Well the boys are going home today and I am almost completely pleased with their progress. I wish Rocky's down-from-the-front was more spot on. He is so big it is easy to forget that he is only 7 months old and that his attention span is shorter than that of your average squirrel. Sometimes he is wonderful and other times he is so distracted that he is almost impossible to keep on task. The owners are prepared to work with him continuously as he grows up and becomes more mature. The commands are there, they will just need to stew in his brain before they are done.
Chewie is doing well. He is back to where he was a few years ago when he was first trained. I discovered the secret to speeding him up and making him less prone to fits of the sullens. You have to make a fool of yourself. You have to use that special voice that is reserved for baby bunnies and things that make you go "squee!" Basically, you have to keep him upbeat and goofy. I am certain this need will go away as the obedience becomes a way of life for him. He has gotten so accustomed to being the little prince of his palace that whenever he has to work he acts like, well, a spoiled little prince. But if you keep him laughing with you he has fun and soon he will be looking more forward to his lessons.
I will miss these guys. They have been tons of fun and full of some healthy frustration. I am glad I will get to continue working with them and watch Rocky grow up some more.

Woops! Haven't been around the computer for a while but we've had some extremely productive days. Rocky is doing really well on leash and with a hot collar on. I am recommending that the owners invest in a Dogtra IQ because he is more responsive on a hot collar and the pinch collar seems to stress him out a little more than the electronic collar. Another reason why I am suggesting investing in an electronic collar is that he has a pretty good recall on leash but off leash he still acts very much like a puppy and his recall is not reliable. A hot collar will keep him accountable until he matures a little bit.
Chewie is doing fine but he is still a little slow moving and pouty. He has everything down but still doesn't have a very good implied stay. That is really the last thing that needs work before he goes home.

Rain, rain, go away!
With the downpours happening all day it is little surprise that we got little done today. We had one long workout and then some baby ones in the training room but we didn't seem to make much progress. Both boys were amped up and argumentative. This manifested in Chewie with a great deal of pouting and big Bambi eyes at me ("why oh why must I lay down!?) while Rocky was just plain defiant and bored. Tomorrow we will have a good long exercise session before a serious workout.
Progress wise Rocky did some back peddling today on the Down. I know he knows it, he did it so well yesterday. I think his boredom and pent up energy made him just too playful and too wired to pay attention.
Chewie got a little more energy let out today because he is small enough to run zoomies in the house (in fact- that's what he is doing right now!).

Tomorrow will be better hopefully but if it is rainy again I may have to keep them for an extra day just to proof everything.

Yesterday Rocky and Chewie were dropped off for their 5 day on leash B&T. Rocky is a 10 month old German Shepherd male who is already larger than Kylie and no where near mature. His issues are abysmal leash manners, rude greeting,  and general lack of basic obedience. He also will bark like a fool in his crate (GSD, what a surprise). Chewie is a 3 year old Toy Poodle neutered male who is here for a refresher course. Chewies problems include bolting after anything small and fluffy (one of these bolting episodes ended with this 9lb dog running down 6th street! Eek!) and a tendency to be a teeny bit manipulative. He definitely knows how to "cute" his way out of trouble or inconvenience.
Yesterday we got everyone settled in and started the real work. In the first lesson we fixed Rocky's leash manners. With the help of an H.S. prong collar his manic pulling issue was addressed in under a minute and hopefully it will be well on its way to being solved soon. He will likely need the prong collar for the next few months as he enters a more argumentative stage of development. This is a STRONG dog but not too tough. I stepped on his toe by accident and he thought he was dying.
So he has heel/autosit down though it is not as neat as I'd like it to be. We still have 4 days. Yesterday we laid the groundwork for down and implied stay.
Today we worked more on heel/autosit and down and implied stay as well as introduced him to a "place mat" command. He spent 2 hours on his mat today but did need to be put back 4 times in the beginning.
The owner wants to start running with Rocky as soon as he (Rocky) is done growing and so we are going to do some low impact jogs with him just to make sure the heel/autosit translates to running as well. This is an athletic boy so the runs will suit him well.
Yesterday we simply ran Chewie through everything he was taught 2 years ago. He remembers heel/autosit and down but he only lays down grudgingly. He dramatically slinks down and then curls up and acts like Christmas was cancelled. I am certain that he is being manipulative and isn't actually upset. His implied stay is still intact but needs polishing. This afternoon we are going to re-learn "come" and his down-from-the-front.
I like both of these dogs very much and will soon be posting a picture of this odd couple. Proof that dogs from two different molds can make wonderful housemates (did I mention that these boys are

Wally certainly had more fun today than yesterday. We started the day with a 20 minute workout in the garden and then, after some process time had a play session in there. I have been trying my hardest to get this little guy to climb the fence in the garden and he is too clever to fall for my tricks. Fence climbing is one of the problem issues we've been trying to trouble shoot but he isn't cooperating.
After the fun in the garden, Claven and I had some chores to do around the property and Wally got to come along for some of them. He and I played in the horse paddock while Claven fixed part of the fence. Wally held a down stay (with a few admonishments from me for getting bored and wandering around) during some chopping of firewood. We also went on a long walk in the big pasture. This got his allergies going and he needed his eye drops this afternoon.
Tomorrow is picture day. We are going to get video of his new skills as well as take some glamor shots of him for his spot on the website.
As we start winding down his stay with us I am trying to nitpick his behavior to try to see if there are any problem areas that still need fine tuning. All in all, though, I am very happy with this board and train. He has been a very good student.

I am afraid today was a bit boring for our friend Wally. I spent much of the day in KC with family and so Wally spent a little bit longer in his crate than usual. But this morning he had a long play session with Kylie and a short workout. Wally is now enjoying some place mat time with his nylabone. It has been very chilly at night so Wally will be enjoying the next few nights inside (as opposed to in the training room which does not circulate heat very well). So far the space heater has sufficed but with the mercury dipping so low and with Wally being so small he will need to be in the house to make sure he doesn't get too chilly.
Wally has not been eating much of his breakfast lately! He always eats his dinner in no time but for some reason he hasn't been hungry in the morning. He is not acting distressed or ill in any way so I am not worried about it but I am monitoring it to make sure he isn't refusing too much food.
Tomorrow we are going to have a few mini workouts but I am also planning a nice trek through the property for all of the pups.  I am going to work on recall tomorrow because Wally has back-slid into jumping up when he reaches me again. I have a feeling that this is going to be an area that just needs constant upkeep. It is very important not to over-correct this guy during a recall. His feelings get hurt so easily. When he come springing up to me (and he does SPRINT!) I just have to remind him that he is supposed to sit and not launch himself into my legs. He usually just bounces up once and then sits- I am hoping to trim away that one excited jump without losing the reliability of his recall.

Well today marks the informal end to Wally's board and train. His training is considered complete even though he will be staying with me for another few days. His days will be changing slightly in that his workouts are going to be less structured and shorter and his exercise walks will be longer to compensate. He will be spending around the same amount of time in his crate and on his mat as he does now but other than short "upkeep" workouts much like the ones he will be receiving at home. He won't be getting formal training. He will be spending lots of time with me and with the other dogs getting practice at being all around well behaved.
Today we went into town to run some errands. He was kept in a heel/autosit command while we walked down 6th street to go to the bank. Halfway there we strolled through "the train park" for some radius training and he did very well. His only issue with the park was that he wanted to stay in the heel instead of really run around and play but he followed Claven a little bit and that gave me an excuse to call him back. He snapped to attention and sat down right in front of me. I am sure that once he gets used to being in town and having the freedom of enjoying a romp in the park without a physical leash holding him back. He has certainly gotten a hang of it out in the country.
The people at the bank were happy to meet him. He was polite and quiet indoors and did not jump up on anybody. He did make a mistake and got up out of the sit command but that was just to flirt with the reflection of himself in a mirror. I didn't bust him for it but I reminded him that he was supposed to be sitting and he sat back down (making sure he could still see himself in the mirror).
One thing that has come up is that his collar is giving him some discomfort. If I put it on tight enough that it does not shift when he shakes his head or scratches at it it seems to be uncomfortable for him. If I leave it loose enough that it can shift the contact points seem to cause some discomfort to his throat. This is not uncommon for little throats. I may recommend purchasing a 24 hour contact pad for his collar to make it more comfortable for him. I have one for Kylie's collar and will use it tomorrow to see if that solves the issue. 

Ooohhh Wally. He is doing such a great job on almost everything we are working on and then there are two things that he just isn't getting yet. What's interesting is that he is actually getting the hard stuff. It is the easy things like Placemat and the Implied Stay that he is still not 100% on. My digital camera kicked the bucket during the last Board and Train and so I have not been able to make a video of these problem areas to see what it is that I am doing that is confusing him (because 90% of the time, when a dog is confused it is because I am unconsciously doing something that he isn't understanding). I am having a helper video me during a training session tonight so I can watch it and pinpoint where his confusion comes from. I am determined to smooth over these problem areas.
Earlier today we went on a long walk in the big pasture. I usually save these longer walks for late in the Board and Train because the big pasture offers so many difficult distractions and today was no different. We did radius training all the way out to the pasture and he did very well. We then worked formally on heel/autosit, down, implied stay, and recall when we got to the pasture. He did extremely well. He stayed in the heel even when we startled two young deer who were bedding down not 10 yards ahead of us. While we were doing a recall a rabbit shot out right in front of him and he bolted after it but only got a few seconds off course when I paged him and he turned on a dime and sprinted to me and sat down.  I was very pleased that even though he did make a mistake I didn't even have to correct him to get him back, I just had to make his collar vibrate (which is what I've done in radius training when he gets too far from me) and he left the bunny and came back to me.
Tomorrow he gets his "final exam" and we are going to go into town to work in an urban area (Mass. street). We are going to have a physical leash on his collar just in case but I don't anticipate needing it. Tomorrow I am also going to remove the hot collar and do an entire workout without it. We have so far done fine when working without the collar but he IS slightly collarwise (he knows when he has his IQ on) and so his obedience is a little sloppy without his collar on. This is not surprising and usually isn't a big issue when the dog goes home so long as, at least at first, when he is going outside or somewhere where distractions are going to be around he has his collar on so he can be kept in line.

Today was fun. We started with some radius training along the driveway. He only needed 2 corrections in a half hour. His collar ran out of batteries and needed to charge for a few hours. We spent sometime in the house working on Place Mat and had good workouts with major distractions (a dog friendly barn cat decided to visit us and tried to say hello to Wally and Wally showed very good self restraint). I had to spend more time in town today than I anticipated but we should be able to get at least one more work out done while the daylight lasts.
We haven't had to use a physical leash for the past few days. He is actually defaulting to a heel position if he has any question in his mind about what he is supposed to do. Once today we were walking down the driveway and I had to holler at Kylie who was being naughty and Wally (who was trotting happily about 20 feet ahead of me) stopped and actually walked/hopped backwards until he was in the heel position. He got a hug for that because he wasn't even in a command at the time.
I am having so much fun with this little guy!