is my puppy abnormally smart or what? :D

[AinaWGSD]

I don't think the puppy is the one who is abnormally smart

Most pups at that age are very trainable, especially if you use positive, reward-based training techniques. I see so many people who think you have to wait until a puppy is x months old to start training. This may have been true in the distant past when most training was punishment based and using some of the techniques on a puppy would totally ruin their trust in people or even physically harm them. But all animals are learning every second of every day, even when you aren't actively teaching/working with them. It's a much better idea to start working with them early to teach them what you would like them to do than to wait and see what they come up with on their own and then have to try to break a habit before you can train a new one.

As for names...how about Cael (I've also seen it spelled Kael, Kale, or Cale)? It sounds similar to Coal, but it's much more unique. Might be a good compromise.

 

[tinychicky]

wow this thread grew faster than i expected! thanks for the compliments, it's good to hear i'm doing the right stuff with training him. perhaps we should turn this into a chat thread for lab/any dog owners

edited: by the way Aina, i like the name Cael, i'll suggest it to everyone else!