Welcome to the June 2023 edition of ZENFULdog of the Month featuring Hamish! Hamish is a black, Labrador Retriever and a beloved member of the ZENFULdog community. When Wendy graduated from Bishop’s in 1991, her husband, Todd, gifted her with her first black Labrador, Peggy. Hamish was likewise a gift to Wendy’s son, Lloyd, for recently graduating from Bishop’s. Hamish is the youngest of three Labrador Retrievers in their family home.
Hamish
Birthday: Hamish was born on May 12, 2022
Birthplace: Waverly, NY
Meet Hamish’s Family
(Wendy & Todd—Hamish’s pet-grandparents): Wendy and Todd have always had Labs. Along with their current three, their sons grew up with Peggy (a black Lab), Mabel (another black Lab) and their gentle giant Jack (a beautiful yellow Lab). Wendy notes: “Obviously, we’re big fans of Labradors and couldn’t imagine life without them. Dogs love unconditionally and the lessons they’ve taught us are immeasurable. We’re better people for having had dogs in our lives.”
(Lloyd & Harry—Hamish’s pet-parent and sibling/uncle): Lloyd recently graduated with a business degree from Bishop’s and Harry is at Queen’s studying commerce. Both boys have grown up with dogs and miss them when away at school.
(Hamish’s fur-family—Charlie the chocolate Lab, Libby the black Lab and 8 chickens: Izzy, Penelope, Ruth, Mildred, Agnes, Marigold, Beatrice and Olive): Charlie is 12 and is always finding mischief, even in his senior years. He's very smart and has always kept his family on their toes. Charlie has been on a first-name basis with his vet since he was 6 months old and Todd swears that their vet’s new car was paid for by Charlie! In the summer of 2021, he underwent spinal surgery for a herniated disc and hasn’t really run since…until Hamish’s arrival! Charlie’s gait is very different now but it warms Wendy’s heart to see him run again.
Libby is 8 years old and a favourite for Hamish. Wendy explains, “He loves her a lot, and I mean A LOT. He is attached to her at the hip. She cannot be out of his sight. I’m not sure why he prefers her over Charlie but he really does. Poor Libby puts up with a lot from Hamish!”
Wendy describes Hamish's Personality: “Hamish’s glass is definitely half full, like most Labrador Retrievers. He’s a loving, playful and energetic boy who relishes a good bone, his sister Libby and couch surfing. Throw in three meals a day [and] lots of snacks and Hamish is a happy man!”
Wendy Shares The Most Unique Thing about Hamish: Wendy’s usual breeder sold their business early in the pandemic due to health reasons. The family was put on the new owners’ waitlist to find a black male puppy for Lloyd. After a long, fruitless wait, Wendy went looking elsewhere. One Sunday morning, she found a breeder online based in southern NY state who had one male puppy left—Hamish! Wendy discovered that Hamish’s father and Libby’s father are related and Libby is such a great dog that Wendy took that as a very unique sign!
Hamish's favourite Treats/Foods according to Wendy: He is a Lab so the answer is anything and everything. Hamish is very food motivated but Wendy says that if he had to pick a favourite, it would be peanut butter—“It doesn’t matter if he’s outside or fast asleep if you unscrew the peanut butter lid, Hamish will know!”
Wendy Describes Hamish’s Favourite Activities: Wendy explains that, up until a short while ago, Hamish’s favourite thing to do was to drink water: “Holy moly, I’ve never had a dog who drank as much water as he did. It was quite concerning actually so we had lots of tests done and luckily they all showed that everything was fine. He just loved to drink water. Thankfully he seems to be outgrowing that pastime as we were constantly having to take him outside to pee!”
Next to drinking water, his favourite activities include:
Eating
Playing with toys and Libby
Chewing a good bone
Going on a long walk
How Hamish Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: Wendy notes that Hamish likes to unwind “with a Kong Genius stuffed with baby carrots and peanut butter or with his West Paw Rumbl filled with apple slices. He’s also a big fan of a good cuddle on the couch with one of his Benebones or a split elk antler.”
If Hamish had a human voice, which celebrity would he sound like?: Wendy believes Hamish would definitely sound like Ryan Reynolds with his quick wit, charisma and humour on point!
Hamish’s Training
Wendy has also given Lloyd the gift of taking on Hamish’s training! Hamish and Wendy started their training at ZENFULdog with private training classes and recently started Skills and Socialization group classes.
Wendy Tells Us How Training Has Shaped Hamish: Wendy’s home had not had a puppy in it in over 7 years when Hamish arrived so Wendy had not puppy trained in quite some time. With a busy house and busy life, Wendy needed help—“I reached out to Kendra as I was feeling lost. She was a game changer. Hamish is a really smart dog but he needed direction from someone other than me as I was feeling rather overwhelmed. I say he needed direction but honestly, it was me who needed the direction. Kendra gave us both that.”
Wendy’s family had been working and training with Hamish since they first brought him home. Hamish loves to learn and quickly mastered ‘sit,’ ‘stay’ and his recall was fantastic until adolescence hit: “When that happened, everything he’d learned went out the window. Enter Kendra, she gave me my confidence back and equipped me with the tools I needed to get Hamish back on track. I like to say that training with Zenfuldog has helped train me, and in return, I’ve helped to train Hamish. Kendra is so encouraging and her calm personality is exactly what we both needed.”
Wendy Describes Hamish’s Biggest Training Challenges: Wendy thinks the biggest challenge with Hamish is getting everyone in the family onboard with training him the same way. Each family member seems to have their own way of doing recall, asking him to heel, etc., which confuses Hamish: “I really wish we could all attend Kendra’s lessons together so we could get on the same page. That’s not really possible though with four adults leading busy lives. It’s therefore taking longer to train Hamish but I do see the forest through the trees which is extremely encouraging.”
Wendy Describes Hamish’s Biggest Training Success: “We’re certainly nowhere near done,” Wendy says, “but he’s getting better at greeting people.” Wendy’s family lives in the country on 40 acres so Hamish doesn’t see many people or dogs outside of their family. Before Kendra’s help, when Hamish would see someone other than his immediate family, he would jump all over them. Wendy felt helpless. With Kendra’s help and direction, Hamish is learning how to be more respectful and calm when he sees new people and dogs: “We have a ways to go but I know we’ll get there. I’m optimistic now rather than pessimistic!”
Wendy Describes Hamish’s Most Rewarding Training Moments: “I’d say the most rewarding moment I’ve had with Hamish is when he listens. When he hit adolescence, he stopped listening. With Kendra’s help, he’s engaged, eager to learn and listening again. It’s such a relief and everything is fun again!”
Kendra adds: “My immediate thought when I first met Hamish was that he was such a handsome dog and my second thought was he had energy to spare and no idea what to do with it! He desperately wanted to engage with everyone and everything in the environment and was in an overstimulated state very quickly. Wendy was so sweet and patient but Hamish was challenging because he didn't seem to settle once outside his awesome home. He was so happy to meet me and was unable to control his big emotions. It was clear he needed the right balance of mental, emotional and physical exercise and enrichment within his greenzone to help him. Wendy was so good with him and practiced what we did in private sessions at home and in other safe environments so he could learn. She did off switch games to help him engage and then settle, did check-ins and recalls, built confidence being calm while seeing people and settling while mom spoke to people, used her voice and body language before relying on the leash so she and Hamish had a better communication so walks were more enjoyable.
He is now still learning like the star he is and has come such a long way! He recently started Skills and Socialization group class with other dogs also going through the difficult adolescent developmental stage and he is doing amazing! I am so proud of him and Wendy! He is confident and looks to Wendy for guidance and I love seeing them succeed.”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Wendy for providing so much fantastic content for this feature. Don’t forget you can also follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day!
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