This post is part of our weekly series on raising our Vizsla puppy, Zooka.  You can use our posts as a guide to help raise your own puppy, regardless of breed. Keep in mind that different breeds might develop at different rates, so while you can do these things with any breed, your breed might need certain things at slightly different stages or ages.  Click here to see our list of all updates.

Notes from week 17:

• Surgery recovery
  • see notes from week 15 week 16 and our special blog post about his ER visit and surgery for details
  • staples were removed mid-way during this week!
  • permission to start easing back into normal puppy stuff
  • no play dates this week with other puppies just yet as we ease back into energetic puppy activity
• Continue housetraining
• Continue training for meals
  • continue with everything we've been doing so far
  • building duration on things like Eye Contact and Kennel Up/Crate Training
  • have NOT been working on Come during his recovery since we want a fast response and we are trying to discourage running for now!
• Creative ways to burn energy when you can't run, jump or play!
  • Continuing with all the activities mentioned in the week 16 post
  • Walks are still exploratory and not meant to cover any large distances
• Muzzle training, continued
  • Working on duration of holding nose in muzzle
  • Due to yummy rewards, he enthusiastically sticks his nose in the muzzle immediately when I hold it at nose level!
• Field trips
  • trips only the latter part of this week after staples are out and able to resume normal activities
  • outdoor shopping center
    • dog friendly – many of the stores allow dogs inside
    • met lots of people who wanted to say hello
      • was polite mostly and kept all four feet on the ground
      • did pee a bit at first in his excitement
      • did not use treats for greetings since the interaction is what he loves most
    • went in one store
      • worked on walking nicely down the narrow aisles
      • worked on NOT pulling things off the shelves
      • worked on sitting politely in once place while I looked at a few things
  • local park
    • fountain area got him super excited, worked on calming down and listening when super excited
    • soccer fields, kids playing frisbee on the field really peaked his interest so we sat and watched for a while
    • saw people overhead on the zip line
    • saw a few other dogs he really wanted to go see, but we do NOT interact with dogs we do not know
    • playground, he loves to watch the young kids and wants so much to play with them!
    • lots of greetings with adults, no kids petted him this time around
    • not great at focusing or checking in on me yet in this environment
      • still working on letting him acclimate to all these new and different things
      • require some checking in, but not a lot just yet
      • when we find a quiet spot, then we work more on checking in and listening to me

Images