We are all a little bummed to see Luby go home (Ace especially) but she is now ready to start her new obedient lifestyle with her owners. She has enjoyed her stay here but she is a house dog at heart and will be very happy to be back at home and the center of attention. 
I could not be happier with her obedience. For such a young, happy-go-lucky, exuberant pup she did extremely well with all of her commands. Her owners are now tasked with the job of holding her accountable. They need to have high expectations for her or else she could easily backslide. But if they are firm and use corrections and praise fairly she should do fine.  She does have some growing up to do but she is such a happy girl and so happy to work for praise that she has everything in her to be a delightful adult dog.
Good job Luby! 

The internet keeps coming and going so we are going to keep this short tonight.
Luby had such a good day today. She is now staying on Place for 2 hours without a mistake, even with Ace trying to play with her. They eventually just ended up playing on the mat together, which is well within the "2 foot rule" which means that Luby must have 2 feet on her mat at all times. She was worked by a different person today and after the initial "who are you and how do you know all the rules" confusion she did all of her commands for him. We do this intentionally to make sure the dog learns that she can't just be good for me, she must listen to other people too.
Tomorrow we start the process of sending her home by taking a video of her new skills. This is to show her parents what she knows, what the training should look like and to prove that I actually taught her something this week because I guarantee you she will be far too excited at her go-home lesson to perform perfectly. But we will work until her owners are comfortable with her commands.
I hope tomorrow is as productive as today was for her!

Luby did well today! She had the morning to rest a slightly sour stomach but her mid morning workout went great. She spent Sunday fighting me about Heel but today she did much better and stayed right with me without stopping for no reason. I think she was expecting a command and so would stop and wait. She is not walking with me without trying to anticipate my next move.

Her self restraint is getting better all the time. She will stay in a Down/Stay while I bustle about, even outside! I was able to leave her in a down and go into the fence and let the mares out without her moving.

Place is going so so. She will stay on it once she is on it but she still needs to be led to her bed and sometimes toes the line by seeing if she can sneak away. But I gave her one of Ace's nylabones to work on and she was happy for a couple hours today.

We are into the proofing stage now. She knows her commands and I am just trying to make sure she will perform well for her folks. This includes having other people work with her, upping the distractions, and making her work harder and for longer periods. She is a happy girl though and enjoys the work. Luby is easily tuckered out but happy to please. I am confident that with a few more days she will transition home just fine.

Today was a busy day for me and so Luby was a bit bored. We did get in some work outs and the always important play time. Her workouts were good, not great today. On-leash her Heel is fine. Off-leash she does okay until a smell or distraction hijacks her brain.

Plus side is that her down is getting better all the time. She is so young that it isn't surprising that she is both learning so quickly and also toiling where real focus is required. She did okay with Down Stay again today but was not perfect. Not bad at all for Day 6 but still not where I want her. She strongly prefers to lazy-lab sit (sit on her hip or back on her rump) instead of lay down.

We will continue working on all if her obedience tomorrow but I don't do the blog in Suday so look forward to Monday for our next update.

Well we are halfway through with Ms. Luby's time here with us. She is now reliable off leash and comes when called (though sometimes a little incentive from the collar is necessary). It is always a happy day when the boarders get their first walk with no physical leash. I hope her owners don't mind but Luby will be coming home with some grass stains from playing with Ace.

The rest of her obedience is going fine. We are still arguing about Down but she is slowly, grudgingly, seeing my point of view about this. It is, infact, easier to just lay down than it is to argue, ignore, pout, then wilt down to the ground. She held a Down/Stay for about an hour today in the house with only 2 mistakes. We will start Place soon and that will make it easier.

Tomorrow we are just working on her obedience and pushing Stay and Down, which are the two areas where she toils the most. For now she is snoozing in her kennel before "last-chance potty."

Luby is doing just fine. She had her workouts on a 20 foot line today to really work on her Come command. When she has 20 feet of mistake making possibility her puppy ADD is really obvious. But she is definitely getting better. We had to smooth out her desire to play "chase me" instead of coming and sitting for praise.
We also introduced her to her remote training collar today and after a little bit of confusion she settled in and started getting it. The level of stimulation she needs depends greatly on the situation. Sometimes it needs to be higher if she is distracted or feigning deafness but in low distraction situations it can be quite low and she will comply.
She is not yet ready to be off leash but I hope to get there before the end of the week because I have a feeling that more of the work for her will not be teaching her the commands but making sure she is reliable under most circumstances.
Luby tries hard to make good decisions and she makes friends with everyone (even inanimate objects, like a piece of hose she found and tried to play bow to, just in case it would play with her) but sometimes her exuberance gets the better of her and she makes mistakes. She doesn't take correction personally though, and it does not hurt her feelings. This is a good thing because we don't have to take a lot of time building her back up after we tell her she made a mistake.
Check out Free State K-9's Facebook page for some cute pictures of Ace and Luby during playtime today.

Luby had a good day today. She was introduced to all of her commands except for Place. She Heels nicely now, even when her friend Ace is bouncing around her with a stick (though that is very hard), she Sits when I stop but it is not always automatic. Sometimes she still needs a reminder. She will Down with some help and Come is a breeze, she likes coming when called and will sit for praise when she gets to me.
For day two she is doing very well, I hope to start introducing the electronic collar here in the next day or two. To be honest the thing she has the most trouble with is sitting for her food and sitting to be leashed up. I insist that dogs sit and wait until their food is set on the ground and I have been able to stand back up before they start eating. She struggles with this and gets frustrated easily because she -wants- her food. She also gets frustrated when I make her sit quietly for leashing. A remote trainer will allow me to bust her for breaking Sit even if there is a kennel door between us.
She has been charming in the house and very polite. Mostly curious about things as she explores. Ace has been showing her what things are toys and what will get them into trouble for playing with (like the Poodle's coveted Giraffe toy).
Tomorrow we are working more on her obedience. Like I said, she has been introduced to everything but she still needs a TON of practice before I would consider her proofed in anything. Good job, Ms. Luby!

Pretty little Luby is a young Labrador who is here for advanced obedience training. During her 10 day stay here she will learn to be reliable in Heel, Autosit, Sit, Down, Come, and Place while she is wearing a remote training collar. Her big project areas are her self-restraint and channeling her exuberance to constructive behaviors. She is a big puppy and is very goofy and happy-go-lucky. She doesn't realize that it hurts us when she plays rough with people.
Today I introduced her to a pinch collar. This is not the collar she will wear when she goes home but I will use it while I am teaching her the commands. This way when I put her electronic collar on she will have a good understanding of the commands already. It is vital that the collar be used only when she already has a good understanding of what I want her to do. Using it too early can be scary for a dog and might sour them to the collar. So the pinch collar will allow me to teach her clearly and easily and in a few days she will be ready for the electronic collar.
She learned Heel today. She caught on very quickly that she had to walk politely at my left side but tried just about every trick in the book to get away with lunging forward or pulling. By the end of the day she would walk pleasantly and sit with some coaxing but it is clear that if she had her way she should be way out in front pulling my arm off.
Tomorrow we start Implied Stay and Down along with continued work on Heel and Autosit. Luby is a sweet and smart girl who just needs direction to become a truly charming household companion. Welcome Luby!