Episode 18: 6 months old--Then and Now

Amy Shackelford
Jun 28, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Jul 4, 2021

Bonnie

Staffordshire Terrior

Color: white with brown spots

Red Nose

Expected size: about 70-80 lbs

Current weight: 52 lbs

Clyde

Staffordshire Terrior

Color: Lilac

Red Nose

Expected size: about 80 lbs

Current Weight 57 lbs

The pups are officially six months old. I thought it would be a good time to compare how much they have grown.

8 weeks

3 months

6 months

Favorite pics over the past 6 months...

8 wks

9 wks

10 wks

11 weeks

12 wks+

Look what Bradley found at the store. Finally, a raw hide that Bonnie cannot swallow whole!!!!! They all love “the donut.” It lasted a little less than a week. Penny finished it off. It WILL become the new standard.

Started with Bonnie

Penny decided it was hers.

Final "chewing gum" remnants!

As of this week, they are officially too strong for me to hold. They noticed a dog that they had seen before, Bandit. They were both overly excited and pulling with all of their strength. I was able to hold them for a few seconds using the skii position, but quickly realized their sheer power, so I let go of both leads before they pulled me to the ground. They were great around the dog, so I was able to catch up to the quite easily and grab the leash again. Thankfully we were super close to our backyard, and they know the words “go to the house” so I controlled them. From now on, I will take them one at a time (until that is too much) and train more diligently! (AAAGGGHHH... no pic!)

Bonnie regularly has the “zoomies.” She will run laps around the house taunting Clyde with every pass. Then when they finally collide, she tackles him with fervor. Clyde rarely has the “zoomies.” But when he does, he takes his revenge! Bonnie watches him take laps and taunt her and waits for the inevitable tackle. Sometimes we are not in the room when the “zoomies” start but Clyde ALWAYS runs in front of the refrigerator as part of his lap. He runs so forceful that he tears the rug up under his feet every time. It is a shake your head moment with a soft smile every time you see the rug because you know they were playing and loving life.

Clyde (and Bonnie some too) is developing his body language. He sits by back door to signal that he needed to go out. Sometimes, if you are not in the same room as him, he will come and sit at your feet and look at you with those puppy dog eyes. The only problem is, he is very subtle. You really have to understand his little nuances to know what he wants.

We are ecstatic about the improvement and are thinking of getting a bell so that he has a little more help when he needs it.

“Sit” & “Stand” COMMANDS

My pups sit all of the time by themselves so it was a little challenging for them to learn this command. They would sit before I was ready. By teaching this, I can have them sit to help them reach a calm state when excited. It is an easy command that they both learned quickly. I taught “stand” because I wanted to.

SIT

The ultimate goal was to be able to slightly point in the downward direction and they would sit. We started by holding a treat over their head. When they noticed it, we moved it back slightly out of their vision (toward the top of the head). In order to see the treat, they would sit! Before doing this action, I always pointed to the ground so that I would eventually stop hovering over their heads.

STAND

While sitting, I would signal with my hands “rise” (like asking a mass of people). At the same time, I slid my foot under their bellies to show them what I wanted. I would repeat these two commands over and over every training session.

Both pups leaned the sit command fairly easily.

Bonnie adapted to the “stand” command quickly (I don’t think she liked the nudge).

My daughter bought us these cute footprints to make with the puppies.These are the sizes at 6 months. Hopefully I can get another set and do this again at one year.

Clyde is VERY food motivated. He gets easily excited when it is time for training, when he thinks he might get a bite of your food, and when he gets to lick the crumbs off the floor. That I understand, but sitting while eating? I don’t get and I don’t think I ever will. Why Clyde… just why?