He is a 16 week old German Shepherd named Faro.
Faro is very energetic! He is also a very fast learner and very adaptable.
He has settled in here incredibly well and lies quietly in his crate until we take him out for a 10 minute burst of 'work' every so often, but not in any set schedule because we do not want to encourage routine or encourage Faro to 'anticipate' what will happen next.
Faro will be here for an initial 2 months of socialising and it is our job to build his confidence and introduce him to every new situation our imaginations can think of before he goes off for formal training.
If he is on track to becoming a suitable working dog at the 6 month interval, he will then come back to us until he is 12 months old.
My first obstacle is to make sure that I do not 'train' Faro in obedience tasks unless necessary for a smooth life with him during this stage. The obedience training is something that is left for the eventual police handler to do because this is their method of bonding with the dog.
We may teach Faro not to bolt out of his crate or out of a door without being invited (for his own safety really) and we may teach him to walk on a slack leash for ease of walking him. But we do not intend to teach commands such as 'sit' or 'down'.
So in a nutshell, we are responsible for his 'emotional' development.
Here are a few first photos although I took many more - he doesn't stay still so all are blurred!!!
and here he is in his crate:
How do you end up doing this? It sounds great but I think Audrey would become to attached but I have a friend who want's a dog but could not have one full time at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHow is Lucian enjoying having a dog? -Elina
You just have to apply to which ever organisation you would like to work with and then they do a property check and come to chat with you before putting you on a waiting list for a pup.
ReplyDeleteYou have to be pretty sure you could be detached enough to give the pup back but the truth is, I don't think you can know til you do it!
Lucian is not enjoying having the dog all that much as he has always had a slight fear of dogs for some reason! If we had an 8 week old pup he might be better but Faro is a big 16 week old GSD so bit big for Luey to feel confident around.
I am 100% enjoying the experience myself and feel sure I will have another pup after Faro :o)
It is proving good for Lucian too as slowly he learns more about dogs.