Well, Cooper's official last day of training is tomorrow. He has come a long way from the pulling, nipping, out of control fellow who was dropped off 9 days ago. He and I have become good buddies but he will be happy to be back with his family. He still gets a little nervous sometimes, especially when he knows he made a mistake but it is definitely mistakes he is making. He is not being defiant on purpose, most of the time he is trying to anticipate what I will ask him to do and he just guesses wrong. When I have to correct him for this he gets a little squirrelly and nervous. The solution is simple, I ask him to do something easy, that he knows, and then I praise him for it. The affirmation that he got something right perks him right back up.
Tomorrow I am going to work on the one behavior that is still coming up now and again and that is his occasional hesitation to come when called. It never happens on walks, but sometimes when he is out playing in the yard and he makes a mistake that requires a correction (like chasing the cat) he will then drag his feet when called to me. I am going to work tomorrow on him understanding that it is ALWAYS a good thing to come when called and that he won't ever get in trouble for approaching me. The remaining goal is simply to perk him up a bit about the Come command after a correction. He takes correction personally and so gets a little sulky when he is called. I want him to be happy about recall all the time. This will be an important thing to continue at home. Luckily, it has sunken in with him that he can't simply run away. 
I like how far this little guy has come. He has been a joy to work with and though he is still a shepherd with shepherd instincts he now has the foundation for his owners to build on. If they use the tools (correction and praise) I have given him and them properly he will blossom from freshly trained puppy to a reliable dog as he grows up. 

Well I have been busy editing videos and taking yearbook photos of Max today. He goes home tomorrow evening and I am very pleased with how far he has come. He is still very much Max the Lab. He is exuberant, friendly, and a little bit impulsive but he is also more responsive and he knows his commands now. He is by no means a "robot dog" but his foundation is solid enough that his parents can expect obedience out of him. He will only get better as he grows up, especially if his owners make his obedience a way of life, and not just party tricks.
He will get some workouts tomorrow mostly just to tucker him out. He knows Heel/Autosit, Down, Implied Stay, Come, Sit, and Place. He is very reliable when he has his shock collar on, though he still struggles with good decisions sometimes. He walks nicely on leash and sticks around when he is off leash and not in a command. 
I am going to recommend that his owners really utilize his shock collar when he goes home. It really helps hold Max accountable. If he learns that he can get away with mischief at home because he doesn't have his collar on he will start backsliding on his obedience. 
It is easy to forget how young Max is because he is so big but he really is a big baby. I will miss his goofy face and his less-than-graceful sprints around the yard with Ace, which more than once involved running into a very solid object, like a tree or another dog. He has a good heart and really does want his people to be proud of him. 

Keeping the blogs short tonight because the storm is making our internet come and go.
Cooper did a very good job today. We took some progress video and other than asking for some hugs during some thunder he didn't make many mistakes at all. You can still see some inner turmoil when he can't decide whether or not to listen to commands or run around and see if he can get out of work. He is quickly realizing that when he tries to run away from work he just gets in trouble and has to work anyway so he isn't testing it much anymore. But you can still tell he considers it. 
Tomorrow we are doing more fine tuning and confidence building. Sometimes he isn't sure whether or not he is doing the right thing and we want to make sure he is confident in following commands without worrying too much. We are also taking some more video.
For now he is snoozing through the storm in his kennel.

Stormy night so we are going to keep this short because the internet is coming and going.
Max is doing great. He had a fantastic workout today and even during some thunder he followed commands. The thunder made him look around and once he tried to get back to the training room but he turned around when corrected.
We took some progress video today and other than a tiny bit of back-talking and some stalling ("I will lay down in a minute, first let me scratch my neck for 5 minutes") he did well. 
Tomorrow we are taking some more video and we are going to work more on Placemat. Obedience is really coming together for Max! 

Cooper is doing such a good job. He hasn't needed a leash since yesterday and only needs a mild reminder to stay in a given command. Sometimes he only needs a verbal "No!" to get back on track.

His radius training is also going well. He willingly comes back to check in if I cue that he has gone too far (utilizing the vibration function of his collar). I was also able to stop him when he started chasing a critter, though this did require a higher correction than normal to turn him around. His prey drive is still fairly pronounced.

He stayed on Placemat for an hour and a half today with only two mistakes. One when his friend, Ace came into the room, and once when I was bustling in the kitchen and curiosity got the better of him. But he was easy to correct and re-place.

Tomorrow we are doing more work on all of his commands. And fine tuning little things. He is in what we call the "proofing" stage which means he knows it all, now I am just making things harder for him and making sure he understands that commands always are to be followed, not just when distractions are low.

This is a bright young dog who is quick to figure things out. He picks new commands up quickly but he then starts trying to work out how far he can push things and how he can get away with shenanigans. But he wants to get praised so he is easy to get back on track. His obedience will easily become a way of life if his folks are firm with his new rules when he goes home.

Max has now been having off-leash workouts for 2 days. He is doing extremely well. His parents decided to extend his stay with me to the full ten day package and I could not be happier about it. He was ready to start off-leash and I am happy to finish with him. His back-talking has subsided a great deal unless there is something he REALLY wants.

We have some contractors at the house and they were passing through the yard as we worked today. Max was extremely curious to meet his new best friends and go on adventures but the contractors couldn't play. I was able to get his focus back with minimal whining or complaining though he did chirp a few times when he saw the guys again. It is very difficult to be Max.

He stayed on Placemat for an hour and a half today. He did ooze off of it while I are lunch but I did not have to get up to put him back on place. I only had to correct him with his remote and point to his mat and he scooched back.

All in all, I am very pleased with young Max today. Good boy!

Cooper is doing very well. He has hit the halfway point in his time with us and he is right on track. He has been introduced to all of his commands and he is transitioning nicely to his electronic collar. His Placemat is doing very well, especially considering his age. He has been able to hold Place for an hour so far without making more than a couple mistakes, usually after waking up from a nap. 

Max just keeps getting better all the time. He can be a challenge but not because of defiance or being sour. His challenges come from being a very happy dog with a very short attention span. Like a good lab, he doesn't take corrections personally and he doesn't pout. He is very much in the moment, all the time and so keeping him on task will be something for his owners to work on until he grows up a little bit more. He is so big it is easy to forget how young he is!

Cooper hit a great milestone today. We officially started long line training. This is the first step to off-leash. Now that he knows what I mean when I say Heel, Sit, Down edit, even if he doesn't get the right answer all the time, I am working him on a twenty foot leash. This forces him to restrain himself instead of relying on me to hold him back. He has twenty feet of mistake making possibility but he isn't at risk of running away when he gets it in his mind that he can avoid a correction by skirting away.
He did pretty well with everything today. He did make a few mistakes but most of the time a verbal NO is all he needed. He still has a very high prey drive and he really really wants to chase the cat but I believe the electronic collar will be instrumental in curbing this behavior and inappropriate herding behavior that he sometimes displays. 
Tomorrow Cooper gets the morning off and then we are back to work. I may be able to introduce the Dogtra tomorrow if he is still doing well with the long line work. If he back-slides we still have plenty of time to introduce it and we can spend more time with the long leash. Overall this puppy is working bars and is making good progress. There will not be a blog post tomorrow but look to Monday for his next update. 

Max had such a good day today! He will lay down on command without being wrestled, though he will still back-talk quite a bit. And he will stay laying down or sitting while I walk in a circle around him. Holding the Sit is very difficult for him because he is convinced I am going to go have a wonderful adventure five feet away from him. But with consistent and fair correction and lots of praise he will stay put, even if he hates it. 
Max's Heel/Autosit is improving also, he is slowly getting better with not lunging at fun things and focussing longer. However, if i do lose his focus it is still a little difficult to get it back without over correcting him.
Right now Max is napping in his kennel after his dinner. He can expect an easy morning tomorrow but the afternoon is dedicated to working the boarders and getting them well tuckered out. There will not be a blog post tomorrow but look forward to Monday for the next update on this goofy kid.