Pebbles’ Puppy Diary – Week 4: Confidence is Growing

This week has felt like a bit of a turning point with Pebbles. She’s starting to become much more confident in the world around her, and we’re seeing more and more of her personality come through every day.

Of course, with confidence comes a little bit more cheekiness too! She’s definitely keeping us entertained, but it’s lovely watching her learn, explore and start to become the dog she’s going to be.

Bigger adventures… but not bigger walks

This week Pebbles has started joining us on some more little adventures with Buddy.

We’re still keeping things really age appropriate. Although she’s now around 11kg and getting harder to carry, we’re still choosing to carry her for some parts of our outings rather than increasing her walking distance too quickly.

At this age she’s still growing and developing, so I’m mindful of supporting her joints and bones while still giving her lots of opportunities to experience the world. Socialisation isn’t about how far a puppy walks; it’s about the quality of the experiences they have while they’re out.

One of our favourite little walks is just up the road from us. We took Pebbles there with Buddy and had her on a long line so she could have some freedom to sniff, explore and have a little run around, while still having that extra safety of not being able to disappear off into the distance.

We also practised a few recalls while we were there. Having Buddy with us really helped, as when we called him back, Pebbles often chose to follow him. When she came back to us, we made sure it was worthwhile with plenty of praise and some very high-value pâté.

It’s lovely watching her start to understand that coming back to us is always a good choice.

After that, we carried her home for a rest before heading out again later to our local pub.

This was another great little experience for Pebbles. We found a shady table and she settled underneath while we had a drink. Being our local, lots of familiar faces came over to say hello, including the landlady and her lovely, very well-behaved dog.

There was definitely a little part of me thinking, “No pressure Pebbles, this dog is very well behaved!” but she enjoyed having a little fuss before settling back down.

Of course, Pebbles also treated everyone to one of her favourite party tricks by tipping her water bowl all over the floor. She seems to think every water bowl should end up upside down, which gave us all a good laugh.

Learning that play isn’t all or nothing

At the weekend we met up with our friends and their Beagle puppy at a secure dog field.

This is the same puppy she has played with a few times before, and they’re exactly the same age. They were even picked up by their owners on the same day, so it’s been really lovely watching their friendship develop.

We decided not to take Buddy with us for this one. As much as he’s great with puppies, I thought having two puppies trying to bounce all over him might have been a bit much for him, and he probably would have appreciated a quiet morning!

When we first let them off lead, they did exactly what puppies do best — they had a good old wrestle. They clearly enjoy each other’s company, and it was lovely to see them having fun together.

After a few minutes though, we gave them a little break and put them back on their leads.

This wasn’t because they were doing anything wrong. In fact, it’s something I’m really keen to practise with Pebbles: learning that she can enjoy playing with another dog and also learn to disengage.

Puppies don’t naturally know how to regulate their excitement, so sometimes they need us to help them take a little pause before they become completely overexcited.

We did some parallel walking together, which is such a useful skill. The puppies were still able to see each other and experience being together, but they weren’t constantly jumping all over each other. They’re learning that being around another dog doesn’t always have to mean full-on play.

We wandered around the field, sniffed the hedges, watched the tractors and took in everything around us.

Once they had settled again, we allowed another little play session and practised a few recalls. Our husbands walked a little further away and we called the puppies back while they were still able to focus.

We only did a few repetitions because I wanted to finish while they were successful. Puppies have such short attention spans, and it’s much better to end on a good note than keep going until they’re overtired and unable to make good choices.

The biggest thing I wanted them to learn was that coming away from another dog doesn’t mean the fun has finished. They still got rewarded, they still got another chance to play, and they’re starting to understand that listening to us is worthwhile.

By the end of the session, they were both more than ready for a rest — and they slept for a good portion of the day afterwards!

Puppy class

This week in puppy class we continued working on loose lead walking.

Loose lead walking is one of those skills that takes time, and we’ll be practising it throughout the course. It’s not something puppies are naturally born knowing, so we want to make sure we’re teaching it in a way that makes sense to them.

Rather than using food as a lure to keep a puppy next to us, I prefer to build value in the behaviour itself. I want Pebbles (and the puppies in class) to understand that choosing to stay close to us is rewarding, rather than simply following a piece of food.

To begin with, I use my voice, my movement and lots of frequent reinforcement when they make the right choices. Those little moments of choosing to check in with us, move with us and stay connected are what we want to build on.

We also worked on stays.

I genuinely think stay is one of the most useful behaviours we can teach our dogs. It’s a skill that can help keep them safe in everyday life and gives us something really valuable to build on as they grow.

A mistake I often see is people asking their dog for a stay, walking away and then immediately recalling them. Until a puppy really understands what “stay” means, adding a recall can sometimes blur the lines.

For now, we’re keeping those behaviours separate and focusing on helping the puppies understand that staying where they are is a behaviour in its own right. We’ll build on that over the coming weeks.

Life at home

At home, Pebbles’ confidence is definitely growing.

She’s now fully house trained, which is a lovely milestone, and she’s also becoming much more comfortable with her routine.

She is, however, becoming increasingly bitey! As her confidence grows and those puppy teeth start changing, she’s definitely finding lots of opportunities to practise using them.

We’re making sure she has plenty of appropriate things to chew, and she’s become a fan of ostrich tendon. It’s a nice texture for her and keeps her busy for a while.

One of my favourite things at the moment is watching how enthusiastic she is about training. If I ask her to go to her bed, she doesn’t just walk over — she launches herself onto her blanket like she’s attempting a forward roll. It makes me laugh every time.

Then, after a day of causing chaos, she turns back into a sleepy puppy and loves nothing more than curling up for a cuddle.

Every week we’re seeing a little more of Pebbles’ personality. She’s becoming cheekier, more confident and definitely keeping us on our toes. She’s still very much a baby, and we’re enjoying helping her navigate the world one little experience at a time.

Although I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to carry an 11kg Rottweiler puppy to the pub!