Total braggy moment (new dog owner)

[FuckingHateRats]

Yesterday we were down on our local beach with our puppy. She's thirteen weeks.

We have been working incredibly hard with her, and have practised recall since day 1 of getting her. We have built this up, first in the garden going between us, then in the house where she can't see us, then out in enclosed spaces when she could be off lead. We've been reinforcing this through high-value rewards and she is very reliable, for how young she is.

We went for a coffee on the beach and she met another puppy who was eighteen weeks. They had a good sniff and greet and then we settled for our coffee. Afterwards we went back to the sand and water and she was off lead, doing some work on 'stay with me' amongst all the distractions.

This other puppy was back on the beach so they got a great go at puppy play - bolting, chasing, wrestling etc. Really good fun and enjoyable.

And then, in this highly stimulated environment with another puppy to play with, passers by, beach goers etc, I called time and called her back to me . She left the play immediately and bounded over, and then and listened to the 'stay with me' cue to walk closely with me whilst off lead. She handled it like a DREAM. The other puppy less so and kept coming after us (totally understandable) but Maggie sat at my request, waited until the owner caught up and then came calmly with me, ignoring the other puppy.

This was the highest stake situation yet - and all the input we've done in the last month totally came together.

I know we have much more to do, and I know she'll have regressions and teenage hiccups, but I also just wanted to celebrate how incredible she was and how proud I am. The other dog owner asked if I was a dog-trainer because he couldn't believe she was so young and so obedient.

Just wanted to share my win because none of my pals are dog people!

Your dog is absolutely gorgeous! 😮😍😍😍

Well done! I think your training on recall from early age is paying off. I know that pps are saying it can all change in adolescence but if you have laid the ground work hopefully you can reel them back quicker. We have a Labradoodle who is 16 months and followed a similar plan. Her recall is very good, however if she finds something exciting ( plastic bottle, another dogs ball, a teenagers jumper) on a walk it all goes wrong. We have to pretend to leave and ignore her before she will follow us. So I have been in the smug camp and the totally humiliated shit dog owner camp too! I've got to go back to basic "leave it" training now 😊

Firstly congratulations OP. I bet that felt great

I can't believe even though you stayed really humble in your op and were not smug at all you are still apologising.

And then all these people posting just waiting to get that jab in you know just in case you are feeling good about yourself. Shame they've not heard the saying if you haven't got something nice to say stfu

Well done again op. Give you and your clever pup a well done from me!

agree the groundwork you are laying is so important!

and tbh op we’ve probably all had smug moments with our pups but you know mumsnets here to keep us all grounded 😂

@Newfluff "the goal to make me look like a dick" 😂This is clearly my dog. And at least one of my kids. Lol.

I thought she would have been as you sound very conscientious and caring. I just had one of those things that I still get with my adult children sometimes (which probably drives them mad - but they have been kind enough not to let me see their eye rolls etc 😂), where if I think of something and don't say anything, I get a superstitious feeling, so I have to speak up - sorry that you and your gorgeous dog were the brunt of it this time!
I think she is a very lucky little girl to have you. Please come back with more stories of her as she gets older 🥰

Well done! Painlesspuppy ia a bit older but like you I have been hammering recall (and loose lead walking) since he came home. And like you, today it came together and he left hurtling round with another dog as soon as I whistled. Best of it was that by chance we had just met our dog trainer, who had complimented us on our lead walking (a few days earlier, apparently), and she saw it all. But adolescence looms!

Maggie is gorgeous. So is the view from your garden!