Five and six months

Toby and I took 2 sessions of obedience classes. He "graduated" in June at 6 1/2 months. It was the best money I've probably spent. Our Molly was trained as a hunter which is completely different. Sadie, well, really wasn't trained. She just learned from Molly.

At 6 1/2 months Toby can do the following:

• Walk nicely on a leash (at 100 + lbs, that's important!)
• Adjust his speed to mine while walking
  
• Sit
• Down
• Come
  
• Stay (even at the curb while I walk across the street to get the mail)
• Shake
• Leave it
• Ignore other dogs or people
• Wait (important to break him of "rushing" to people. He has to wait to be petted from people.
• Halt (while walking, ending with a sit)
• Go get it, and return

At 6 1/2 months Toby weighs 100 lbs. and is 30" at the shoulder. I was worried about him growing so fast that I switched him from large breed puppy food to adult. We also noticed some redness on his feet and inbetween his toes. Many foot problems and excessive shedding are due to allergies so we have been giving him Benedryl and will need to change brands of food to a natural dog food.

When Toby reaches a year old, we will do some addtional training to become certified as a therapy dog.