We picked up Jake on the night of October 31st, just before the trick or treaters arrived in full force. I didn’t put him down for the first few hours. Each time I answered the door the young children forgot they were there for candy and were more interested in the puppy in my arms. He got plenty of attention that first night. But, I was not prepared for the long night ahead of me. Jake cried and whined nearly the entire night. My wife and I were having second thoughts about this puppy thing. But after talking to my friend who raises German Shorthairs we felt confident that things would improve.

The next night went much smoother and Jake started to settle into a routine. We discovered that part of the trick was to keep him awake as much as possible during the day and to play with him a lot so he would be tired. Our backyard is completely fenced in and quite large so he spends most of his days exploring the shrubs and chewing on toys. My seven year-old son Travis has taken quite a liking to Jake and loves to pay out back with him. We try to reinforce his name every time we feed him and to praise him when he goes potty. He is eating good and enjoys visiting the neighbor children each day as we go to pick up Travis from the bus stop. Going to the bus stop has been a great excersise in socialization each day.

It’s been more than a week now since we brought Jake home and he nearly sleeps through the night. I do wake up once around midnight each night to take him to the potty. But he gets his business done and goes back into his kennel on command. The crate training method seems to be great for giving him his own space as well as being a key tool in potty training. When he is outside he has taken up space underneath my barbeque grill as his den. Anytime he is inside he is being held or else he is in his kennel/crate. House rules.

Yesterday I introduced him to his collar and today we tried going for our first walk on a leash. Usually, I just carry him on our walks. He did pretty well on his leash but I think some time chained out on a short chain will help him to learn to give to the lead. I’ll start out slow and stake him outside for 15 minutes tomorrow and work up from there. Also, today I drug a small peice of hot dog through the grass about six feet and hid it in a clump of grass. I went and got Jake and brought him to the start to see what kind of nose he’s got. He did well and kept working until he found the treat. We will lengthen the trail every few days as we repeat this tracking drill.