A Year With Chuck

Chuck is now 14 months old, and he has been with us for a whole year!

The changes in how he handles his training are clear – he’s so grown up and focused.
He still loves nothing more than to cuddle on the floor with me, and he’s wonderfully affectionate and loving. A handling session on the floor will inevitably turn into a nap for Chuck. ❤

During lockdown, from late March to late June, we didn’t go anywhere at all, working on obedience, loose leash walking, and behavioural work at home, using puzzle toys, obstacle courses made of improvised items from in and around the house, and Zoom classes with our Puppy Raising Supervisor.

He knows all his obedience cues – SIT, DOWN, STOP, STAY, and STAND, and now that the lockdown restrictions have eased we have been able to start going out shopping and working in public places again. What the lockdown did affect is Chuck’s getting distracted by dogs and people, so we’re focusing on that now. People having to maintain a distance in the shops has helped with that! 🙂

Chuck had his 12 month x-rays at 13 months old (OP was also on a type of lockdown) and he has been cleared as healthy with no hip or elbow issues. I must be honest in that I was a little worried because he’s such a big chunky dog! He was also neutered just before the Christmas break, so physically, he is ready for training! He has now moved from the Vet’s Choice Large Breed kibble to a new sponsored food – Olympic, also for the larger dogs, and he’s looking amazing after GDA told me he had to lose at least three kilos. You woulda never said he was overweight to look at him, but I realised you had to push quite hard to find a rib when he was 44.6kg at 12 months old. 😛 He’s now 42.4kg at 14 months, with about 2kg to go.
GDA starts their dogs’ formal training at between 14 and 16 months old, so Chuck will have an “intake day” some time in the next weeks – but because of the Corona lockdown, all the usual schedules are a bit up in the air. 😛

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