he thinks it’s a cue to pull again.  However, the other evening I took him out with just a couple of treats broken up and held them across my waist.  He continually looked up at me, heeling perfectly, so I praised a lot and gave him a treat.  I think a clicker may be a good way to praise, consistant and hopefully weans off food rewards?  I am unsure on this one as of yet.  I plan to take him out again this evening, armed with more treats than last time and give it another go first.  I know he can do so well, but sadly it is our lack of experience which makes it difficult.  I know we have made mistakes with recall, and heel is also another problem now.  We were advised to leave heel alone for the first year, but now it needsworking on.  He is just too strong to have him pulling you around.  We live in a city centre, so he needs to stick by rather than pull me over!

A freezing morning, and because there has been a lot of rain there were massive iced over puddles.  Sam’s never experienced this before, so we were interested to see how he would react.  Some of the broken ice was carried around for a while before being licked away.  A massive frozen puddle was the test, with Sam sliding across with a look of awe on his face.  He then had a bash at biting and scraping his way through the ice.  As soon as some broke away under his weight he had his teeth against the edges, breaking off more.  We thought it was pretty amusing, seeing a Mali skidding across ice, trying to go fast, but instead sprawled all over the place!

We also had a bash at improving Samson’s recall.  It was a bit hit and miss.  We just kept calling him back for no real reason, and then tugged with him, a big “good boy for here, good boy!” and then letting him wander off again.  The problem is that if he has something he likes more, like a massive bit of tree (yes, really, an entire branch which could be a tree in itself) or just a frisbee then the recall is 100% out of the window.  I have a tree, I most certainly don’t need you, regardless of your treats or toys.  That’s the problem we are having.  I’m thinking of buying a 20m leed or something similar, so Sam can go on ahead, and then if he chooses to ignore our recall I can bring him back and praise.  Hopefully it will work with persistance and a great deal of calm patience.  It proves very hard to remain calm some times, especially when he comes so close and then looks you in the eye and buggers off again!  But it has to be done, and right now the recall and retrieval are the top of my list.  For example, today a family were walking through the common.  Two toddlers were walking with their Mum, with a little yappy dog in front and off leed.  I knew Samson would have the urge to play with the dog, both myself and Gregg know he likes a good rough up.  So off he went.  The dog didn’t worry me at all, Sam plays fine and will come away when asked.  What worried me were the toddlers.  I know he is fine with children, no aggression etc as we are lucky enough to live next to a five year old who Samson met as soon as we brought him home.  The reason I was aware of potential problems is because Sam isn’t small and cute any more, he is big, fast and very strong.  If he jumped on one of those kids they would’ve been floored, even if only for hundreds of slobbery kisses.  However, he recalled fine, but I need to know I can trust the recall as explained in the previous post about the girls with footballs.

If it is icey again during a walk I shall take a video, it was worth a watch!  As for the recall, we shall persist, and as always I will update on our progress.

Samson has gone for horses before.  A horse starts running, he has to urge to chase it and so off he goes.  I stand there shouting at him to return, some times it works, some times it doesn’t.  This is becoming a bit of a problem.  I wasn’t suprised he went for the horse, and luckily he returned.  I absolutely yelled my throat to pieces, and thankfully he decided to turn around.

All is well, and I put the leash on for a few minutes until we are on the playing field and just in case the horses decide to run again.  Let him off, two seconds later, “those girls on the other side of the playing field have a couple of footballs … I like footballs”.  BHAM … off goes my mali.  I’m stood there shouting for him to return, cracking his toy in between my hands, and guess what?  He doesn’t give a damn.  Stacey has my toy, but these lovely ladies have two large footballs.  Within seconds he has grabbed one and is running about with it, every now and then turning back to them to take their other football.  I cannot apologise enough to them and haven’t a clue how to get their ball back.  He obviously found them far more entertaining than his tug toy, and the treats weren’t good enough.  So I set about making a fool of myself, trying everything.  Treats, running in the other direction etc.  Then I ask the girls for their other football, because he seemed to want both.  I stood there teasing him, and he comes trotting along.  I quickly pinned him down.  He’s not stupid, he would’ve ran off if he saw I wanted to ball.  So I went for him and pinned him to the floor.  Thankfully this worked, and the poor girls got their footballs back, one didn’t look very amused at all. 

So no I’m seeking advice on a forum on how to stop his bolting habits.  He is getting so quick and stong, and if in a years time he bolts towards some girls I can’t imagine it being funny.  He is going to be a massive mali.  I will let you know what methods we give a go, and whether or not they work.  My first port of call is a long leash as recommended by a good friend, Svenja.  Thankfully she always helps, and fingers crossed that this will work for me and Samson.

He’s pretty determined to get that rag now!  Only problem is that it’s bloody hard to get back!

Photos taken on 19th October 2008

It’s limited as to what we can train Samson at his age.  He is young, and in a couple of months it is more than likely that he will begin to ignore commands.  Dogs go through similar stages to us, terrible teens I suppose.  Baring this in mind the basics are worked on.

We tug with Samson a few times in the week, making him crave his toy.  He has improved massively, and he jerks his entire body now to put more power behind the pull. 

We have also started tracking, which we were introduced to at our last training session.  I was unsure if Sam would have the attention span to track.  In tracking examinations a dog has to follow a scent which has been laid down.  These tracks can last for long periods, and can cover a lot of ground.  Every single time the dog lifts their nose from the floor they knock a point off their final score, so it’s very easy to lose precious marks. 

We were shown how to practise very basic tracking.  Gregg held Sam and I put down his very first track.  I shuffled forwards three steps, and placed two small parts of hotdog at the tips of my toes and placed a marker in between my feet.  I then stepped over this and proceeded to make a 2ft square, flattening the grass.  Then, standing in the middle of the square, I dropped hotdog pieces around the edge of the square I had made, and dotted more inside the square, and then jumped out to avoid the scent following me.  Gregg held Samson, walked him to the beginning of the track and put the back of his hand to the ground saying “seek”.  Samson got it straight away, followed the scent and ate all the hotdogs, sniffing furiously as he went.  The best bit?  He didn’t lift his nose once!  Now I was impressed and some!

The purpose of the food is to associate scent with a reward, encouraging the dog to continue searching.  It’s a good sport for a dog which is very food orientated … which Samson most certainly is.

Training has progressed this far up until this date.  Samson is approaching six months of age and currently sits, downs, begs, jumps up and speaks all on command.  He also heels pretty well on lead, although we have been told to leave this command alone until he is a year or so.  For a dog of his age he is doing very well.  We are told all the time, by various people that Samson is great for his age.  Hopefully he has a lot of potential!

Photos taken on 25th September 2008

We recieved valuable advice during the session.  Samson would shy away when confronted strongly by a stranger, something we needed to work on at the time.  On this particular week we were amazed when Sam snapped at the trainer, Dean.  Dean said that Sam shows nervous aggressiveness, and that he needs to get used to being dominated and not just by us.  Dean was sat down at Sam’s level, stroking his face all over, pushing frontwards.  Sam started to growl, and each time Dean corrected, telling us that we cannot allow him to show signs of aggression and he must learn to put up with it even if he doesn’t like it.

This first session we also had a discussion about what we wanted to do with Samson.  Dean said that before we could have any sort of idea on how to train, me and Gregg needed to agree on what we wished to do with Sam.  Obedience is what has always appealed to me personally, so I mentioned this, and Gregg is keen on Schutzhund.  We talked about it and decided these were our main goals, providing Sam also enjoyed them of course.  In order to achieve both we were advised that it is best to focus on building drive for the first year, as too much obedience now mans that Sam’s abilities for Schutzhund would be limited as he would always be waiting for our command at every step.  Therefore currently it is drive building that is our main concern, but, as Dean said, we are still keeping the ‘manners’.  At this point Samson would already sit, down, and wait for a relatively long period of time and it has only improved more and more over the past month.  We have been advised to not progress past this point from now on, but to keep reinforcing the manners such as no jumping up etc.

It was in this session that we finally recieved an answer on how to build drive.  I am a member of a forum and had asked questions on there with very little help, and only recieved some what harsh replies.  We used to just leave toys out, not thinking about it.  We now keep all of Sam’s toys tucked away in a cupboard, as he has to learn to play when we say so.  His main toy we use is a length of builders strapping which we found in the woods.  He was swinging from it as it was attatched to a tree, and when he won it he was thrilled.  Seeing his reaction we took this strapping and I tied a knot in it, and it acts as a pretty good and durable tug toy.  Sam will rag and rag, never wanting to let go of this toy, so much so that you can even lift him up (although we have to be careful because of his puppy teeth).  This idea, toy, and routine are helping to build Sam’s drive even now, a few weeks on from this session.