A FIRST birthday, and another major milestone.
The adorable little black bundle who snuffled into our lives eight months ago is now a solid and substantial 36kg teenager with massive paws and a big heart.
An inquisitive, well-meaning black shadow around the house who’s always keen to keep an eye on what we’re up to, Teddy is as affectionate as he is enthusiastic.
But while that’s a winning combination when he’s calmly posing for a stroke from an obliging passer-by, one-year-old labradors aren’t always so good at controlling their emotions.
The frantic tail-wagging joy of a family reunion can be heartwarming, of course. But those huge paws can do a lot of damage and keeping them all on the ground when meeting exciting strangers can be a challenge.
Off the lead, he has the speed of a racehorse and the sound of those thundering paws charging towards you in the gloaming would be totally unnerving for anyone unaware of his cheerful demeanour and ability to neatly sidestep human obstacles at the very last moment.
That means training is still a top priority, especially when it comes to improving recall and damping down reactivity to other dogs.
He’s getting better all the time, though progress is not always linear and setbacks can be disheartening.
Without booking a training field, nowhere in the Chilterns is sufficiently remote to guarantee there will be no unexpected encounters with people, dogs or horses. And in those circumstances, recall has to be 100 per cent reliable to avoid potential disaster.
Yes, there have been plenty of tiny triumphs: of being able to ignore distractions, walk neatly past other families without lunging or jumping, and settle down more quickly around both friends and strangers.
But it’s a gradual learning curve and persistence, patience and consistency hold the key, we’re told.
For relaxed snuffles in the woods we’ll try to steer clear of other distractions.
But the desensitising process does mean exposing Teddy to more challenging environments too: busier, narrower footpaths with more obstacles, like those down by the Thames at Bourne End, along with cafes and pub gardens.
A major “win” sees Teddy behaving himself on market day in St Albans, even able to walk round Waterstones without mishap.
And a day out with Lucy Parks and rescue dog Yella is a chance for Teddy to learn a few lessons from an older, calmer animal and for me to pick up some tips from an owner who has written so eloquently about her own journey into dogparenting.
We’re not alone in our concerns about trying to get things right, of course. The dog forums online are full of worries and calls for advice about biting or barking, pulling or jumping – and an assorted range of other behaviours.
Logging on to a useful webinar about mental stimulation and enrichment, it’s a surpise to find hundreds of other owners looking in, all with their own specific concerns about their pets, which come in all shapes and sizes.
Perhaps it’s indicative of the post-Covid generation that there are more older dogs who were not properly socialised during lockdown or who suffered anxiety when their owners had to go back to work.
Maybe we’ve also become more aware of our pets’ needs. But in the unregulated world of dog training, there’s a LOT of conflicting advice. And in online forums, the exchanges can get pretty heated about the competing merits or drawbacks of harnesses and head collars, slip leads or training lines.
Teddy is getting there slowly, we think. And hopefully he’s enjoying the process as much as we enjoy having him in our lives.
There’s still a long way to go, but practice makes perfect: and we have plenty of lessons to learn too about how to provide the perfect home environment for a contented pet.
