Here is a whole album’s worth of new pictures of Declan and his family. They also wrote:
We wanted to give you an update now that Declan is one year old.
He has grown up to be the most wonderful dog. Whenever someone meets him they can’t get over how kind and sweet he is. I would say “sweet” is the most common word people use to describe him. We had a lot of visitors in August – both dog and people, and Declan was just in his glory. We had a little Pomeranian “Buddy” stay with us for 10 days, they became friends right away. Buddy is older, but Declan is much better behaved. Buddy was following Declan’s lead when it came to kennel time etc. Buddy just had to learn some routine as Declan is used to that. We also had some young kids staying with us, and he loved them! These were the first kids he has ever spent time with. Once he learned that he can knock them over pretty easy, he was much more careful with them. He loved playing ball with them and even let them brush him. When they all went back to Winnipeg, you could tell he missed all the action.
We are working on recall with him now. We bought a big long leash for when we go to a park with big fields. He loves it and comes back to us when we call him. I don’t think we will be letting him go off his leash anytime soon. We are just so afraid that he may see a rabbit or something and take off.
He went to the groomer in July. They were so impressed with him. They couldn’t believe he was under a year at the time and his first time having a full groom. They wanted to hand pull his coat because his hair is wiry like an Airdale. I could barely recognize him when he was done. I think they pulled out all of his puppy coat because now he is a bit softer, and isn’t shedding much at all. I think we will let it grow out for winter, and have the hand pulling done just for the summer.
Declan has also become quite a guard dog. Not yappy at all, but he lets us know if someone is walking near our house with a little growl and woof. He will only bark a couple times if someone is at the door he doesn’t know. He is also quite protective. If people are play fighting, or using an aggressive tone, he is right there in the middle of it, trying to be a peacemaker.
What we need to work on mostly with him is how he reacts to bicycles. He is okay with parked bikes, and people riding bikes slowly, but bikes flying by he lunges at them. When we see a bike coming we move off the path and we try to keep his attention on us, but he is so interested in the bike. I am not sure what his intentions are…. chase the bike, or knock them over. I think what we will do is find a friend with a bike and have them bring it over and ride it around him. Maybe one of us will ride it so he can see it’s okay.
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Declan’s owners sent us the following message along with the pictures above:
We hope this finds you well!! Declan is doing really awesome and is growing super fast!! On Monday, March 4 we got his neutering done, and his rabies shot. He was 50lbs then. The first photo I sent was taken after we took him to the groomer at the beginning of April. The others were taken in February/March.
We have been working with Declan on sitting, laying down, do a trick, crawl, shake a paw and he is really intelligent and picks up things fast… Especially when there is a treat involved! He has fetch almost mastered, just a little slow with “release”, but he does bring it back. We have also trained him to “ring the jingle bells” we have on the door knob for when he wants to go outside! Crazy right! He is walking well on his leash, we had to get him one of those no pulling harnesses and that helped a lot. Do you have any tips on how to train him to calm down when we meet people and other dogs on walks? He is getting better, but he gets so excited when we pass people that no one wants to meet him. What a scary Doodle haha. I swear he is going to think his name is Doodle instead of Declan. He is finally not chasing the precious timid cat “Ali” around so she is coming out a lot more often which is relieving! We can now have quiet movie nights as a family! He is great friends with our other cat Sasha. They play and sometimes even share Declan’s bed (actually Sasha just steals it…he thinks everything that is Declan’s is his!)
Sure looks like you have been busy….chocolate Doodles I see…they are precious!
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This is Danni‘s other male that went this week end, this character is Declan and he now lives in Calgary. Guinness and Declan were Danni’s last two males to go, there are still three females. All are soft, curly-coated. I am going to start leash training this coming week.