Dear Mama Octavia, I just wanted to let you know I am doing good at my new home. I think I’ll stay! This week I have experienced all sorts of new things. I went to the big city (Lansing) and got a new life jacket for the boat ( the lady at West marine just loved me!) I went grocery shopping and went to the recycle station. I went to a birthday party and played with my Grand kids and I also met their dog “Autumn”! I am walking good on my leash. (thanks Julie, for all the great info…we’ve been trying everything!) I have learned to come to my name, to sit, stand and down! Today we were out in the garden hoeing and putting straw around the tomato plants and now I’m taking a little nap under the tree with my new Dad! MY new Dad wants to know if I could learn to shake hands at my age? ( and if so how to learn this?) Well I better go for now.
Love, Opal Fuzz OX lick!
PS I found my appetite this week too and now eat kibble all gone! My stools have returned to normal and I am doing a great job of potty training!
Ms. Opal—you’re one lucky pup! Congrats on your new home. Can you learn to shake hands at your young age? Well, of course you can! You’re an Alta-Tollhaus pup!
Opal is such a pretty baby! I love the photo of her in the high chair – where’s her bib? What is the life jacket for? Is she going to be a sailor?
Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear? Nope, it is Opal. What an absolute cutie pie – so pretty and such a lovely face. She has obviously taken over your hearts, which is such a good thing! Continue to enjoy, your journey has just begun …
What a cute pup. I am no expert, but I have found with all my dogs that “shake hands” has always been one of the easier commands to teach. Put Opal in a “sit”.
Then, holding a treat in your right hand so she can see it, give the command “shake” or “shake hands” whatever you want to call it, (but always use the same verbage)and actually pick up her paw and shake it at the same time, then reward with the treat.
Keep doing this for a while, then try just tapping her leg or paw and issuing the command. Eventually, you should get her to lift her paw on her own to shake on command without any manual provocation on your part.
Once she is really good, you should be able to ask for sit, shake and down or whatever else you want all in a row. I had two dogs before that got so used to this sequence, they would do all three things before I would even ask – I guess I was too predictable – they knew they would get the treat at the end, so they wanted to speed through the commands faster than I could issue them. Good luck and have fun!!
PS – don’t forget to lavish her with praise when she does it right…