SARITA'S LIFE

Showing posts with label Pets. Show all posts

Before getting Amigo, my life consisted mostly of having small animals like guinea pigs, birds, rabbits, etc. When I grew up and I started working with Animals, I began interacting more with dogs. I didn't understand dogs very well and since I was much more introverted, I never thought about getting one either. It took about 10 years later for me to finally muster up the courage to get a dog and having one in my life made me happier than I thought it would.

I mostly put off getting a dog because the timing was never right. I was either living with someone else or our apartment didn't allow dogs in general. I was also worried that I wasn't responsible enough for a dog so I mostly gravitated towards small pets that I knew I could manage. After all, I knew having a dog was like having a child and my life wasn't prepared for that!

When 2024 rolled around, Dimitar and I found ourselves talking more and more about how having a dog would lift our spirits. The previous years had been rough on us and we wanted a companion that could grow with us. We were also at the point where we were heavily considering having kids so getting a dog seemed perfect. Sure enough, about a week later we ended up getting a Corgi puppy and named him Amigo.

Amigo's favorite sleeping spot

Now, I'm not going to lie; Dimitar and I had no idea if we could make having a dog work out after we brought him home. Our lives were already hectic and with us even considering moving to a different state next year...we were nervous. But, we knew we had to get out of our comfort zone because if not, we'd constantly make excuses on why we couldn't get a dog even though we wanted one. So to be proactive (and responsible dog owners), we developed a training plan for Amigo and with each day, our puppy started to feel like our new family member.

Training Amigo was just like having a child though! We had to get up early to walk him and feed him. He needed a strict schedule of training and was rewarded with playtime. We also had to make sure he had naps so we'd put him in his crate to make sure he slept enough. Our day consisted of walking him at least 4x a day and while it may not seem like a lot - when you live on the fourth flour of your apartment with only stairs, your legs definitely start to feel it!

Amigo after playing

As we began to learn more about Amigo and he was learning to trust us, we realized that he was teaching us just as much as we were teaching him. He nudged us to live more in the moment, be more selfless, and offered us new ways to have fun. Our regular routine of working and coming home became much more exciting because now we had a dog that loved to to be with us no matter where we went.

Amigo's innocent and playful nature quickly rubbed off on us and we welcomed it. Coming home from work and seeing him waiting for us made our day sparkle a bit more. When I wasn't feeling my best, getting out of bed and playing with him made the day seem worth while. If the weather was nice, his excitement to go outside gave me something to look forward to. I never understood the love a dog owner had for their own dogs until the day Amigo came into my life.

So having a dog (as an introvert) has really improved my life in many ways that I underestimated it would. While Amigo is still growing and learning and life still seems unpredictable, we know having Amigo part of our family now will only make us stronger. He's the friend we all needed and seeing him bring joy to others around him as well reassures us that we have many happy years ahead of us.

Amigo & Pearl bird watching

Until next time! - Sarah xoxo

Being a first time dog owner, I've spent many years day dreaming about the day I'd get a Corgi of my own and what it'd be like during the training phase. Obviously, in my mind everything was all picture perfect but I knew in reality it would be much more challenging and require time, dedication, and patience. So, when we brought Amigo home, both Dimitar and I made a plan to train Amigo at least 2x a day and stick to it.

Since we both work full-time jobs, our training time with Amigo was limited and that's the case for just about everyone with some kind of job or responsibilities. It was important for us to establish a routine that worked for our schedule which would help us stick with it and give Amigo a schedule he could look forward to. Dimitar preferred training Amigo during the morning or afternoon and since I was gone most of the day until 10pm, I would train Amigo either at night time or during the break that I'd have between my two jobs.

We also made sure to train him one command and stick with that command for a few days until Amigo showed improvements with it. When he learned one, we'd move onto the next one that seemed top priority. Once he learned a few commands, we'd have a training session where we'd practice all of the commands at once. While some people may train certain commands in a different order, these are the commands we started out with and slowly worked our way towards as Amigo matured.

1. Recall (his name, or "Amigo, come...")

1a. Go Potty

2. Sit

3. Stay (threshold)

4. Crate

5. Down

6. Fetch

7. Drop it

8. Rollover

During this entire process, we implemented positive reinforcement, a method of training that has greatly worked for us and Amigo. For example, if Amigo was biting my fingers or something he shouldn't, instead of saying "No," I'd give him his favorite toy instead to bite on and reward him when he continued to do the right thing. Some people may think this approach only encourages your dog to bite more because they get rewarded, but that hasn't been the case with Amigo. As long as we're consistent with the training, Amigo has learned what gets him attention and treats, and what doesn't.

Variety is also key. During training, I'd often switch up how Amigo was rewarded. Some days I'd only use the clicker as a reward with lots of pets and praise while other days I'd implement treats. I found that implementing a variety of ways to praise him helped him adjust to more realistic scenarios. After all, I wont always have a treat on hand or a clicker so training him for such situations just made sense to us.

I'd be lying though if I said that training always went as planned! There were plenty of days where Amigo just couldn't focus which often got the best of my composure. Being a Corgi, Amigo has a natural tendency to rebel and while I knew about this before adopting such a breed, it was still frustrating in the moment. Getting frustrated with your puppy is perfectly normal though as they test us in every possible way so give yourself a break if you and your pup really need it!

Nonetheless, on days where he just couldn't focus, training wasn't a priority and I'd just up his training on the better days. Eventually though I ended up connecting him back to his crate with his leash so that he'd have no choice but to focus during training which greatly helped. He was already used to this since we had initially kept him connected to his crate in the beginning to limit his access of the Livingroom, but it was a gentle reminder to him that he only gets freedom or play time after training.

Where his potty training is concerned, we started to give him more free roam when he started to show us he could go to the puppy pads on his own. When he did have an accident (yes, there were some!), we tried our hardest not to freak out and simply carried him to the puppy pads and left him in the playpen for about ten minutes. We taught him that if he could go to the puppy pads on his own, he'd get more free roam and play time but if he had any accidents, he'd immediately go back into his playpen. If he successfully went potty on his own though, we'd always praised him with excitement and treats since he thrived off of that.

Since puppy's are not perfect, it's essential to understand your puppy's body language. If they do need to go potty, they may need your assistance from time to time until they can learn to go on their own. Any time it looked like Amigo needed to go to the bathroom during free roam (he'd start whining, circling, sniffing, etc) we'd take him immediately to his puppy pad and leave him there. Eventually he'd go potty which lead him to getting instant free roam afterwards.

Another thing worth mentioning is that any time someone tried to pet Amigo during walks, we'd kindly remind them that he was training since we didn't want strangers greeting Amigo with excited (aka, unstable) energy. Boundaries with strangers will forever be important no matter how old your dog is as you the owner will have to be the judge as to who can greet your dog for their own safety and yours.

With that all said, training Amigo has been very pleasant since we adopted him and I hope his journey will inspire other puppy owners out there that training can be fun; even when you have a full-time job! As long as you find a schedule that works for you, training your puppy will not only help you bond more with your puppy, but teach you how to be a better pet parent.

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