Copper did so well on his field trip to down town Lawrence today. We walked down 6th to Vermont street and he stayed in a perfect Heel the whole way there. He then came into my bank with me and held a Down/Stay while I was at the counter. We walked all the way down Massachusetts street in a Heel and he Autosat at the crosswalks. He got a lot of attention and everyone was impressed with his manners. He even said hello to several children and was very polite and respectful. We had a picnic in South Park where he laid down and did not harass anyone while they ate (my husband and a friend joined us). I thought it would be a lovely spot to take at least part of his training video but the park was so close to the street that he got a little overwhelmed when I took his leash off. Many dogs become uncomfortable in new situations when the leash is removed. Think of it as an umbilical cord being removed or a security blanket taken away. He crouched a little bit and acted just a tiny bit scared, especially when loud engines were going by. Overall, I was very proud of how well he did today. He was a joy to walk and to be around.
On the other hand his nice and comfortable dog bed is pretty well murdered. I am afraid it has been a slow death for it but it a fit of frustration, it seems, Copper decided his bed should be no more. He is sleeping on one of Kylie's blankets tonight so he doesn't get cold. He does still have his placemat so that's good.
Tomorrow I am taking some more video of him and working on a funny habit he only just today started to show. Instead of Autositting he has been laying down when I stop. I probably caused this, unintentionally, by over-working the down. I had a talk with him today about how rude it was to develop a strange new habit 2 days before he is slated to go home. Oh well.
Copper is slated to go home on Tuesday which should give me just enough time to clean that little bad habit up and then I will be more than happy to say he is ready to go home and start his new obedient life with his family.
Right now Copper is singing in his crate. Perhaps lamenting the decision to turn his bed inside out. 

Copper had a strange day today. He started out fine. We worked Recall in the morning and had a nice long bike ride around mid day. In the afternoon he got to play with Rocky the GSD who came out for a while. He had lots of fun in the sun and got to wrestle and play.
This afternoon for his first PM workout he was in a very strange mood. He wasn't argumentative or defiant but just acting very slow and a little tired. I wonder if he didn't over do it running around today. I didn't work him again this afternoon because he didn't seem to be feeling well.
We all have off days and that is true for dogs too. I do not think he is ill or anything like that. Perhaps he is just feeling grumpy or over tired. Either way, it is back to work tomorrow because tomorrow is his big final exam. His walk in down town Lawrence.
Now I am going to tuck Copper into bed and hopefully he will be a little less pokey in the morning.

And we're back! The internet out at the Farm was absolutely crawling last night and blog posts just were not happening. I feel a little bad too because this one is going to be short. But it is for a very good reason, there just isn't a lot to report. Usually by now there have been a few bad days with some interesting battles to tell about but Copper just hasn't really been much of an arguer. Sure, he can get a little too happy and bounce around the house. And yes, he might have picked up my shoe and pranced with it into the front yard (I was not wearing said shoe at the time). But if the worst behavior I get from a dog is that they celebrate too a little too boisterously I really cannot complain.
I have sung the praises before of the German dogs. I have yet to work with a breed from Germany and not been blown away by their work ethic. Be it Schnauzers, Weims, German Shepherds, Dobermans, or Poodles (yes, they come from Germany) they are all so willing and happy to work with people that training is usually very smooth and the limitations on what you can teach them are usually physical. For example, you could train a Toy Poodle in personal protection but it wouldn't be that effective unless the person the dog was protecting you from had a fit of the giggles.
The only thing copper is still struggling with is Placemat. He is getting much better but I still have to lead him there and sometimes I even help him step on the mat. But he isn't fighting as much, mostly his eyes just blow up and he looks really scared. Once he is on his mat he is staying put and can relax so that is getting much better.
Tomorrow he is getting his video and glamor shot taken for the website and I am going to really try to get him in for his field trip. It has just been one of those weeks and things keep cropping up that make it difficult to fit in his field trip. But I promised him it would happen by Monday and I haven't broken a promise to a boarder yet. 
I was about to believe that Copper's halo never slipped when I caught him counter surfing this morning. He made off with a paper towel off of the counter before I could stop him but there wasn't anything very exciting in the paper towel so he didn't get much of a reward. Still, that was the first time he actually successfully stole something. He has sniffed hopefully but I was always able to convince him to rethink his thievery with a strong "NO NO  NO" before today. 
They make a counter surfing trap that is effective AND fun to watch. It is basically a mousetrap with a fly swatter attached and when the doggy takes the bait he gets flapped on the nose by the trap. I have often considered getting a few to keep out here just for occasions like the one that arrose today.
Enjoy a silly pic of Copper! 

Well we are getting young master Helo all packed up and ready for his big trip back to the mountains.
His off leash obedience is going extremely well. I took his video this afternoon but as my computer is in town right now it may be a day or so before I get to email it to his owner.
We took a field trip to the dog park today to work on his recall around other dogs. He was still a bit slow but he would return reliably. The only time he really had trouble was when another dog would not leave him alone and that was not Helo's fault.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Helo is actually a member of my family. He belongs to my sister in Denver and so I will be able to keep extra close tabs on his progress and any backsliding.
Helo has been a very good buddy to Copper and I think Copper will certainly miss his play pal. Helo brings a very sweet, sometimes impish energy to the house. I will miss this big lunkhead.

Today was a bit of a boring day for Copper. We had a few routine workouts and he did very well. I did not need to give him a single correction all day. He is really enjoying the freedom the collar gives him. He gets to run and play with the house dogs instead of staying on leash.
He comes right back every time I call him but he does not come in a straight line. True to his bird dog heritage he comes back to me by taking a sweeping circle, usually counterclockwise.
He did a little better with Placemat today. He still needed a lot of encouragement and was still afraid but it was not as much of a fight as it has been. We are going to practice this some more tonight.
Either tomorrow or Saturday he is getting to go on a field trip into town. He has been such a gentleman out here on the farm I am sure he will do fine on Mass. and such a striking dog is sure to attract attention.

Helo, Helo, Helo, you stinker! One of the things his owners wanted worked on while he was here was his obsession with chipboard and paper towels. He steals them and shreds them and makes a big mess. Or so I hear. I have left numerous traps for him and he simply will not take the bait. Even today I left a paper towel that had some chicken juices on it and left it at his chin level and he didn't go for it. I am going to leave some peanut butter on some chipboard on the floor so I can catch him at it. I will either use skype to spy on him or spy from another room. But for a trap to work he has to fall for it.
His obedience is doing well but he needs it proofed. His big issue is that when he sees a strange dog on a hiking trail or if he is busy doing something else, his Recall can go out the window. I am going to take him on a field trip to the dog park with a long-line and work very hard on his recall.
He loves carrying things and so as an extra incentive (on top of praise and pets) I am going to allow him to carry a rope toy he has fallen in love with every time he recalls nicely. I may even throw it for him if he is really lucky.
He is heading back to Colorado on Friday and I will be sending with him a list of new rules for him to help him retain his skills and also how to continue working on his bad habits. The important thing is that his owners expect a LOT of him. He needs to do things perfectly or he will start getting sloppy.
Helo is kind of like a little brother in a dog suit. He can be a real pest but he is also capable of absolutely melting hearts. Sometimes he so genuinely wants to play or have a hug you can't help but love him.

Copper is doing so well! I have been very impressed with how quickly he catches on. We are now approaching the proofing stage of his training. That means he knows the commands and has a good understanding of what is right and what is wrong and now we need to test it. We are going to put him into increasingly difficult situations. We will start small with someone throwing a ball while we work or squeaking a toy, and move up to a field trip to South Park and Massachusetts street for some real world distraction.
One thing he is having a very hard time with is Placemat. His mat is supposed to be his crate without walls. A blanket to lay on and he can relax and feel safe at the same time as keeping him out from under everyone's feet. However, he has a dramatic fear reaction whenever I direct him to his bed. He will put the breaks on and refuse to budge any further, he will run in the other direction, and once he took a flying leap from a stand still to try to jump over the mat.
At first I thought he didn't like the way his mat crinkles (something inside of it makes a strange sound) so I tried his bed. Nope. He will go onto his bed on his own and sleep on it without any problem. But if I lead him to his bed and tell him "Place" he immediately tucks his tail and hunches up and acts very afraid. I have started from square 1 introducing him to Placemat and so far we have not made a lot of progress.
Today we made a tiny step forward because I decided to use a blanket that was simply too big for him to jump over. I heeled him over it again and again, making him walk on it. Then I had him autosit on it over and over again. He does okay with this although he puts the breaks on often. I also had Helo, another student dog, lay on the big mat with Copper. He was slightly calmer with a buddy but this is definitely something he will need more work on.
Tomorrow we are going to fine tune his skills and work on Place mat yet again. Every dog has his quirks.

Helo hit a milestone today. He had his very first off leash obedience lesson. He did extremely well. He had his prong collar on and a 6 inch training tab (basically a tiny leash that hangs like a neck tie just in case I need to bust him) but never needed a correction. He was a little reluctant about the Recall but tomorrow we are going to focus about making him feel better about that.
It is extremely important that the Come command is always a happy thing. Even if you just chased him over 5 counties, when he does come to you it is extremely important that he gets praise like he just saved the world. When we practice Recall in lessons it is usually with very few distractions but in the real world we are usually calling our dogs right after they've bolted after a cat. Coming back to you must be more fun than chasing that cat which is a very difficult thing to achieve.
But that is my task for tomorrow. I will try to find the perfect praise for Helo to make Recall the funnest thing ever. It will take some trouble shooting but for such a happy guy I am certain we can find his happy place for Recall.
Other than that he is doing extremely well. He has retained his training from over a year ago very nicely and he is a dream to work with. When we are not working he makes the entire household laugh with his antics. Between tossing toys to people in hopes that they get tossed back, teasing the other dogs into playing with him, and pouncing on unsuspecting nylabones, he is one happy-go-lucky boy.

I introduced Copper to the hot collar today. We started with him on leash and instead of getting physical corrections with a slip chain I would give him a tap from the remote collar. After a few minutes he was understanding the stimulation was connected to a correction. Then we did some on leash Recall (the "come" command) with the hot collar. Whenever I asked Copper to come to me he would feel a page from the collar. This light vibration feeling will soon become a signal to him if he is out of ear shot or if he is not hearing his owner, for whatever reason, to come back. After he got that basic idea, the big moment came. The leash came off and we went for a walk. I had some "therapy dogs" (ie dogs that already knew the rules and can set a good example) along with us to help. Every time Copper got a certain distance away I would page him and have him come back. He came back very well but he still isn't sitting every time.
Later in the day we had an obedience session with the hot collar and again he did really well. He did not need a leash.
Copper's Progress Report:
Heel/Autosit- Understands it well. Does not always sit all the way but squats and hopes I don't notice.
Sit- Understands and is very reliable in low distraction settings. In high distraction settings he does not do as well.
Down at the Side and from the Front- Understands well. Is better about Down than he is about Sit. Again, sometimes tries to cheat by not going all the way down.
Implied Stay- Gets it and is getting better.
Come- Knows well and is fairly reliable. In good Bird Dog fashion will make a sweeping circle instead of b-lining for you.

He also learned that it IS in fact possible to play AROUND a cat while not playing WITH the cat. He bounced up to Angela today and muzzle punched her and she got really puffy and gave him a good swat on the nose. He then decided maybe she wasn't the best playmate and resigned himself to just playing with me. Angela was not impressed.
Tomorrow some workouts might be rained out and so we are going to work on Place Mat and maybe play some hide and seek (practicing Recall) in the house. I also plan to set some spicy traps for this counter surfer. 

It is always so much fun to get to work with my puppy preschool graduates. Helo is doubley fun because he is also my puppy-nephew! He is here for the on-leash to off-leash transition and some behavior modification. Coming to us from Denver he now holds the record for longest distance traveled to come to Free State K-9.
Like I said, Helo was trained as a young dog in on-leash obedience and now his owners (hi sis!) would like to transition him to off-leash so that he can be reliable off leash on hiking trails and at dog parks. His biggest issue is that he has very little self-restraint when it comes to other dogs. Helo knows no strangers and wants to befriend every dog he sees. Some dogs on the trails don't want to be his best friend and some hikers don't know how to react to a 90lb dog bounding towards them.
Today I just wanted to see how well he had retained his on-leash obedience. After a shaky start he soon was doing all his commands smoothly (Heel/Autosit, Down at the side and from the front, Implied Stay, Recall, Sit, and Place). In fact, afterwards while I was working another dog who is here for training Helo followed us and was copy-cating all the commands I asked the other dog to do!
I think the transition will be smooth and the difficult part will be putting him in situations similar to the ones he will encounter at home. We have hiking trails here but there is almost no dog traffic on them. The dog park is a definite possibility but first we must get him reliable in a low distraction area.
Tomorrow we are going to start the off leash transition!