Wow, he looks so big, but then he looks so small when he's in his crate lol
Yay for no accidents! =] He's getting the hang of it Oh, yeah definitely need to get him to get into the car on his own, hehe, don't think you want to be carrying him at 130 lbs.
Oh my gosh he's huge!!! He was just a tiny puppy in the last pics. He is really really handsome. I love AA ears.
Sounds like he's doing great with his training. Way to go! I'm always so impressed with everyone on the forum and how active everyone is with training.
I'll have more spam from today's hike soon, but today Oskar had his first hike, and more importantly, his first off-leash hike. We took him and Bel for a walk along the Jemez river (it was gorgeous, too, with the aspen all yellow). Oskar was great. He did run ahead, but never too far, and it was clear he always wanted to be able to see us. I practiced recalls a lot, and he came racing back every time for a treat! (I've been teaching the recall in conjunction with the "touch" command, so he comes to touch my hand, which is nice). It was actually quite a novelty: an off leash dog that didn't want to run off or chase things, and just pretty much wanted to be with us (though the river was very alluring, and he did have to run down to wade in it several times). My GSD was kind of like this, but he had a super annoying habit of trying to "herd" people walking, so that was TOO close, and the Shibas off course run off and hunt and it's hard to get them to come back. So Oskar is a really nice balance between too close and too far.
We didn't have any challenges to his off leash walking, though, as the only people we saw I spotted well before Oskar did, and called him to me and put him on the leash, which was good, because they had two dobermans, and adult male and a puppy. Oskar got pretty interested in the dogs and barked at them a bit, and I was glad he was on leash then, as I don't think he's reliable enough yet on his recall for me to want to have risked that.
It's a short hike, maybe 4 miles total at the most, but he was exhausted afterwards, and slept most of the way home in the car, and is still tired now. But I think he had fun. He kept looking around as if he couldn't believe how lucky he was to be able to run around in such a pretty place. And Bel had fun too, though we didn't let her off leash, as she is much too hard to catch. And she's a little marathon runner, and wasn't even remotely tired by this little jaunt. We've taken her on 8 mile hikes where she's probably run three times as far as we walked, and she never even showed the slightest bit of tiredness--she's the energizer bunny of Shibas--so this was nothing for her.
Yes you got the bug too! Off leash hiking is my favorite. Letting Maymay and Koda go off on their own feels so good. They are free like they should be.
Can't wait for the pics. The touch command sounds really cool. I should work with Koda on that.
Wauw sounds like you had an amazing trip I walked my foster akita, Jason, off-leash for the first time yesterday, and he was so great! The way you describe Oskar's behavior is exactly how Jason is. He wanders a bit further than my GSD does, but he still stays relatively close and will come whenever I call... Great feeling!!
@dlroberts I know exactly how you feel Dave, and I do the same! It's a fantastic feeling
New Oskar spam! I was out of town and my husband sent me this pic, and I thought, oh! My boy looks like a DOG not a puppy anymore! But when I got home, I saw that he is still puppyish in his face and his behavior!
But here he is:
You can kind of see how his right eye is slightly more closed/smaller.....poor boy! We're going to the eye doctor on Friday.
huh...I thought I could update my first post/title, but I'm not able to right now for some reason...
Oskar update:
First, yes, he does have microphthalmia, but his smaller eye is functional, and he can see. I don't know that he sees well...I often note if he doesn't see the movement of a treat falling he doesn't see it on his own....but he's not blind in that eye, which is the important thing.
Oskar is 6 months old tomorrow. He weighs 82 pounds. He's a BIG boy, and while he's clearly starting to hit adolescence--huh? You talking to me?--he's also very much a puppy still. We're in our second clicker class. This one is just us--I'd hoped to get in a group class but that didn't work out. While I miss the socialization aspect, we really work harder when it is just us! We're still mostly going over basics again, so nothing fancy there.
But Oskar has suddenly developed a bit of fearfulness that we're trying to work him away from. About three weeks ago, he started barking at people when we were walking in our neighborhood. He's clearly nervous....he drops his tail, barks, and in the case of a certain particularly grim jogger (I call him that because he is very old, very tall and thin, and if I say hi to him he glares at me, regardless of whether I have a barking dog with me or not), he'll hide behind me. What worried me about the jogger was that Oskar also did a bit of a lunge when the guy passed. I know it's fear (and then the desire to chase) but this is not cool, esp. with such a big dog. I came up with something that was combo of what we do in class and my own idea. In class, Oskar will not go to the trainer if she calls him. He looks at me, and simply refuses to acknowledge her, even if she has a treat (he also does this with my husband!). But we needed to practice recalls. So she got out a squeaky toy, and he went running to her! He's clearly toy motivated. So my new thing is that when we are passing something that gets him stressed: a person walking, the grim jogger, the two mastiffs a few blocks over that he hates, I squeak his toy. It gets his attention right away, then I give him his toy to carry, and he can't bark with his toy in his mouth, and he tends to squeak it and play with it and calm down right away. We only use this toy for walks, and so far it seems to be working (he looks really, really silly with it...I've got to get a picture at some point!). The trainer thought it was a good solution, and watching him with it (it's always how I've convinced him to get in the car), she suggested I get another special toy for other kinds of training to use both as a lure and as a reward with certain tricks.
He's really pretty responsive, which is great, and he wants to please, and learns relatively quickly. I'm not sure what to do with his total indifference to anything my husband says. Oskar clearly likes him and enjoys being with him, but I don't think he understands him at all. Part of it is I tend not to give verbal commands at all (I use hand signals), and my husband throws half a dozen words at Oskar that clearly don't mean anything to Oskar. And then there is just the fact that Oskar ALWAYS looks to me first if told to do something.
The other problem we've been having is more complicated. Oskar is huge, but he's still a puppy, and still has a pup's attention span, and clumsiness. And he loves to play. But he is getting really rough with Bel. It's just the size difference (he did great on thanksgiving with my best friend's GSD who is Oskar's size). She bites him on the back of the neck, and he does the same to her, except he's taking her entire neck in his mouth! Yesterday I saw him dragging her! He'd grabbed her by the neck and was pulling her, and had knocked her off her feet! I stopped him right away, but I worry that he'll hurt her. And she almost never corrects him. She will snap or growl occasionally if he is too pushy, but mostly she just lets him do it, even when it is clear she is not enjoying it. She's starting to run from him, instead of play with him, which of course just makes him chase her more. I'm kind of worried about this. Suggestions?
and yay, not much to report! (since I'm having so many health problems with the Shibas right now, I'm happy to report he has no new problems).
He's huge! He's 100 pounds, probably a little more (we had to weigh him on the home scale). He'll be 8 months old in a week or so. He's really sweet and loving. He's probably not the brightest dog I've ever had, but he's also still very much a (huge) puppy, and he's a cautious dog, so he spends time trying to figure things out. We're not neutering him til he's a year old, but he isn't showing any hormone related issues: he still doesn't lift his leg, he only humps Bel if she starts it first, and his behavior towards other dogs has not changed: he's interested, but not aggressive. He is showing some adolescent behavior in that he's not at all interested in coming when I call anymore, but we're working on that. He enjoys being outside, even in the snow, and will "perch" on the landing to the second story deck, where he can see everything. Sometimes, though, he gets confused when we call him to come in from there, and can't figure out which way to go--up or down the stairs.
He's also confused about his size, which is causing some funny problems. I put a crate outside for Bel the other day so she could get in it while outside. It was his puppy crate. Bel got in and settled down, and he decided to get in too, but of course, only his head would fit in. I don't know if Bel growled, or what, but he got scared and tried to run, but he didn't pull his head out first, so he dragged crate, with Bel in it, across the patio.
He also gets confused about getting on the furniture. There is one low "dog chair" in the house that he was fixated on when he was a pup: he SO wanted to get on it, but couldn't. Then for awhile he could, and was so happy! Now he's too big. He gets on with his front paws and looks so pleased, but then when he gets his back legs up, his front legs go off as he's much, much longer than the chair, and this confuses him terribly.
Yesterday, he jumped up on our bed for the first time. We don't want to encourage that, so I just asked him to get off, and he did, and hasn't done it again.
He likes to play, and he plays in the yard by himself a lot. I kind of wish we had a dog more his size. Bel is too small for him to play with, and now she's injured. He'd like a bigger friend, I think,
He went to two clicker classes and needs to get to another one soon--he needs more socialization with people and other dogs, and definately needs some work walking on a leash. He's really a sweet dog, and gentle, and perhaps I'm not being fair about his brightness--I know he's still got a puppy brain in that giant head of his. It's just in comparison to the Shibas and their devious intelligence, well, I tend to expect that from dogs now, and he doesn't have it. He's certainly MUCH easier to live with than the Sheebs, though!
I need to get some pics of him--will post those when I have them.
Poor Oskar, can't fit anywhere he wants to... I laughed so hard when I read that he dragged crate and poor Bel along with it!! Poor shiba got a ride, huh?
Here are a couple of Oskar pics...none very good, because even though my husband can take really good pics with his camera, we're mostly so lazy we use our phones.
Oskar is a BIG boy (and look how little Bel looks next to him!):
I'm just a teenager....I can't help it....
(And I notice the micro isn't that noticable in the pics, but it is right eye that is slightly smaller).
Comments
Yay for no accidents! =] He's getting the hang of it
Sounds like he's doing great with his training. Way to go! I'm always so impressed with everyone on the forum and how active everyone is with training.
Congrats on the progress in training.
He still has that "puppy" look to him tho!
Glad things are going well with the training.
We didn't have any challenges to his off leash walking, though, as the only people we saw I spotted well before Oskar did, and called him to me and put him on the leash, which was good, because they had two dobermans, and adult male and a puppy. Oskar got pretty interested in the dogs and barked at them a bit, and I was glad he was on leash then, as I don't think he's reliable enough yet on his recall for me to want to have risked that.
It's a short hike, maybe 4 miles total at the most, but he was exhausted afterwards, and slept most of the way home in the car, and is still tired now. But I think he had fun. He kept looking around as if he couldn't believe how lucky he was to be able to run around in such a pretty place. And Bel had fun too, though we didn't let her off leash, as she is much too hard to catch. And she's a little marathon runner, and wasn't even remotely tired by this little jaunt. We've taken her on 8 mile hikes where she's probably run three times as far as we walked, and she never even showed the slightest bit of tiredness--she's the energizer bunny of Shibas--so this was nothing for her.
Can't wait for the pics. The touch command sounds really cool. I should work with Koda on that.
@dlroberts
I know exactly how you feel Dave, and I do the same! It's a fantastic feeling
But here he is:
You can kind of see how his right eye is slightly more closed/smaller.....poor boy! We're going to the eye doctor on Friday.
Still uber handsome! Yes Lisa, he is becoming...*drumroll* A MAN!!! lol
Hopefully the eye doctor will give a good prognosis and a simple and quick treatment plan.
I hope it's nothing too bad.
Hope all goes well with his eye...
Oskar update:
First, yes, he does have microphthalmia, but his smaller eye is functional, and he can see. I don't know that he sees well...I often note if he doesn't see the movement of a treat falling he doesn't see it on his own....but he's not blind in that eye, which is the important thing.
Oskar is 6 months old tomorrow. He weighs 82 pounds. He's a BIG boy, and while he's clearly starting to hit adolescence--huh? You talking to me?--he's also very much a puppy still. We're in our second clicker class. This one is just us--I'd hoped to get in a group class but that didn't work out. While I miss the socialization aspect, we really work harder when it is just us! We're still mostly going over basics again, so nothing fancy there.
But Oskar has suddenly developed a bit of fearfulness that we're trying to work him away from. About three weeks ago, he started barking at people when we were walking in our neighborhood. He's clearly nervous....he drops his tail, barks, and in the case of a certain particularly grim jogger (I call him that because he is very old, very tall and thin, and if I say hi to him he glares at me, regardless of whether I have a barking dog with me or not), he'll hide behind me. What worried me about the jogger was that Oskar also did a bit of a lunge when the guy passed. I know it's fear (and then the desire to chase) but this is not cool, esp. with such a big dog. I came up with something that was combo of what we do in class and my own idea. In class, Oskar will not go to the trainer if she calls him. He looks at me, and simply refuses to acknowledge her, even if she has a treat (he also does this with my husband!). But we needed to practice recalls. So she got out a squeaky toy, and he went running to her! He's clearly toy motivated. So my new thing is that when we are passing something that gets him stressed: a person walking, the grim jogger, the two mastiffs a few blocks over that he hates, I squeak his toy. It gets his attention right away, then I give him his toy to carry, and he can't bark with his toy in his mouth, and he tends to squeak it and play with it and calm down right away. We only use this toy for walks, and so far it seems to be working (he looks really, really silly with it...I've got to get a picture at some point!). The trainer thought it was a good solution, and watching him with it (it's always how I've convinced him to get in the car), she suggested I get another special toy for other kinds of training to use both as a lure and as a reward with certain tricks.
He's really pretty responsive, which is great, and he wants to please, and learns relatively quickly. I'm not sure what to do with his total indifference to anything my husband says. Oskar clearly likes him and enjoys being with him, but I don't think he understands him at all. Part of it is I tend not to give verbal commands at all (I use hand signals), and my husband throws half a dozen words at Oskar that clearly don't mean anything to Oskar. And then there is just the fact that Oskar ALWAYS looks to me first if told to do something.
The other problem we've been having is more complicated. Oskar is huge, but he's still a puppy, and still has a pup's attention span, and clumsiness. And he loves to play. But he is getting really rough with Bel. It's just the size difference (he did great on thanksgiving with my best friend's GSD who is Oskar's size). She bites him on the back of the neck, and he does the same to her, except he's taking her entire neck in his mouth! Yesterday I saw him dragging her! He'd grabbed her by the neck and was pulling her, and had knocked her off her feet! I stopped him right away, but I worry that he'll hurt her. And she almost never corrects him. She will snap or growl occasionally if he is too pushy, but mostly she just lets him do it, even when it is clear she is not enjoying it. She's starting to run from him, instead of play with him, which of course just makes him chase her more. I'm kind of worried about this. Suggestions?
and yay, not much to report! (since I'm having so many health problems with the Shibas right now, I'm happy to report he has no new problems).
He's huge! He's 100 pounds, probably a little more (we had to weigh him on the home scale). He'll be 8 months old in a week or so. He's really sweet and loving. He's probably not the brightest dog I've ever had, but he's also still very much a (huge) puppy, and he's a cautious dog, so he spends time trying to figure things out. We're not neutering him til he's a year old, but he isn't showing any hormone related issues: he still doesn't lift his leg, he only humps Bel if she starts it first, and his behavior towards other dogs has not changed: he's interested, but not aggressive. He is showing some adolescent behavior in that he's not at all interested in coming when I call anymore, but we're working on that. He enjoys being outside, even in the snow, and will "perch" on the landing to the second story deck, where he can see everything. Sometimes, though, he gets confused when we call him to come in from there, and can't figure out which way to go--up or down the stairs.
He's also confused about his size, which is causing some funny problems. I put a crate outside for Bel the other day so she could get in it while outside. It was his puppy crate. Bel got in and settled down, and he decided to get in too, but of course, only his head would fit in. I don't know if Bel growled, or what, but he got scared and tried to run, but he didn't pull his head out first, so he dragged crate, with Bel in it, across the patio.
He also gets confused about getting on the furniture. There is one low "dog chair" in the house that he was fixated on when he was a pup: he SO wanted to get on it, but couldn't. Then for awhile he could, and was so happy! Now he's too big. He gets on with his front paws and looks so pleased, but then when he gets his back legs up, his front legs go off as he's much, much longer than the chair, and this confuses him terribly.
Yesterday, he jumped up on our bed for the first time. We don't want to encourage that, so I just asked him to get off, and he did, and hasn't done it again.
He likes to play, and he plays in the yard by himself a lot. I kind of wish we had a dog more his size. Bel is too small for him to play with, and now she's injured. He'd like a bigger friend, I think,
He went to two clicker classes and needs to get to another one soon--he needs more socialization with people and other dogs, and definately needs some work walking on a leash. He's really a sweet dog, and gentle, and perhaps I'm not being fair about his brightness--I know he's still got a puppy brain in that giant head of his. It's just in comparison to the Shibas and their devious intelligence, well, I tend to expect that from dogs now, and he doesn't have it. He's certainly MUCH easier to live with than the Sheebs, though!
I need to get some pics of him--will post those when I have them.
Glad that he is doing well. I understand all too well about the confusion... Nola has a bit of that too. It makes her charming, which I love!
As for bigger friend... Maybe a CO? :-P
And yes, we need pictures
Oskar is a BIG boy (and look how little Bel looks next to him!):
I'm just a teenager....I can't help it....
(And I notice the micro isn't that noticable in the pics, but it is right eye that is slightly smaller).