Young Barrett goes home tomorrow. I have been very impressed with him this week. He has met all the challenges I have put to him. He has put his own spin on some of the commands but his only real sticky point is still a tendency to lay down instead of sit on command. His owners will need to watch this habit carefully to make sure it does not get worse.

Barrett is still very puppy and so he isn't always the most coordinated of animals but he is a good boy and a good worker. His tendency to try to hide from work seems less than it was earlier in his board and train. I don't think this will be a lasting habit.

I am excited to see how he does when he gets home and am looking forward to working with him and his sister, Kimber during their follow-ups. You're a good dog, Barrett.

Barrett had kind of an off day today. Plenty of his commands were fine but he also made many silly mistakes that are below the level of obedience he has been giving me lately. He would not come when called, instead he would try to hide behind chairs or other things not designed to hide a large shepherd until I corrected him and made him come back. He also would not hold a sit but would ooze to the ground and lay down when asked to Sit. Both of these behaviors are easily corrected but Barrett should know better. I am chalking it all up to a bit of over work and just a general crummy mood. Tomorrow he gets the morning to relax in his kennel while I am in church and the evening will be spent at the farm where he can enjoy a recharge. I am sure his obedience will improve after a little rest and a good romp around the countryside.

Even with his weirdness today much of his obedience was spot on and he is still doing a good job. We are all allowed to have a bad day and I am sure that is all this was. Barrett, I love you but you are a weirdo.

Young Barrett is halfway through his stay with us and he is still being a rock star. I was pretty busy today and so he got some free play time with Kimber. We did get to work on the Come command and he is still a bit sloppy with it. His Down is improving if you mean it when you tell him. If he thinks he can get away with it he will try to hide or squirm away or tease you into playing instead. Kimber was very cute and being a bit of a show off today as she followed us on our workout and did everything Barrett was asked to do, just 6 feet behind us.

Tomorrow I have a block of lessons in the middle of the day but I plan on taking him for a long walk along the river trails to get in some more practice with the Come command.

Barrett has made great progress and while he isn't ready to go home yet I imagine he will quickly rise to the challenges of the coming few days.

Barrett had such a good day today. First his big sister Kimber came to stay for a few days. Their reunion was very sweet. Kimber waisted no time in bossing Barrett around again though. He seems happier having Ms. Bossy Pants telling him what to do. Kimber and Kylie have fallen immediately back into their pattern of mutual respect and indifference. No playing but they don't mind sharing a water bowl. Ace desperately wants to be friends with her but she hates the cone he wears for his broken foot and so he has gotten the cold shoulder. Poor Ace.

On top of Kimber's return Barrett had his first remote-only work out today and he rocked it. His Heel was spectacular, Autosit was a bit silly but he got it every time (just not always facing the right way). Down is fine but he sometimes jumps the gun and lays down when I did not ask him to.

His sticky points were with bad breaks with the Come command. He would just streak right past me so we are going to work on cleaning that up. His Implied Stay also needs some fine tuning as he isn't 100% on it yet.

Tomorrow might be a Placemat day because of rain but he will get at least a nice walk to the river trails and back to keep up the good work with Heel.

I was proud of him today. I hope we keep the momentum up tomorrow. For now he is resting happily with Kimber in the next kennel over. They both like to howl at the passing trains.

Sweet Barrett had a good day today. Though he spent a little more time in his kennel than I like. We had an unexpected trip to the vet for our pit bull who is nursing a broken foot and needed a new splint. So much of the morning Barrett spent snoozing. But his afternoon workouts were promising.

His Heel is still a little sloppy but he is cottoning on to what I want. His Autosit is almost there. But his biggest success is Down. He is finally going down on command without a tantrum. He still sniffs at me and rolls his eyes in his own way but he does it. Only a few times did he blow me off completely and need a correction.

I hope to clean up his heel tomorrow and hopefully start using a long line by the end of the week. For now we are making up for lost house time this morning by watching some tv together (with Barrett trying hard to keep his Down/Stay going but he is pretty interested in the cat. Keep trying, Barrett!

Barrett the German Shepherd Dog arrived here yesterday for his advanced off-leash obedience training. I have trained dogs for his people before and I am looking forward to working with them again. Barrett is a bright boy who is already a quick study. We covered Heel/Autosit and Implied Stay today with a fair amount of success. Down is a bit of a struggle but I think that is mostly out of stubbornness and not out of a struggle to learn. After all, who am I? Why would he lie down for a stranger? As we bond I expect he will argue a bit less. That said, every time he was asked to he did, eventually, lay down.

He proved we were not to underestimate him last night when he not only figured out how to open his kennel door but he also took it upon himself to rearrange the training room a bit and get himself a snack. He was polite enough not to damage anything but just for his own safety we put him in Kennel 1 which requires thumbs to unlock. Like I said, bright boy.

Tomorrow we will be working more on all of his obedience. Welcome, Barrett!

Kato went home this morning. He is walking so much better on the leash, both in a Heel and in a leisure walk. I am very pleased with his progress.

His Placemat is pretty good. Once he is parked he stays put but he can be a bit of a pill getting him parked. A simple leash correction can park him but if he is allowed to he will hop off the mat just for the heck of it.

If his owners have high expectations of him he will do well. Kato is a little smarty pants and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. Noah will miss him for sure!

Sorry the blog is so late tonight. But Kato is doing great. We took a long walk today and he is Autositting about half the time. He is walking on a 100% loose leash now when distractions are low.

Tomorrow we are going to take him down town to work on loose leash walking with major distractions. I am sure he will rise to the challenge.

We started Placemat today and he took to it quickly. He especially liked when his toddler friend, Noah, joined him on the mat while I cooked dinner.

Unfortunately he has made it impossible to work on his chronic barking. His owner probably won't believe it but he has not made a peep since arriving here. I hope that he finds his voice before he goes home so that we can address it. If not I will help his mom troubleshoot when he goes home. What a stinker!

Kato the sheltie is here for a weekend of leash manners and Placemat. He is a sweet young dog who Noah, the ever giggling 1-year-old, is absolutely fascinated by and determined to be friends with. Kato has patiently put up with his affections.

Today we introduced Kato to his small pinch collar and we learned how to Heel and Autosit and also how to leisurely walk on a loose leash. He isn't perfect yet, of course, but he is getting it very well.

We have not started Place yet. I plan to do that tomorrow. He is still a little clingy and wants to sit under my chair so as soon as he is feeling a little more at ease we will ask him to sit in the greater room and hold his spot.

I like this dog. He is a fast learner but is definitely smart enough to be a little snot sometimes. But he is funny and a good worker. Welcome Kato!

Well we are winding down Charles's time here. He has done well here and I think he is ready for his owners to take over. They will need to give him guidance more than anything. If he thinks he can get away with ignoring commands he will go ahead and ignore them.

Today we worked on our off-leash Heel and his Autosit was a little sloppy again but by the end of the work out he had cleaned himself up. He has "bad breaks" sometimes and instead of stopping clean when I stop he sort of oozes a step or two. But this habit is easily managed and cleaned up. We also worked on his Down from the Front and at first I thought he had forgotten how to do it (since yesterday) before I realized that the stinker just didn't want to lay down on gravel. I made him do it on the rocks once since I had already given the command but after that I moved him to the grass and he did really well again. Someone is a bit of a princess.

Tomorrow we are taking his go-home video and his glamour shot for the yearbook. He will be thrilled to see his people on Friday!