This is some old style blogging.
Our Labrador Retriever puppy is now 9 weeks old. It’s been quite a project onboarding her into our home. I grew up with dogs at home (Pugs) and had a great companion for all too brief a time after moving to Baltimore in the mid 80’s for my Neurology training at Johns Hopkins. That was Cajal, named after the Spanish neuroanatomist. She was a gentle, but enthusiastic Frisbee dog. A Lab and Shepard mix from an accidental litter. So after many years, we’ve brought in this baby animal to be a companion. She comes from a fine line bred at Viklan Labradors in West Chester, PA.
Dog training and management has changed dramatically since I adopted Cajal. Back then, training was largely aversive using negative reinforcement to guide the dog into desired behaviors. Thiebaud is seeing play and reward and is responding quite remarkable. She shows powerful place preference for a red fleece mat that I’ve reinforced her on with food, just dropping kibble on it when she brings all 4 paws onto it. She’s happy in here crate since most of her food is thrown into her crate, door open or closed. She’s already retrieving toys, bringing them back to me just for more play and engagement, not on any command. She comes running on cue as she’s expecting some kibble in my hand.
This dog has enlarged and shrunk the world simultaneously. Enlarged it of course since I have this rapidly developing puppy becoming devoted to her humans. Everything good comes from us- food, water and play. Shrunk it, since it’s a big project taking many hours a day. Learing about training methods, play, management. Fortunately, she settles down quickly after a play session and snoozes, so there’s time for work, cycling training and blogging.