Clover at the beach :)

[IRescue452]

Looks like she had fun .

She's definately not too skinny. Free running exercise is better than forced leash exercise. This way if she gets tired she can stop. She can choose what speed she's able to go at any moment as opposed to leash exercise where a dog has no choice but to push on until the human decides to stop. Some leash walking is good too though, it helps with obedience and learning control in situations where a dog may need it. 20 minutes is a good sized walk in addition to off-leash stuff.

As far as crating goes, I have 2 dogs who hate the crate, one is rescued. They will at least listen to the command to go in the crate though. I believe it is very important to try and get your dog to take to the crate as comfortably as possible. You never know when an emergency is going to happen and the dog will need to be confined safely. Also, what if something happened to you? What if somebody needed to care for your dog but was unwilling or unable to leave them out at all times? It would be best for the dog to be ok with being crated at times.

[Sowa]

Thanks, that makes sense about the exercise.

I don't want her to always be crated though. Only until I know she will be safe on her own. Then she can have free range of the house. (minus furniture) That's how it's always been with my other dogs.

I'm starting puppy kindergarten soon. I think around 6 months we'll do obedience. I think I heard that's when it's ok to start using training collars and such. (that's what they usually use at obedience classes I've been to.) Though the person I was talking to said I could start her around 8-10 weeks old.