Sweet, little Kate goes home tomorrow. She is ready for her family to take her new skills and make them her way of life. She knows her new commands well but is a spirited little girl and so she can be a little stubborn. But she also enjoys praise and she likes getting the answer right.
She has been a fun dog to train and a polite house guest. I am confident she will make her owners happy along with making them laugh.
Today we took her go-home video and glamor shot for the website and tomorrow we will give her her go-home lesson when her people pick her up. I'm proud of how far she has come this week. She is a merry little girl.

Kate has made a TON of progress over the last two days. She no longer back talks about Down and her Heel is world's better. It could still stand some cleaning up but that will happen as obedience becomes her way of life.
While her Come command on-leash is quite good she still has a flight response when off-leash and so without further practice and training Kate isn't a dog who should spend a lot of time without her leash on when outside.
I am quite proud of how far Kate has come this week. Little dogs can learn the same as the big guys but they learn differently and I think I've been able to make it fun for her. She is practicing Placemat with me right now after our last, rather late, practice in the training room.

Sweet little Kate is coming right along. She is doing great with Autosit and her Implied Stay is making progress. She still throws the occasional tantrum about Heel but she is getting better about that as well. Placemat is pretty good, she likes her bed and she likes feeling involved in the room so it is a simple and fun exercise for her. We are still working on Down. I don't think she is being defiant about Down so much as she is not sure exactly what I want her to do. She is a good little worker though and I think she is enjoying learning. Tomorrow I hope to solidify Down a bit more and see if I can't make Heel more fun for her.

Kate is a very cute and soft natured little girl who likes to be brave when she feels like it. She is here for a week of basic training. She has settled in pretty well and we introduced her to a training collar today. She is still a little shy of me and has been giving me a little bit of "you're not my mom" attitude but I am confident that as we become better buddies she will be happier to sit for me. For now, lots of praise and patience.
Today we introduced Heel/Auto Sit, Down, Come and Implied Stay. She did well with Implied Stay and Sit. The others are all works in progress but she seemed to like following me for the Come command. She has a delightful little spirit. Tomorrow we are continuing to work on her commands and just spending some time getting to know each other. She has claimed the biggest and comfiest bed in the house for now and is having a good snooze.

Chakra is cleaning up very nicely. She has been able to stay on Placemat for about an hour with only an occaisional verbal reminder to stay put. Her obedience is still kind of puppyish but she knows her commands. Her people will need to keep up with it and ask a lot of her as she grows up and they will see her training smooth out and develop a lot more dignity.
Her overall behavior has been stellar lately. I am very happy with how she is doing. She is a good little working dog and I look forward to keeping up on her as she grows up.

We had a fun day with Chakra today. The majority of it was spent at the farm where we took several long walks working on recall and Heel work. A few shorter workouts spent trying to smooth out her Implied Stay with the Down. She is still toiling there and she really tries to ooze around onto your feet. But we made progress today.
She was very happy today and really enjoyed her freedom. Tomorrow is a busy day for me and so most of her workouts will be in the morning and she will get the afternoon off. This works out because I will be busy during the hottest part of the day. When we work in the morning and later in the evening we can work a little longer than when we work in full heat.
I hope to get her Implied Stay a little better with the Down tomorrow. Almost everything else is right where I want it.

Big day for Chakra. She went to the farm today and had her first off-leash work outs. She did pretty well though not having a tether on did bring on some anxiety. She clung to my leg a little in the Heel and her Implied Stay was a little wiggly as she tried to stay on my shoes. She was clearly nervous about getting the answer wrong but she never bolted or ran off. All of her instincts seemed to tell her to stay close which is good. She just got a little sloppy without the security of the leash. Practice will make a huge difference as we move forward. Giving her the freedom to mess up and to teach her that it isn't the end of the world if she does. That the right answers are there, she just needs to relax a little to remember what she is supposed to do.
She did seem to really enjoy being in the country. It was fun to watch her lope around the meadow without a leash and get some of the freedom she is used to at home.

Chakra had an interesting day today. Down made a lot of progress and Heel is getting very close to being off-leash. However, her Come command today was shakier than it has been. She tried EVERYTHING before finally coming when called. She tried hiding behind things, sitting by the door, barking at me, running very very fast, and flopping over and feigning deafness. finally after all of that she trotted over and sat in front of me like she was supposed to. I am confident that these theatrics were the result of her feeling safer and more at home lately and so she is testing things a little. We are going to start field trips to the farm this week and so I'm glad she is learning that these silly antics don't work and she still needs to do what she is told.
Tomorrow will be a low key day as it's Sunday and so we will relax a little and do Placemat and some easy workouts in the yard.

Chakra is making steady progress. She did really well yesterday and Down is getting much smoother. Her Heel is also improving radically. Today, unfortunately, I had lessons back to back so she got a lot more play time instead of work outs but sometimes a bit of a down day is good for them. Her morning workout was pretty stellar so I am not concerned about losing her afternoon workout and her evening house time went just fine.
Tomorrow I hope to really square Down away and get her Come command a bit more polished. For now she is trying to play with her kennelmate through the kennel wall and they seem to be having a great time. Hopefully they go to sleep soon so that she is rested for tomorrow!