Porter's Starts His Long (Very Long) Road to Being a Good Boy
- ericamargaret5
- Apr 21
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 30
Porter does not look excited for skool to start.
We got Porter home and quickly realized we were in over our heads, so I started by doing what I do best: reading books and assuming that will solve all of my problems. (Spoiler alert: that is the easy part and only half of the solution; the other half is action based off of the book and that is much harder.)
Here's a screenshot of the first two books I checked out of the library once we adopted Porter:
I am sure that I went to the library website and searched for dog training books. These are the two that popped up. I read through both and them and remembered feeling like being a reactive dog owner was just a boss vibe that I had to get the hang of and then my good dog would follow. This ended up being far from the truth, plus my vibe is squirrely, so I knew I was going to need more concrete directions to follow. These were my next Amazon purchases:
Clearly, I had big plans to go hiking and to parent the shit out of my poor dog.
Out of the three dog books above, Modern Dog Parenting, Lucky Dog Lessons, and Training the Best Dog Ever, Lucky Dog Lessons was the most helpful in getting my started. I do not remember the first one and I have yet to read Training the Best Dog Ever. It's STILL in my pile of dog books. As you will discover later, I went WAY, WAY, WAY WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY deep into the dog training wormhole, just now getting through purchases from 5+ years ago.
I started reading, and Porter and I started training.
On top of "just a few minutes of training a day," the books all made it sound like I just needed to sign him up for a few classes obedience classes and we'd be done: easy peezy.
I signed him up for his first obedience class and I made a blackboard with what he was working on so that everyone who was in the house would know. (Clearly, my husband and his friends had too much fun with my training board, which I frowned upon since I was Very Serious about this training.) By the time I was done, I figured Porter was basically going to be a Golden Retriever in a brindle boy's body.
To make a long story short, I ultimately learned the hard way that I am not a dog trainer. I have also learned the hard way that I am not crafty, not handy, and not rich. I also can't lay sod, plan a garden, keep anything clean, stay in a budget, switch jobs, ski DOWN the mountain, or remodel an old house. But I am a good teacher. I know how to break things down and I know when to ask for help. Armed with those strengths, Porter and I made some a lot of progress before I had to call in the big guns down the road.
Porter's Early Training Routine
Porter's training begins.
In response to all my reading, Porter, my husband, and I started doing a couple of different things:
Obedience Class: I signed him up for was Obedience 101 at Kissable Canine. This trainer, Lisa, led a good class and was also excellent about making sure the reactive dogs did not set each other off. She has since moved her business out to Lewes, Delaware, and I recommend checking her out if you live that way. Obedience school in this setting was a win for Porter because the training room was a considerable size and the dogs were able to be spaced far apart.
Exercise: We also got him on an exercise routine. Cesar Milan, and most trainers, really harped on this. The dang dogs need their exercise, and to our chagrin, Porter needed a lot of it. We would wake up at 5:15 am walk him at least 2 miles before work. He really probably needed to RUN instead of walk, but Porter hates running because he likes to sniff ....so we resigned ourselves to long slow sniffing walks, some sprints in the yard, and another 2+ mile walk walk after work. Porter did not tire out and sometimes this afternoon walk would go for many miles. One day we realized that he was doing 7 miles a day until his energy was until he was worn out. The below picture is one morning where I remember being especially relieved that I had finally tired him out and could drink my coffee in peace.
Porter finally sitting still not destroying things. Crate Training: Brandon McMillan has a crate training pyramid that he talks about, which basically involves playing with the puppy for a few minutes, putting the puppy in the crate for a few minutes, then taking the puppy out to pee for a few minutes-repeat while extending the time. Even though Porter was 11 months old when we got him, he was not potty trained or in any way trained to live inside a house. He destroyed whatever he could if we weren't watching him, so when in the house, he either had to be tethered to us or in his crate. When we left the house, he DEFINITELY had to be in the crate.
Porter hate, hate, hate, hate, HATED his crate. He would go in it because we asked him to, but man oh man-it was a battle and I could feel him murdering me with his eyes. Like literally, with Porter, and with Mabel, you can see when they switch to their evil side--their eyes dilate and they LOOK mad. It always reminds me of this scene from Finding Nemo where Bruce the friendly shark gets a sniff of blood and then wants to eat his fish friends:
Porter when I put him in his crate Sometimes, after putting him in the crate, I would stick my finger through the bars to try and give him a reassuring scratch-bad idea. He did not like that either and let me know it. I learned it was best to get him in there, turn around, and walk out without making a fuss.
As soon as we knew Porter would not destroy the house if left out of his crate, we let him roam the house, but it probably took half a year-maybe a bit more. Porter sometimes still has to go in his crate as an adult, and he stills hates it, so we only crate him when absolutely necessary. The crate came up again in his later training, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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