German Shepherd puppy Tao - a day at the park

by SAM
(Canada)

Tao is now 4.5 months old. There's never a dull day when owning a puppy; Tao is no exception. He keeps us very busy.

Our main focus since bringing Tao into our lives is socializing him with other people and dogs.

Tao continues to be cautious when meeting new people, but with our hard work he has made significant strides in the past couple of weeks. Daily walks to and from a busy park helps us all achieve our goal. January brings basic obedience classes.

We are already accomplished at the sit, finish, about turn,and leave it commands, but we still have so much to learn.

Tao is very intelligent and is already performing commands and agility type moves that my previous shepherds did not learn until they were at least 2 or 3 years old.

It's amazing to watch his progress and development. In the past couple of weeks he has discovered his voice, so he's chatting more than I would like, but it appears to be focused at when he first sees another dog from a distance or a mountain biker riding that perfect trail.

On the topic of bikers, we have entered the "chase" stage of puppy hood. Hopefully this phase won't last too long. Most people think it is cute now, but could be a problem later on when you have an approximately 100 pound shepherd running from behind you.

Look forward to sharing further stories of Tao's progress and development. Enjoy reading your stories too!