I struck gold! Jack is AWESOME. He’s kinda nuts, but learns quickly and easily. He’s built like a leopard but tame as a turtle. He went from spending 26 hours in his pooped and peed dog house unwilling to leave to house training and learning to operate the electronic dog door. We spent the whole afternoon and evening together exploring forested areas surrounding my house and learning the outer boundaries. This outside expedition was key to trusting me and overcoming insecurity. From there on it was a piece of cake (or should I say ~10lbs of cooked and boned turkey meat). He learned ‘sit’, ‘halt’, ‘bang!’ (roll over) and most important of all, ‘come’ (whistle). Each ‘grunt’ is associated with a hand signal. I plan on him learning ‘shake’, ‘on by’ (mush) and a few other basics tomorrow. Man he really learns fast!
He’s also kind of hyperactive, which I attribute partly to his recent indulgence in meat. This is something new to me. In my whole 9 years with Newfie she was never the least be hyperactive. I’ve had lots of crazy hyperactive Labradors, but not a Newfie. Still he is completely controllable by voice and sign (and turkey!). Actually, he and Newfie are very dissimilar; Jack is like a broken-in mustang and Newfie is more like a little elephant.
After cutting out all the mats and cleaning him up, I realized what an incredible specimen he is; I don’t know my dog show judging, but he seems like the type that should come in first place. I think I can have him jumping hoops by Saturday, and catching squirrels on command by the end of the summer. Well, we’ll see, but he sure has a lot of potential. I think this is a great example of ‘Rescued Newfie’ gone totally right.
Thanks to all!
Dan
