Thank you for all of the wonderful comments. I thought that I would do a little follow-up since the week flew by and I had no time to reply to them, (as much as I wanted to). 🙂
Many noted that Freighter looks to be getting bigger. We weighed him a few days ago and he was about 20 pounds, but I am sure he has gained a pound or two since then. Soon I will not be able to pick him up.
Anna commented on last Friday’s post about Puppy Retriever Training that they waited until their lab Wyatt was nearly a year and a half old before beginning more formal retriever training. We waited until Thunder was older too, (I think he was 17 months old). Thunder was only going to be a gun dog because six years ago we did not know about the world of hunt tests. I would say that in Thunder’s case, we waited a bit too long because he developed some bad habits that we have had to battle in the higher level tests. We do not plan to wait as long to begin Freighter’s formal retriever training. As soon as our trainer feels that he is ready, we will send him to the trainer for some basics. Going forward I will explain more about what is involved with this.
On this week’s Monday Mischief post, Bunk made a comment that about sums up the Chessie mind set and not just of Chessie puppies. Maybe Bunk is part Chessie?
YAY! The puppy is taking over the house. Don’t worry freighter, they will soon learn. What you see is yours. What you touch is yours. What you play with is for sure yours!:)
Dexter Dog commented about Freighter’s sharp puppy teeth. Yes, they are like razors and we have been teaching him not to use them on us or the big dawgs. 😆
Jodi Stone asked whether the big dogs mind sharing their toys with Freighter. Thunder isn’t at all possessive of toys. Black bone is Storm’s favorite and luckily we have two of them here and at the cabin. But Freighter has a new favorite bone now and black bone isn’t as big a deal. 🙂
Tuesday’s post on the Big Orange Ball sparked a lot of fun comments. That is actually Thunder’s ball, but he doesn’t get it very often because he gets kind of crazy with it. The idea for Freighter was to get him to chase it because the first step in the Puppy Retriever Training we are following is to chase. Unfortunately chasing makes for blurry pictures. 😆
Basset Momma thought that it looked like Freighter was trying to squish it down. Adventure Jess noted that he looked like he was trying to get his mouth around the ball. Yes he was…both things. After chasing, he was trying to play with it like it was a little ball. Gloria offered to show Freighter how to sink his teeth into the ball. That ball is actually a horse ball and super hard so if you have a trick about how to get your teeth in it, Freighter and Thunder really want to know. 🙂 By the way, Storm is not too interested in Big Orange Ball.
The picture of Freighter in the car had many asking if he was going anywhere fun. Alas, it was just a couple of short rides to pick up and drop off hubby who was having a bit more maintenance work done on his truck. Goose noted that the front seat is his spot in the car and he has never had to be in jail. You can see that our car is taken over by jails with little room for people. 🙂
Since the weather last Saturday was not conducive to us doing field training, we used the opportunity to expose Freighter to a bunch of different experiences throughout the day. His experiences included Big Orange Ball and car rides.
He also met our next door neighbor, and walked up and down the block on lead. Freighter is becoming quite good walking on a lead. We hope his nice walking lasts because being owners of two Chessies, we know there is a time when they decide they don’t like to be limited by a lead and like to play tug of war with you and the lead. 😆
This weekend, the weather looks good for training so we plan to go and take Freighter so he can socialize. It will be his first really big trip and car ride. Should be fun! We are also switching Freighter over to eating three, rather than four, times a day. It should make for a bit more free time, but just a bit.
Have a nice weekend!
Hey Freighter
You sure have had a busy week buddy!! A puppy’s life is never dull!!
Wow, you already weigh half as much as I do dude!! 🙂
Have a fun time this weekend,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
It won’t be long before he weighs twice as much as you do Snoopy. But all your hair must count for some weight, no? 🙂
Soon you won’t be able to pick him up?! Nah, just pick him up every day, and then as he grows, you’ll grow stronger! Elka is full grown at 71 pounds, and I can pick her up and walk around with her a bit. Prior to owning her, I don’t think I could handle that much weight, but I figured it was part of my responsibility to her.
I’m looking forward to reading about “official” retriever training!
Haha Thunder is 95 pounds. I am afraid as much as I wish it was different, my lifting 95 lb. days are over. I can still lift Storm who is about 68 lbs. 🙂
Okay, 95 pounds might be a bit much. Or you could aim high! (yeah, I don’t think I can dead lift 95 pounds. I’m solid on 71 though!)
We are really hoping he is smaller than Thunder. You never know, maybe he will be at the bottom end of the standard for males which is 65 lbs. (But I doubt it…lol.)
Freighter, it looks like you’re having lots of exciting adventures as you grow.
He is really doing well. About the only thing he does not like is the garbage truck which comes around weekly. I don’t blame him because for some reason we have the noisiest truck in our neighborhood. The brakes are super loud and whiny.
What a great post for the weeks end! I don’t know where you find time for all these things. It must get exhausting trying to keep up sometimes. It sure does sound like Freighter is coming along well though! Have a great weekend!
I am behind in my blog reading again…lol.
Thanks for the shout out.
I love the first picture, his little mouth is sort of sucked in and reminds me of Delilah (and also of my kid’s paternal grandmother who has no teeth.) 🙂
I wish I’d gotten the dogs into riding in the crate in the car, you can be sure my next one will. Can’t wait to hear all about the new experiences Freighter has this weekend.
Have a good one!!
We really need them to be happy and comfortable in crates since we do so much training/testing and showing. In our truck they have not always traveled in crates, but in the van, that is pretty much the only option.
Great post. Ya all sure are busy. And Freighter is so handso,. I like that little snarl it looks like he has in some of the pic. The just slight cruled up lip.
Blessings,
Goose
Well, I personally think it’s much safer for dogs to be “in jail” than riding loose in the car…especially the front seat, where they can go straight through the windowscreen if the car brakes suddenly! The worst I’ve seen are those stupid girls who drive around with a fluffy pooch IN THEIR LAPS!!!!! 🙄
Freighter was just adorable with that orange ball. And sounds like his days are PACKED with interesting activities! 🙂 What do the 2 Brown Dawgs think of it all?? 😛 (By the way, shouldn’t the blog be 3 Brown Dawgs soon?! 😉 )
Hsin-Yi
It sounds like everything is coming together nicely!
I sure wish I would of gotten the Newfs accustomed to being in crates in the SUV.
Next one for sure!
Hope you have a great weekend!
I totally can understand where you are coming from with when you want to start freighter’s training, kind of the same idea I did with Luna since I knew I wanted to do a bit of HT competing with her. We had no rush with Wyatt as my husband simply wants to use him as what they call a “meat dog.” He has no interest in competing with him in any way, which is fine with me as that’s more my thing. Overall despite us having very few rules with Wyatt he ended up giving himself rules and really was fun to retrieve with (his full sister Juneau is a totally different story, she annoys me, but I can’t hold it totally against her as it’s an owner thing). And his leash walking skills, when we officially started his leash training at 6 months, he was a DREAM… and it took all of 10 minutes for him to pick it up and decide to simply follow. He still is much easier to walk than Luna, but I also attribute that to him being more laid back overall than her.
In anycase, I love this form of catching up. You should do it more often? Maybe this explains where my random commenters have come from too lol. Thanks for the link. I hope your boy ends up on the small side. I really should get some weights on the dogs I end up having to lift into the kennel tub. There is a Weim in particular that proves most difficult as he is total dead weight.
Have a great weekend, they are threatening with snow here now.
Anna
http://www.akginspiration.com
Great reading all about what is to come for Freighter. Our labs were always crate trained; it was their home away from home. A must for car rides. That way if we went anywhere, we could pull the crate out and put the dog in the shade. People always said, “Poor Thing”, but actually that is where they were most comfortable. Our labs were females and both small, weighing around 55 lbs. Our first one ran retriever trials and that was so much fun. Oh boy, those puppies are hard work.
Ok…so I have to ask…What is a horse ball?
Every single picture of Freighter is just so adorable!! I love that he’s already 20 pounds– Chelsea just weighed in at 20 and we think she’s about 5 or 6 months so she’s going to be a peanut, especially compared to Freighter!
Have a great weekend, guys 🙂
A very busy week! Freighter is sure growing. We love his face and in every picture he has a great expression. We you all have fun this weekend and we are off to catch up on your posts for our busy week finally ended. A big hug to all the Chessies!
Your friends,
The Collies and chuck 🙂
Hi Y’all,
Gee, I weigh in at 100 lbs and had gained 3 the last visit. My Human is starving me now and working me to death since the weather is nice.
I know my Human could never lift me. She doesn’t weigh that much more than me and has a couple of bad discs in her back and neck. When I was young I could pull her over or knock her over while on my 6 ft lead. I was confused and thought she was playing so I jumped on her and licked her face. Every time she tried to get up I’d play bow and knock her back down. It was great fun!
Y’all come back now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
These pictures are so precious!!
Your pal, Pip
I’m kind of envious, because I don’t think my life will ever permit me a puppy– a rescue dog already housebroken, etc., but I can’t do all this puppy stuff. And I’m sad, because it looks like a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
WOW! You are a younger puppy that I and already way more than me! Soon enough, you’ll be rollin’ with the big dogs! Who am I puggin’ kidding, I am a pug of course you’re bigger than me! I see you like furry little stuffed animals! So do I!:) They’re so yum to chew on.
This post was such an interesting and fun read. Sweet Freighter you are just the cutest little guy ever…won’t be able to say ‘little’ when referring to you for much longer. You are just so smart and learning all kinds of new things. Chancy has a toy like the one that is yours…all yours. Do you still have snow to play in? Hugs and nose kisses
Loved the pictures…My fave one is the first one. Absolutely adore the lip tucked look 🙂