Baloo has learned and is about 90% reliable on Here, Sit, Stay(about 4 minutes so far), Down, Roll Over, Track, and Wait.
The trainers that I have talked to all say you'll never get a pup under 9 or 10 months to respond 100%. Has anyone else trained a puppy and run into this? When he doesn't respond, I stop the exercise and walk away. He loves training so I'm hoping that this is an effective response from me.
I thought I was going to luck out...he never jumped up on anyone...until Wednesday. Now he's trying that out on everyone he meets! Soooo, that's our next project.
I haven't been able to find a suitable puppy class. The two that I did find do not want a rambunctious Rottie pup in their ranks, as the other pups of the same age in the class would be so much smaller. I did not take this into consideration at the beginning of my search! Anyway, the Obedience Club I belong to has 2 other members with pups of the same age and size, so we're going to do our own class as we all have the same goal...socialization. We're all hoping to find a couple more, but 3 is better than none.
Both of the puppy class instructors told me the same thing. They won't take a pup that's not fully immunized, but they want to start the larger breeds at about 10 weeks. They can't possibly be fully immunized at that age. Baloo has only had 3 Parvo vaccs and will be getting one more, then a titer. He will be almost 5 months before he is fully immunized, and he's on time. Our vet is not concerned about him starting classes with only 3 Parvo vaccs because it is Winter, and it's highly unlikely that any pup has come into contact with Parvo. Summertime would be different.
To say he's keeping me busy would be a gross understatement, but I'm looking at it like this...he will probably be the only puppy I'll ever own, so I'm having fun with him!