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It was hard enough getting Crumpet at 5 months, she was very calm for her age and we don't have kids. Juggling a very young puppy and kids sounds like a nightmare! Good effort.
Regardless of collar or harness, I'd recommend an elasticated lead, we have the one below. Crumpet is quite big (32kg roughly) and quite strong. She's normally pretty good on the lead but still goes berserk if she sees a fox. Having a bit of give in the lead stops her pulling your arm out of your socket which makes it a lot easier to keep her under control if she pulls unexpectedly.
We use a harness because it suits her body type better, an added bonus is having a handle that you can hold on to. It makes life a bit easier if you can hold on to her to stop her wandering in front of a cyclist and things like that without having to put her on the lead.
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ltc
Finally got 2 minutes on computer to reply. Puppies + children at same time are hard work. Will be a lot easier when they're back at schol tomorrow and I can maybe do some trainign without being constantly interrupted.
That's good to know - had been intending doing that this week if possible. Have a friend with a very well trained malinois who she's met already and I'll probably take her over to their dog park as they know all the local dogs already + imagine observing well behaved dogs is good for her.
Got any thoughts on collar vs harness once we get to stage where I can walk her? Have seen both recommended. Collar seems like it would be a lot easier but she's going to be strong. Just weighed her and she put on over a kilo since Friday. She's noticeably bigger than a week ago.
Can already see little bits of stuborness - she is definitely not keen on going outside when cold or wet. But also can see her confidence growing - have put her in multiple different situations in the last week (children's playgrounds where she got mobbed, trip down to my parents for weekend, etc) and she's taken it all in her stride.
Have ordered that book as had been meaning to get another one - one I've been using is a bit oddly structured. Defintiely want to get on top of training early. She's doing pretty well with 'sit' and I've made a start on 'drop' which sounds useful.
The kids definitely need some training. They're still getting stressed when she's exciteable because they're worried she'll nip them. Which is entirely possible when she's over excited. So trying to get them to practise being calm plus also that they're in charge, not her.
On the other hand she's already done a huge amount of good in comforting them when they're upset. Younger daughter had a massive tantrum last week and she put her head on her lap and she'd calmed down within five minutes.
Better get back to kids/dogs. Got more people coming to visit her this morning. We're suddenly very popular... plus she's got a kid's halloween party to go to this evening.