A Reflection on Boston's first couple months, Our black Labrador Retriever

Before I go any further, yes Emily and I have a dog. He’s 85% good boy and 15% speed demon with his needle teeth. Emily and I have wanted to get a dog pretty much since we have been married but our school schedule didn’t afford the time or energy to train a puppy and our past apartment didn’t allow dogs or cats, so we didn’t get a dog. However, our new apartment allows for dogs so as soon as we moved in we start to look at KSL Classified, an extension of the local paper ads, for a puppy. We were pretty set on the Australian Shepard puppies or a French Bulldog, but then we saw an ad for a litter of Labrador retriever puppies. I have a soft spot for Labs because I grew up with a yellow Lab named Woody. He passed away last summer which was a hard goodbye. If you have to say goodbye to a good dog, definitely don't watch The Art of Racing in the Rain on the flight back home. I'll just say, its a tearjerker even on the best of days. So when we saw this litter of puppies we had to visit them down at Thanksgiving point. Here are a picture of baby Boston. After our visit Emily and I were taken by the Lab puppies. One hold is all it takes. After a lot of discussion, we settled on the black male puppy over the female yellow Lab.

A sleepy baby Boston

 

T-minus two weeks:

We knew that we were going to the 2022 CRISPR Conference in Boston and that we wanted to get our new puppy after the conference when we got back so we started to order and assemble the crate and our puppy’s space. We got several toys including several chews and a plushie fish taco. Emily hunted Facebook Marketplace for good deals and got two child gates and a puppy play pen. Getting deals on Facebook Marketplace is pretty much how we have furnished and afforded most of our nice things including a washer dryer set which we bought for $150 and sold for $400 when we moved to Salt Lake City. A story for another time. Anyways, we got an adjustable sized crate with an inner divider so we could adjust it as he grew. Then we turned the crate into one of our living room side tables by adding a wooden top made from stained pine boards. With all that in place we left for Boston and the CRISPR conference.

 

Day One:

 

Picking up Boston was awesome. We landed back from Emily and I’s trip to Boston for me to present in the 2022 CRISPR conference. We landed on the Saturday 18^th of June. We wanted to pick him right when we got back. But we were watching a lot of McCann Puppy training videos and their video on your first day with your puppy stated that new puppy/dog owners should spend all day home with your puppy so that they can get use to you as their new pack and so they can learn the house as their new space and so you can set up your boundaries and rules for the house. Emily and I have been big fans and followers of McCann Dogs and I would highly recommend their channel to anyone who is thinking about getting a puppy or adopting a dog. They are dog behaviorists from Canada and they do a great job explaining what to do when you get your new puppy and how to build new habits and focus. They are super informative and without them Boston would be a different dog and Emily and I would be different and worse owners. Per the advice of McCann Dogs we went to work and then I got off early around 4:30pm so we could go and get Boston. Traffic from the University of Utah was pretty bad, so we ended up get to the breeder around 5:30 which was half an hour past when we said we’d pick him up. This litter was the breeders first and there were some bittersweet moments between the breeder and the momma dog, Marley. Finally, we left with a little bit of sample food and some of our puppy’s favorite toys which he now doesn’t even touch, but so it goes. The drive home was uneventful which was great. Boston, which is what we named our puppy cuddled with Emily all the way home. When we got home, he just explored and was pretty tuckered out. 

 

The first night was a disaster. We spent the night alternating with who should get up and take Boston to pee each time he woke up. So, by morning it both Emily and I were absolutely shot. It single handedly tops the list of the most exhausted I have ever been in my life. I was falling asleep talking with people. It also made me realize that I need to study hard and do well in medical school before Emily and I have kids because, the words in the papers I read that day were not retained at all. I couldn’t even read without my eyes losing focusing and my body shutting down. Anyways, both Emily and I decided that if this pattern continued we would lose complete sanity and probably have a psychotic break. We decided that we need a new schedule which I recommend to anyone with a puppy. I don’t have kids so I can’t speak to the validity of this schedule in that context, however, when Emily and I do have kids, I’ll let you know. It’s the one night ON one night OFF schedule. I’m responsible for Boston one night and Emily’s in charge the next night, that way one of us is 100% and the other is like 75-85%. It has worked really well. 

 

From day one, Emily and I worked on actively reinforcing Boston's name with positive reinforcement with kibble, cheese and beef hotdogs. We also kept a religious schedule for his potty breaks. I built a little sod holder for our porch so that we could train him to relieve himself only on the grass. I'll make a separate post with the schematics for the holder. We also spent a lot of time feeding Boston in his crate so that he would have a positive experience being in the crate especially for sleeping and when we have to leave.It works great for Em and I especially since we live on an upper floor apartment. From their we have followed this training schedule:

First four weeks:

Week One:

We trained a come command, a sit command and a down command to have him lay down along with continuous reinforcement of his name.

Week Two:

We kept reinforcing  the first three commands with an additional place command. This command involves me having Boston sit and then putting my hand out in a stop motion along with the command, "Place." I then would back away slowly and keep my hand out. About 10 ft away, I would put my hand down and make a waving motion with my right hand and say, "Okay". Boston would then run to me. 

Week Three: We kept up with the same training schedule with now new additions. By this point Boston was also sleeping thought the night and waking up around 7am.

Week Four: I added a mark command which is a come command mixed with a sit command. I say, Boston, mark" Boston will come and then walk around my left side and then through my legs and sit. This command has been the most important command I think Emily and I have taught. This has allowed us to act as pack leaders when we encounter people or other dogs. We have Boston mark every time and then we can choose whether or not we introduce him to the person or dog. This command has given us by far the most complements. When Boston is sitting between my feet, it seems to become clear how good of a dog he is to the walkers and joggers we share our path with. This to me has been a game changer behavior because I know that with Boston in that position, I can keep him from lunging and I can protect him from the lunges of other dogs.

A funny photo of Boston "sitting" like a person in the car. He loves the leash and chewing on anything that fits in his mouth.

Weeks Five through Eight: Most of our training has been on recall, loose leash walking and getting used to water, baths and swimming at our near by municipal park. Along with walking on. loose leash, we have also trained him to leave anything on the ground with, "Leave It". However, if he does pick up a piece of bark, he has a hard time dropping it, so that is an area to work on. He has also gotten bigger so we are working to have him not jump up and stay down, especially while we eat.

Over Labor Day, Emily and I went back up to Logan to visit Em's parents and relax for the long weekend. They have a long canal path behind their house with a canal filled with water diverted from the Logan River. On Sunday morning I took Boston for his very first off leash walk. I was pretty nervous because he doesn't have perfect recall, however, the walk was awesome. Boston walked maybe 5-10 feet in


front of me and then he would circle back to my side to check up. He would then walk ahead and trot back. The best part is he would listen to the mark command even while off leash. The next morning, Labor Day, Emily and I took him on another off leash walk and trained having him cross through the water of the canal at a lower part. He did really well and I am excited for him to become a waterdog

Boston exploring the canal.

All in all, getting Boston has been a huge life shift for Emily and I, but it has been so fulfilling to watch him train and grow as a dog into the type of dog Emily and I want. I think that it ranks up there as a top life experience watching him develop into an obedient and loyal companion. I'll keep you all posted with updates on his training.

Stay awesome, Stay in the Gain!