I have greatly enjoyed working with this guy and I will miss his funny temperament but he is ready to go home and sit in his recliner and make his people very happy. Good job Dakota!
Well Dakota goes home tomorrow. I am very pleased with the progress he has made. He now knows all of his commands and he understands his remote trainer. Today we went out and he had a blast at the farm (we took some cooling off breaks because it was so hot). I got his video taken so that we can show his family what high expectations to have of him. The only thing he is still toiling with is his puppy energy and the down/stay. He will relax nicely if his person is sitting on the couch or at the table and he is in a down stay in that room but if his person stands up to go to another room he will try to pop up to go with him. Just a "No, Down" fixes this problem but it is something his people will want to be strict about. He also needs to be watched because he will try to play with his placemat instead of staying on it, again, he is still a pup!
I have greatly enjoyed working with this guy and I will miss his funny temperament but he is ready to go home and sit in his recliner and make his people very happy. Good job Dakota!
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Well Dakota is almost done here at Free State K-9 and he is getting better every day. He has now had workouts off leash around the neighborhood and has done very well. I always have a slip leash with me for when cars go by just in case but I never really needed it. He is polite, but goofy and so sometimes will make silly mistakes. Also, being true to his hunting dog nature sometimes while on a walk he is overcome by the need to smell something and so he has made the mistake twice of breaking Heel to investigate something that smelled amazing. Once was for a dead bird (a tap from the collar and a sharp "leave it" was all he needed to move on) and the other was a sprig of onion grass that apparently smelled better than anything else on the planet ever because he loved it. We took a break to bury our nose in the amazing sprig and then moved on.
Tomorrow we are taking a fun trip out to the farm. I have a few lessons there and so Dakota will relax in the cool house in a kennel and then we are going to run around the big pasture. Unfortunately I've spotted a few snakes out by the lake so we are going to avoid the water. We are also going to take our go-home video while we are out there. Tonight we are going to enjoy some time on our Placemat while the family watches a movie. He is truly charming to have in the house. Even the cat (who doesn't even like the dogs who live here permenantly) will come out while he is inside though Dakota has gotten booped on the nose a few times for being a bit too forward. Well the heat put a wrench in our weekend plans to play at the farm. With a heat advisory we decided to keep cool and play inside instead. But this morning it was back to work as usual for Dakota and he picked right up where we left off. He is now having workouts off leash inside the fence and on the 20 foot line outside of the fence. He is doing well with most of his commands. He is still toiling with the Implied Stay when he is laying down. He really wants to get right back up and follow me if I walk away. His Down command is pretty good (unless he thinks I am going to do an Implied Stay) and his Come command and Heel are awesome.
He is also getting better about not jumping up though in the morning he still struggles and sometimes does jump up. He also started a strange habit of jumping on the sliding door when he wants in (I am always outside with him so maybe he is telling me he wants to get out of the heat?) but I am correcting this as it occurs. This week we are going to continue our transition to off-leash and we are going to work on house manners AND we are going to go on a walk on Mass. Street to see all the people. One final note is that on his early morning walk today Dakota was greeted by a barking lab who was not on a leash but who would not approach us AND he was barked at by a loud beagle who was walking with his family (mom with stroller and a wagon toting kids) who barked his fool head off at him and not only did Dakota not bark back but he stayed in his perfect Heel the entire time except for one sorrowful look back at the beagle who he wanted to be friends with. I was very proud of him. Well today we said goodbye for now to our friend Pan. His foster family picked him up and were impressed with his progress even though Pan was a little excited and made a few mistakes. The key to a dog like Pan is discipline and fairness. If you have high expectations of him and insist on good obedience he really shines. If you are unfair in your corrections or send him mixed signals he will simply give up and stop listening. But he enjoys working with people and has it in him to be a delightful dog. I hope his training helps him on his way to finding his forever home. We truly enjoyed having him with us and we wish Pan all the best in his journey. If you would like to meet Pan please email me and I can get you in contact with his foster mom. I am so happy with this goofball's progress. He is halfway through his training and is already having completely off-leash workouts. He sometimes tries to avoid work and gets a little dramatic sometimes but he genuinely wants to get the right answer most of the time. This weekend we are going to relax slightly on the training and mostly work on his Come command and walking without the leash. We will be spending some time at the farm to stretch our legs and get dirty. Our next blog post will be Monday when we get back to the grindstone and pick up the pace again. Dakota is a special guy. He was cracking us up all night playing with Ace and Ace's baseball. He treated the ball like a third dog and even seemed to be pretending it was tackling him at one point. Want a silly boy! Pan is now finished with more than half of his board and train. He knows his commands but still shows us that he needs practice for these new skills to become a habit for him. When he goes home his owners will need to apply these commands to his daily life in order to get the most out of this training. He is a very bright and sweet fellow and he craves direction. It is when he is left unguided that he makes mistakes.
Pan had a mixed day today. On one hand he had to go to the vet to see about a sour stomach. Luckily he is fine but he doesn't like the vet's office. However, what better way to deal with stress than to sprint in large circles around the yard with a new friend? Ace and Pan have been asking to play together since yesterday and after a friendly greeting yesterday we let them play outside today and a good time was had by all. Pan is what we would call dog-selective. He doesn't want to be friends with every dog he meets but he is definitely capable of puppy friends and does enjoy play time. If you would like to see a video of Ace and Pan enjoying some play time feel free to pop over to Face Book to check it out. Tomorrow we are mostly working on Down and Placemat. His other commands are looking pretty good. I also hope to get him on a field trip down town either tomorrow or Friday. It is hard to believe Pan will be going home in just a couple days! He is working so hard. Bright and silly Dakota had a good day today. He is now wearing his Dogtra IQ remote collar for workouts and play time and he is responding well to it. He is being a bit goofy about Down and is trying to figure out just how much he can get away with. For example, I will tell him to Down and he will look at the ground, get gets a tap from the collar and the command is repeated and so he then puts his face on the ground. Tap. He lays down on his elbows and sticks his bottom into the air. Tap. He backs up 3 feet and looks at the ground back there instead. Tap. He dramatically pounces on a fluffy looking bit of grass and lays down it in and waits for his pat. He is a very playful guy and I am trying to balance keeping the workouts light-hearted for him while also being firm that he does respond correctly and efficiently.
Luckily, we are still quite early in his training and so I am not worried at all that he can't learn when he has to work and when he can play around. Dakota is a good boy and he is working hard. His jumping up is getting better though he is still pouting that he isn't allowed on the couch. All in all I am having a lot of fun working with him (and playing with him!). Where did the day go? Suddenly it is well past my normal blog posting time. Anyway, keeping things short tonight so that I can get to bed before the baby inevitably wakes up.
Pan is doing great. His obedience is getting there. Today he did not want to lay down on command and so we had some mini battles over that but Heel/Autosit is coming along (still needs reminders every so often for Sit), Come is going well, and Implied Stay is better. He had a solid work day with no break throughs but no back sliding and I will call that a win. He got to play a little with Ace today but did not want to be friends with Ted or Kylie. He is a selective boy when it comes to his pals. He is, thankfully, so far gentle and sweet with baby Noah. More tomorrow. We will be working on these same skills and hopefully introducing Placemat. Go Pan! Whoops! It is already 1am and I haven't posted the blogs yet. Well since it is past everyone's bed time I will keep things short.
Dakota had a fine day today. We didn't introduce anything new and we mostly focused on Down and the Implied Stay. We took a nice long walk around the neighborhood and he Heeled well for most of it. When he was in a free walk he only needed minimal corrections for pulling. He is doing a great job and is having fun with his doggy friends. More tomorrow, hopefully the weather keeps cooperating. Pan is a very special case and one I am excited to be a part of. Pan was a foster dog and his foster mom quickly realized that he would be a dog that would be difficult to adopt out from his shelter cage. He is a high energy boxer mix who doesn't do well in a shelter setting. So his amazing temporary person not only fostered and later adopted him so that he could be removed from his frustrating and ultimately damaging situation in the shelter but is now paying to have him trained so that his forever adoption is a successful and happy one. I am amazed at not only his foster mom's sacrifice but also her dedication to getting this guy where she knows he can be happy.
A bit about Pan. Pan is a typical boxer dorkball. He is LOADED with energy but I have already seen how capable he is at being quiet in the house so long as he gets his exercise. He would do best as an only fur-child because he has shown that he does not always play appropriately with other dogs or greet new dogs well and this can lead to fights but he is very friendly with people. He just needs someone who can reenforce the skills he will be getting here at Free State K-9. Today we learned about Heel/Autosit. His leash manners are already pretty good in a low/moderate distraction settings and so learning the Automatic Sit wasn't difficult for him at all. We introduced Down which he is still struggling with but once he is down he is happy to park it there for quite a while. He is doing well with the Implied Stay in the Sit and the Come command (though he does have a jumping habit we are addressing). All in all I am enjoying working with this funny guy. He is settling in here and hopefully he can make some doggy friends while he is here but we won't press the issue if he makes it clear he would rather just hang out with his human buds. Welcome Pan! To see pictures of him please visit Free State K-9's facebook page! |
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