A full lesson morning means that my pal Wrigley got some down time early in the day but we got some work done in the afternoon. We practiced parking it in the house and holding a Down/Stay even with a busy household going on around him. He struggled a little but settled nicely after a couple corrections.
We introduced him to a remote trainer today and he took to it well. He had some minor confusion at first but quickly caught on to what it was. He is a good worker with an unstoppable good nature. Wrigley really just wants to hear that he has gotten the answer right.
Tomorrow we are going to increase his mistake making potential with a 20' leash on our walk. It should be interesting and is the first step to taking the leash off all the way.

Rokko did fine today. I had lessons all morning so he got a little down time but he did well during our afternoon workouts and we also practiced Down/Stay in the house with full dinner cooking distractions. He needed a few reminders but with a bit more practice I am confident he will shape up.
Tomorrow we are working on a long line some more and doing more work both outside and inside. He is catching on very quickly.

Nothing like a big sweet lab to make training fun. Wrigley is a nice young guy who is actually pretty well behaved but he needs some finishing with his obedience and his dad, who does a lot of athletic coaching, wants reliability even when he can't be right by Wrigley's side. Best tool for this, especially because we must operate within Lawrence's leash law, is a remote trainer. So we will be introducing Wrigley to his remote collar here in a day or so.
Today was just an assessment of what he knows and how he learns best. I think he and I will work well together and we will have no trouble meeting our goals. For now he is getting comfy in his kennel without his bed seeing as he broke the rules and tried to kill it earlier today. Now all he has to chew on are a horn and smeary bone. Why he didn't just chew on them in the first place is a secret I am not privy to. Welcome Wrigley!

Rokko had a productive day today. We worked on a 20 foot line today because he is not quite ready for full off leash yet. Once his come command is more reliable we will be removing the leash. But we went out to the farm and he did very well with all of his commands for how young he is. He knows the words but sometimes he needs some incentive to be as responsive as I would like him to be. But remember, it's only day two.
Tomorrow will likely be an inside day. Thunderstorms are predicted all day long and so we will likely be running out to potty and take a lap around the yard and then back in for Place, Down and Down Stay and Sit from a Down. Definitely still a work day but not as interesting for the dog I'm afraid.

Rokko is a gorgeous young GSD boy with a mane of long hair to make any shampoo model jealous. He is also a very bright boy who will definitely be fun to train over the next two weeks.
Today Rokko met my guys and got along well with everyone except for Ted but that's because Ted is a curmudgeon who doesn't like friendship. We had a couple short workouts just to allow me to gauge where he is and what words he knows and how well. He is coming to me with some words already and so the big hurtle today was learning how to communicate with eachother and getting over a little bit of Rokko's "you're not my dad" attitude. Like most shepherds, he is a loyal boy who makes friends easily but who won't work for someone he doesn't know and respect. By the end of today we were running more smoothly together.
Tomorrow we are ramping up the complexity of his workouts to see how he does with Implied Stay and some simple command combinations instead of giving him them one at a time. He should be a fun boy to teach so stay tuned.

Augie had a good day today. He had a solid couple work outs off-leash in town and he was responsive and sweet. Still slow on Down but he does it. He just pouts about it first. You shouldn't give him all the time in the world but if you're a little patient with him he does go down on his own.
Tomorrow I am booked back to back with lessons but I have a block of time in the middle of the day that will allow me to get him walked and worked just fine. Then in the evening we will try to push him on Placemat and see how long he can stay there. So far he has stayed for about an hour and I would like to get him up to an hour and a half if I can.
Right now he is barking in his kennel so after I post this I am going to go check on him and see what he's talking about. Usually by 11:00pm he is down for the night. We all have sleepless nights though, I guess.
Update: He was barking at his food bowl and playing with it. Goof.

Well sweet Clark goes home tomorrow. I am very pleased with how far he has come. He still has some growing up to do but his commands are solid and he tries hard. His family will need to have high expectations of him when it comes to his self restraint and they need to absolutely insist on good manners, even if it means that he doesn't get to say Hi to someone if he can't contain himself. 
He is such a bright boy I am confident he will grow up to be an absolutely wonderful dog. Right now he is a perfect Golden pup and with a family who is dedicated to making sure he only gets rewarded for acceptable behaviors he will settle in just fine. 
On our walk to day he was very frightened of all the parade goers (the St. Patrick's Day Parade route was one block away) and so we did end up cutting the walk short but he did stay in a reluctant Heel the entire time, so that was good. We also took his go-home video this morning. Tomorrow we are going to take his glamour shot for the year book and mostly let him stay inside so that he doesn't get too muddy right before he goes home! It does always seem like we get rain right when I am trying to keep a dog clean. 
I had so much fun with Clark. He reminds me of my favorite Golden, Bandit, and maybe that's why I can so easily see the wonderful adult dog that is waiting to come out once he is done with puppyhood. Don't rush it though! Puppyhood definitely has its own merits. 

Augie is doing just fine. We worked Placemat some more today as well as Down/Stay. He is coming along well with both of those tasks. He was a little funny and nervous today on his walk but there was a large St. Patrick's Day parade going on a couple blocks over and so we had some interesting characters spilling over onto Elm St. We cut the walk short and instead worked in the house for the greater part of the day. 
Tomorrow, if the weather holds up, we are going out to the farm to enjoy some romping and also to get some more Heel work done. His Heel is pretty darn good but we don't let that lure us into a sense that we no longer need to work on it. 
Augie was able to spend most of his kennel time today in his large run (I had the baby montor on him so that I could spy and make sure no climbing acts were taking place) but over night, just to make sure he is safe, he will still be in the escape-proof crate. What a goober.

Clark sure is a super star when it comes to his obedience. He is pretty sharp on his commands (though he does still try to "cute" his way out of work every now and then). He gets confused about Down from the Front vs. the Come command and sometimes ends up slithering on his belly to your shoes as a compromise. At least his mistakes are adorable. 
He so far has managed to stay on his Placemat for about an hour with regular household (dinner) activity going on. We will see if we can push him to at least and hour and 45 minutes before he goes home on Friday. 
He met one of my neighbors on a walk today and he got very wiggly and excited when she wanted to pet him but she was patient and waited for him to sit before she got covered in kisses. His impulse control will improve with age but right now we are giving him the tools to know what he -should- be doing even if he doesn't get the answer right each time. He tries hard and is a good little worker. More tomorrow but for now Clark is right on point with where he should be in his training.

Augie is coming along quite well! He has had some long-line lessons and some off-leash lessons and hasn't given me any big issues. He is still slow on Down but it is more out of reluctance, I think, than defiance. He just moves in slow motion and needs a correction still, usually, before he goes down.
He has done well with Placemat, however, and his general house manners are very good for such a young dog. However, he has become quite the Houdini! Not only will he wiggle out of his crate but he will climb the 6' kennel walls in his dog run. So he is staying in our heavy duty, escape-proof, crate at night because even though he is limber I don't want him hurting himself by jumping down from his big kennel or from squeezing out of the crate we have him in. I am not sure why exactly he has started to refuse containment. I don't think this will translate to a problem with crating at home because he will not be crated as often or with as much interesting action going on (like another dog being taken out on a walk while he has to stay behind) at home as he is here. But if it does it is something that can easily be worked through.
Overall, I am pleased with his progress. He is at the half way mark for his stay with us and he is right on target if not a little ahead. He is a bright boy, that's for sure.