You lot do talk a lot!!! So much to catch up on.
AwesomePup goes to daycare one day a week at the minute. Mostly for socialising purposes, so he's having a chance to meet and play with other dogs, as dd1 is mostly at home with him but isn't confident to take him out anywhere he might not come back quickly (fair enough tbh). He absolutely adores daycare, and comes home properly tired out. It's quite a new place and although they've got a licence for up to 30 dogs there's never been more than 15 when he's been, and quite a lot of them are puppies. I get sent photos of him playing with the other puppies who are a similar age/size as him, while smaller/younger puppies are in a different area, and adult dogs who aren't interested in playing with puppies are in another area again. I would thoroughly recommend this daycare to anyone, but I have friends who have had a very different experience at other places (2 of which have shut down during covid).
Kongs are a huge hit here, but when we first introduced them we did need to make it really, really easy. We started with kibble and treats that just fell out when he rolled out around. Next stage was mostly dry kibble/treats/chopped veg sealed up with peanut butter or cheese (he really likes goats cheese and that's apparently kinder on sensitive tummies). Now he gets tuna and cheese/meat paste/baby food often with bits of frozen veg mixed in, then frozen. He knows what to expect and he settles down for a good half hour of licking the good stuff out of the middle.
We did a 6 week puppy school. It was ok. We'd done a lot of it at home anyway, but it was good to practice around other dogs. There were 3 other puppies around the same age and size as AwesomePup, so they were good playmates for each other (not that they were supposed to be playing, but they did love each other). I would try an intermediate class but there don't seem to be any around here. There's lots of "adolescent training classes" but it's just the same stuff we did at the puppy class but with older pups. I'd like one with a bit more progression but I can't find one. So I'll just keep taking him out and about, practising our basic commands in different places with different levels of distraction. He is now getting good at waiting for me when he sees another dog, but I am very aware that adolescent twatiness will hit very soon now as he's 6 months. I'm enjoying this brief interlude where he's old enough to have relatively decent recall and young enough to still quite like hanging out with me more than other dogs.