Well, as promised I was booked solid for most of the day today. The pups were worked early morning and mid morning and then they got the rest of the afternoon off while I was in lessons. However, their short work day was not without it's successes! Ripley is now Autositting after the heel most of the time and Ruby is getting pretty good at Down (after a bit of pouting). 
They are catching on quickly to the Heel and it is getting better and better. I look forward to moving them on to the off-leash stuff but I want to make sure they have the basics down pretty well before we go harder. The biggest concern is that their Come command was pretty hesitant today. I don't like taking leashes off while the Come command isn't perfect so we will work on that a little more tomorrow. 
One nice thing is that these guys are so short that we can work in the training room without falling over ourselves. This meant that we could make up for lost time today with a workout after it got dark. 
These kids are settling in nicely. I keep them mostly kenneled together so they can get their snuggle time in. Ripley didn't like working without Ruby but Ruby didn't seem to mind when it was her turn to work alone. Brothers can be pesky I guess.
Tomorrow we are back to normal and so they should get plenty of work done and I hope to start introducing them to their new collars on Thursday. So far so good!

So when I worked at the Lawrence Humane Society I was known as a huge fan of "floofles" and a "floofle" is any small, fluffy, short faced dog with big brown eyes and cute floppy ears. I have a serious soft spot in my heart for these little guys and this week I get to train not one but TWO of the sweetest little scamps ever. 
Ruby and Ripley come from the same household and they are here for 10 days to learn off-leash obedience. They may be little but these guys are going to be spending summers tromping around in what we Kansans call "up north" so it is vital that they know to stay close and that they come when called.
Today we worked with leashes on. Their leash manners aren't bad but they aren't good. They don't pull so much as they just insist on taking as much leash as they can. I bet that if we had more distractions around they would pull more. Ruby was a little show off and showed me how she does know Sit and Down (sort of) while Ripley was a bit more standoffish with me and didn't want to show me all of his cards. That's okay! We have time to get to know one another.
Tomorrow I am unfortunately in town all afternoon with in-home lessons but I plan to work them in the morning and then again in the early evening before dinner. We are going to practice Heel and the Implied Stay with the Sit command tomorrow. I am going to work them every day together and separately so that they get used to working when their buddy is around.
I am looking forward to teaching these little guys this week. I can already tell we are going to have a lot of fun. Welcome Ruby and Ripley!

Goodness, where did the time get to? It has been a few days since I was able to update on how awesome Artex is doing. He goes home tomorrow. His stay here was a little extra long because his family was out of town and so we got to have with Artex for some extra days of romping on the farm. We took his go-home video yesterday and he did great. He showcased some habits that  want his owners to watch out for so that was polite of him to show it on the video. 
He has also officially stayed on Placemat for 3 hours. He needs a toy with him but he is happy to snooze there. He will sneak off if you leave the room for a long time but he just peaks around the door to see what we're doing then when he sees me notice him he runs back to his mat so I think he just wants to feel included in the goings on of the household.
I have enjoyed this dog so much. He has been awesome to work with and an absolutely charming house guest (after he takes an excited lap around the living room and kitchen). I will miss this guy (so will my sister who wants to steal him) and I am looking forward to his followup lessons. Good boy Artex!

Artex got a bit of an easy day today. Saturday is my busiest work day with weekly lessons and so most of the morning Artex got to chill out and relax. He is doing just fine. We mostly just did daily life stuff this afternoon. Instead of formal "Heel, Sit, Down" workouts he just followed me around all day while I went about my business. He held a Down/Stay while the horses were fed. He did a few Come commands while we were taking a walk. We Heeled for a time while some cars passed us on the driveway (a big truck made him a little nervous but he didn't need more than a verbal "no"). 
He is doing a great job and is working really hard but at the same time he has adapted to the schedule here pretty well. He goes home soon and so it is time to start thinking about his go-home movie and his glamour shot for the website. 

Keeping things short tonight because our internet is blinking in and out. Artex is doing great. We just did a lot of practice today and had some fun in the big field. Every day his commands get cleaner and cleaner. He still makes mistakes but he works hard. 
Today he stayed on his Place for 2 hours today with only 2 mistakes. I was able to walk out of the room and enter again without a problem. He got up when his buddy, Ace, trotted into the room and again after he had fallen asleep and woken up forgetting he was in a command. Both times I was able to just correct him from where I was sitting and I did not need to get up to put him back on his bed.
Right now he is hiding his bone under one of the mats in the living room. Ace is watching him do this so it isn't a very good hiding job but Artex gets points for effort. Good job, buddy!

Artex is such a good boy. He is now in practice mode for all of his commands. He knows what to do and just needs proofing and fine tuning. He still toils with the Heel when off leash. He just has a hard time getting started. He covers so much ground in his natural pace that adjusting to the stride of a 5'4" woman is not something that comes naturally to him. He can do it, of course, but he usually needs a few corrections at first to get him in line and then he Heels just fine (if not a bit fawning as he is constantly asking for praise, "I got it right! I got it right! Pets please!"
He has calmed down considerably since he has been able to really stretch his legs on his remote trainer. I hope to take him on another field trip this weekend, hopefully to Downtown. I want to get him into a big, distracting area and see how he does with staying on task. 
Right now he is snuggling with Ace's dinosaur toy. He got a little scratch on his nose for trying to be friends with the house cat and so the dinosaur toy must seem like a safe alternative. 
Tomorrow we are back to work on his obedience and I hope to take him on a run with me later in the day.

Artex is doing well! He is DEFINITELY enjoying the freedom that his new remote trainer is giving him. This dog can cover some serious ground when he is running. He and Ace went zooming around the training meadow and had a fantastic time yesterday. Today we stayed indoors most of the day because of the rain. This gave us a great opportunity to practice Placemat. I was expecting this guy to fight a little harder about staying on his mat but he took to it very easily. He has been very polite in the house this week. He takes one lap around the living room and then usually quiets down just fine. 
When it comes to his off-leash obedience he is doing pretty well. His Come command is great, and his Sit, Down, and Stay (for the most part) are coming along just fine. His off-leash Heel needs work. He tends to erupt into this celebratory leap when I say "heel!" and he then tries to run around. But today he was finally showing some progress in slowing himself down and restraining himself to a heel position. He just needs practice and for his handler to be patient with him. It helps that his mistakes stem from an abundance of happy-go-lucky energy, and not from defiance.
Tomorrow we are doing our normal work in the morning but then in the afternoon I have appointments until around 4 and so he will be getting the afternoon to rest.
I am very happy with this guy's progress. He is my kind of dog and he is fitting in well with the pack (even with Angela the cat). He learns well and while he will always be independent he is slowly gaining some self restraint and he really seems to enjoy working.

Atrex is really starting to shine. His best command so far is Come which is awesome because they have to be stellar at that before I move them to their remote trainer. The rest of his commands are going very well, but he still sometimes has his own idea of what he should do. He has a bit of a penchant for the dramatic and if I make him lay down when he doesn't want to he will theatrically flop over onto his side and then wave his legs up in the air while writhing on his back. Clearly, Down kills him. However, once he thinks he has fooled me well he bounces up and tries to play. He is a very silly guy and once he does this little act I do insist that he lay down and hold it for a while, just to prove to him that it is, in fact, possible for him to do so.
Today we had fun. It was so beautiful out that I decided to take him for a hike. We went about 4.5 miles and he finally started acting a bit tired. 
Tomorrow is back to work as usual. I am looking forward to starting him on his remote trainer. This is a dog who will definitely enjoy the freedom that the remote collar allows him. I plan to introduce the collar tomorrow and hopefully remove the leash either tomorrow evening or the day after.
I am very pleased overall with how Artex is doing. He sure does look sharp doing his commands and he seems to enjoy praise, though he does also still enjoy doing his own thing. Smart boy!

Artex is doing just fine. He did well with his refresher today. He didn't get as many workouts as he usually will because Saturday is a really busy day for me with weekly lessons. But he showed me he remembers most of his commands, even if he has to put his own silly spin on them. They still need cleaning up but he knows the basic idea of what he is supposed to do.
Tomorrow I am going to start him on his long-line work. He will still be expected to do his commands but this time he will have 20 feet of leash with which to make mistakes. I expect his Heel work will need a lot of refreshing once he is on the long leash but that is why we use it. 
There won't be a blog tomorrow because I don't keep the blog on Sundays but he is still going to get his workouts and he will be joining me on a run to get some of his boundless energy spent. 
All in all, a good second day for Artex!

Artex is here for 10 days of off-leash obedience training. He is a beautiful Northern Inuit Dog who has the zest for life expected from his breed mix. He is a funny boy who isn't really poorly behaved unless he gets bored. He mostly just needs to harness that energy he has such an excess of. I am looking forward to training him. He is my first Inuit Dog I've had the chance to work with and I am curious about how his independence meets his working dog genetics. He should be a fun student.
Today we refreshed Heel/Autosit, Down (which he is pretty rusty on) and the Implied Stay. The Implied Stay was pretty silly but the other dogs were playing nearby making it difficult to focus. Tomorrow we will do more refreshers and I will check his remote trainer and make sure it is a good fit for him. The one he currently has only has 15 settings and so I may choose to put him on one that is slightly more adjustable if he is very sensitive. But first I will play with it and see if it will work. 
Right now he is settling in and snoozing in his kennel. Welcome Artex!