As Bea is 6 months old on the 5th of May I thought I would do a little update on how we are getting on. I am not going to lie it has been hard work! There have been days I am in tears thinking why did I decide to get a puppy!! But the good days totally make up for the days she decides she wants to eat an elephant toy or chew Georges handmade bespoke dining table. She is my 'little' companion and I wouldn't be without her, I actually cannot remember a time without her and we have only had her for four months! She has for sure made a big impact on our lives.
About Bea
Over the last four months her personality has really grown and shone through. She is a sassy 'little' Diva who does like her own way but she is so so loving and probably the most friendly dog you will ever met ( probably a bit too friendly!!! as you will read about in the training section) She loves to great everyone we meet and looks super upset if she doesn't get to say hello. Being a Doberman she is VERY intelligent and often out wits us - there is no tricking her into going into her bed with treats! no no no she knows exactly what we are up to.
Training
We started Bea at a training school which actually turned out to be a very bad experience as the trainer seemed worried Bea would hurt the other puppies being she is a large breed we were matched with 5 other very small breeds which meant we were put in the corner and Bea wasn't able to join in which made her very frustrated and bored! I decided to return would be more detrimental to her development than good so we didn't go back. We started seeing a local trainer one on one which has helped massively! searching on the internet there is so much conflicting advice on how to train puppies.The trainer was able to Taylor a plan for Bea and her needs.
As she is super intelligent she picks things up really quick which has meant she is able to second guess what we are going to ask her!
Getting her into a routine through the day has helped improve her immensely and gernerally made her a calmer dog (throughout the day) which enables me to actually work rather than play all day. This is made easier as I work from home and can stick to the same routine daily (bar weekends). Our day goes as follows -
6am I start work and Bea snoozes for one more hour
7am pretty much on the dot she wakes up and pokes me in the leg to tell me its breakfast time!
7am- 10.30am - after breakfast sometimes she wants to play so we play ball for 20 mins or so then she settles back down usually on her favourite chair next to the glass door for another snooze or to bird watch.
11am - Most weekdays we walk around 11am with our friends Janine and her two dogs JoJo and Coleford who bea just adores! As she is so young its important not to over walk her so I find this time works perfectly for us between breakfast and lunch.
12-12.30pm is her favourite time of day! Lunch time!!
1-5pm Bea will mostly sleep/sunbathe/ play in the garden
5pm - Dinner time
5-6pm George comes home from work and Bea has a mad hour of play and zoomies!!
7.30pm is when Bea starts to settle for evening cuddles before bed at around 10.30pm
Toilet training
She picked toilet training up very quick, she will normally jump and poke the back door keys to go out. It is very rare she has an accident, the last time she did was when it was raining outside so she did a sneaky wee indoors! she hates the rain!!
The biting/nipping
This is getting better as time goes on , she is teething at the moment so can be a little nippy however she has learned not to bite down and doesn't break my flesh anymore! but there was a point I thought this would be something she would never get out of as she associated nipping with playing, whenever she gets a bit nippy we just walk away and stop play.
Food
She absolutely loves her food! we RAW feed so she has quite a varied diet of meats, also yogurt, eggs, carrots ect. I also add in coconut oil , fish oil, and apple cider vinegar to her breakfast.
What I have learned
- Vets charge an absolute fortune! I have spent over £500 in vet bills already!! I want to avoid a trip to the vet as much as possible as shes being raw fed ect.
- Gastroenteritis - Bea eats everything in sight and picked up a bug so the vet charged me £70 for some paste and to say she will be fine in 48 hours
- Eating a toy - £100 for the vet to make her sick and retrieve the toy
- Skin scarpe test - over £300 for skin tests as she has had a bad allergic reaction to something! we think from playing in dirty water on a walk
So along with her diet which is better than mine, insurance , training and toys she is by far my biggest expense! but most loved :) ( I wasn't saying that when she ate the tusk of her toy elephant!!! CRY CRY)
- Now she is starting to look like a proper Doberman and less like a puppy I have noticed that people avoid us on walks and are reluctant to say hello, which is a massive shame as she wouldn't hurt a fly! In fact there has been many times where smaller dogs have gone her for and shes ran away with her tail between he legs hiding behind me! shes a wuss really.
Areas to work on
The two areas that need to most work is being able to walk nicely on a lead! she is getting stronger and stronger as the days go on and is up to 24kg at just 5 and half months! so we are working really hard with guidance from the trainer to hopefully have her walking lovely on a just a lead and collar.
The other thing is jumping up! she will jump up and great everyone! Its lovely how friendly she is but not everyone wants a massive doberman jumping up at them, this will take a lot of time and patience as we have to remember she is so so young and everything is so exciting, im sure we will get there.
I hope you enjoyed reading this little update and im sure I will update again soon :) in the meantime if you wish to follow bea head over to her instagram I post daily onto stories to document her day too!
