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 21:

• Housetraining – we have had no accidents in several weeks, even if the door is closed (and there is no free access to outside)
• Teething
  • has been losing his baby teeth the past couple of weeks
  • of course, all the smallest teeth get replaced first
  • sharpest teeth that hurt the most will be the last to fall out!
  • have not found any baby teeth
  • can see the adult teeth pushing through – much larger than the baby teeth
• Continue training for meals
  • and short sessions between meal times
  • continue with everything we've been doing so far
  • continue building duration and raising expectations
  • continuing to watch for new behaviors and encourage previous behaviors we like during shaping/capturing sessions
    • watch for training videos of some of the fun stuff we are working on. . .
• Traversing full flight of stairs on his own
  • still keeping full flights of stairs to a minimum while joints are developing
  • only under supervision as he's still not super coordinated at this age!
• Continue with group training classes
• Nail trims and muzzle training, continued
• Continue walks on property trails
  • primarily using 20 foot line
  • always working on loose leash walking!
  • working on checking in on walks
  • mix in other things like Touch, Up and Come – but not a lot yet
  • gaining more interest in hunting/chasing bunnies and deer this week now that he's seen some in closer proximity
• Field trips
  • Lowe's
    • first time at a home improvement store
    • he was very curious and eager to explore
    • he was most interested in the shopping carts and the noise they make
    • encountered their Halloween animatronics
      • witch didn't phase Zooka at all, mostly ignored it
      • the werewolf was much more interesting
        • curious, not afraid of it at all
        • when it howled, Zooka got excited – best way I can think to explain was he seemed to find it FUNNY!
    • got to greet some people which he always loves
  • local park with the Polite Pooches Class
    • new park for Zooka
    • lots of people so lots of distractions to walk past – not everyone wants to greet him!
    • more practice walking near the other dogs without trying to play
  • cabin in the mountains
    • headed up to the mountains for a few nights toward the end of this week
    • first time staying overnight away from home since our initial drive home from the breeder
    • he's pretty sure he belonged there – no qualms about staying someplace new
    • settled in nicely and was very well-behaved in the cabin
    • hiking in the mountains
      • keeping hikes fairly easy, not too long and not too steep
      • saw his first MOOSE up close!
        • moose entered the hiking trail just ahead of us and stopped in the trail
        • we stopped and stood very still so as not to startle him
        • Zooka stopped, stood still and watched
          • eventually sat and watched
          • no attempt to move toward, lunge, bark or chase
          • good boy!
• Play Dates
  • play time at the end of Puppy Class
  • Mixed breed adult female
    • have played with a couple of times before
    • more running this time
    • still plenty of wrestling
    • both love the kiddie pool
  • Boxer, young adult male
    • played at his house in Week 14
    • this time they came to see us
    • Boxer took a bit to warm up after checking out this new space
    • they had fun once the Boxer got into play mode!
  • Goldendoodle, young adult male
    • played with this guy before
    • he also boards with us sometimes so they will get lots of chances to play in the future too
    • starting to teach Zooka how to play Keep Away – he still hasn't caught onto that game yet!
• Diet
  • continue with the frozen snacks while he is still teething

Video