Trainin the Triever :)

Lync at 11 months

 Today I am going to talk about the training of Lync.

I decided I would change my breed for a few reasons, one being I wanted a breed that was easier to care for grooming wise.  One that I didn't have to glue ears on for a year, but mostly one that wasn't so sensitive.  While I do really love my sweet sensitive Collies, they are not always the best breed for doing performance things with.
Collies are attentive, and want to please so bad that it actually stresses them out if they think they are doing something wrong.   It hurts to see a dog you love stressed because you have asked him to heel , or retrieve, or pay attention in a distractive environment.   Not all Collies are like this, Kort was extreme,  I had no trouble with my first Collie Ben, other then he was horribly afraid of floors, that meant only going to outdoor trials, and Drake was super, not afraid of anything.

I also wanted a dog that could put up with me and my loud voice!  If I raised my voice around Kort, he thought he had done something wrong, if I sighed , he thought he had done something wrong, poor guy.
On the other hand, I love to be silly.  I like to tease my dogs, talk in silly voices to them, and generally be an idiot.  I wanted a dog that was like that too, so I chose the Flatcoated retriever :)

Lync has been so much fun to train!  He wants to please me, but not to the point of stressing about it.  He is thrilled when I tell him he has done something right, but doesn't melt if I tell him he has done something wrong.  He just looks at me as if to say, whatever :)

I find him very very smart, he picks up on new things very fast!   Right now we are in 2  Obedience classes, one is geared to competitive obedience training, the other to having a nicely behaved pet.  I enjoy both classes and what they have to offer.
I find the competitive class a bit more challenging as Lync has to deal with more things that distract him.  Rundle is in the class, he LOVES Rundle!!! He also has to deal with Judy being in the class with Mazie, he not only loves Mazie, but he loves Judy as well.  Judy owns Lync's mom Kona and it was Judy that cared for Lync for a month after my car accident.
There is also another Bernese Mt Dog in the class, Lync is forever thinking it is Rundle.  So in that class I struggle quite a bit to hold his attention.

In the pet class, he is a bit calmer.  The first night he barked at all the dogs!  This was because he had never seen these dogs before, last night was our second class and after his first bit of excitement he remained calm for the rest of the night.  I enjoy that he will sit calmly at my side, or even lay down and just observe the other dogs while Amanda is giving us instruction.  Kort was a reactive dog, always barking , never relaxing, it became exhausting!

The one thing I am not used to in Lync is the social butterfly aspect of the retriever.  I still struggle to have him just walk along with me.  Last night we had to circle around the other dogs and handlers in the class, loose leash.  Lync was so distracted, it was like, omg dog, dog, oh look toy! , dog, oh toy! , look another dog, dog!!, bag on floor !! oh another dog! another toy, omg yippee!!  I had to laugh, I love his free spirit.
I vowed I would not take this stuff serious again.  Lync will get there eventually, he doesn't have to have a CD at 2 years of age, we will do it when he is ready.

I do want to put a UD on Lync, so at some point we will buckle down more, but when he is mentally ready to do that, for right now I am just enjoying the fact that I own a Flatcoated Retriever, I am having a blast, he is everything I thought he would be and more ♥

Lync at 11 months