Well our friend Sarge goes home tomorrow. Today we really pushed Heel and he was doing much better about it at the end of the day. We also took a field trip to Massachusets street. It was a real challenge for him but he did well we did Heel/Autosit from South Park to 8th street and then down to New Hampshire and back to the park. The only thing he really struggled with was Down, which makes sense because he was nervous and a nervous dog does not want to put themselves in a vulnerable position, such as laying down. But he did it with a few corrections each time.

He only barked 3 times (at people slack-lining in the park, the first dog he saw, and a couple wrapped in a large blanket on a bench) but all 3 times it took just one correction to quiet him and get him to Heel nicely again.

I am very proud of his progress. I will show his people how to hold him accountable and how to correct him fairly. During the go-home lesson we will start on-leash because he is used to working at my side and the leash will help keep him from being confused about who he is working for.

Sarge is a good puppy with loads of potential. His work ethic and loyalty make him an excellent obedience dog.

So Sarge's day 8 was yesterday but just as I was trying to publish the post the internet crashed and I lost the post. This will be the abbreviated version.
Sarge is doing fine. Yesterday (the 24th) he got a bit big for his britches and decided he didn't need to Heel anymore and instead kept trying to bound around me. I had to bust him quite a few times for this and eventually he Heeled (while pouting) nicely.
I gave him a talk about how rude it was to develop a bad habit this close to going home but I have all day today (only 3 appointments!) to clean up his Heel. 
However, I will say that this morning we were playing fetch and my dad, not knowing we were in the yard, let his dogs out. My dad's dogs are grumpy and don't play well with puppies and so they aren't usually allowed out in the yard with boarders. Sarge, being a friendly guy, bounded towards them and all I had to do was say "No Sarge! Down!" and he stopped, sat down ("No, Down!") and then he went down and whimpered about not getting to play with the other dogs while they went to their yard. I was very pleased, I didn't even have to tap him with the collar.
Today we are just cleaning up all of his commands (especially that Heel!) and taking his go-home video. I am going to miss this guy! He has fit in so easily here and is so happy to do the work, even if he is a snot sometimes.

Not a whole lot to report today. Usually my Wednesdays are a bit dull but for some reason today was booked pretty solid. Couple that with Boston going home and that didn't leave a whole lot for Sarge to do. He did, however, get a ton of house time today and got a lot of practice on Placemat. It is his owner's ambition to take Sarge to work with him and that will mean a lot of time on a Placemat.
Today Sarge probably spent close to 4 hours on his mat (with potty breaks, of course) and only made one mistake this evening. All it took to reprimand him was a firm "NO!" and he scampered back to his mat.
On his exercise walk he kept trying to pick up walnuts. I think at one point he was carrying 3 walnuts in his mouth. I finally cottoned on and started tossing them to him for him to fetch. Teach me to forget his ball on our walk. 
Tomorrow it is back to business as usual for Sarge. I hope he enjoyed his day of rest because tomorrow we are going to push that obedience again.

Keeping things short tonight because our internet is crawling. Sarge is doing great. He is, for the most part, understanding his commands off-leash but will sometimes drift when in the Heel. He takes corrections well and is understanding what is asked of him but he does sometimes get overwhelmed and confused. When this happens I reattach the leash and guide him through the command.

Overall I am very pleased with how he is doing. Good boy, Sarge!

Keeping things short tonight because our internet is crawling. I hope these post. Boston is all ready to go home. She has a solid foundation in obedience and her owners will be tasked with making it a way of life for her. She still gets excited when playing but she is very easy to calm back down.

We took her go-home video today and will be editing it tomorrow. I will miss this sweet little girl!

Sarge has had a big couple of days! He was introduced to his shock collar yesterday and took to it nicely. We spent the better half of the day making sure he understood the Come command and that the corrections came from me and not from and invisible biting insect. To be honest it went better than I expected. I took it slowly because I was afraid it would startle him but he accepted it fairly easily. But he certainly responds to the stimulation and does not test things when he has his collar on.

Boston is doing so well. She now has an understanding of all of her commands and is in the "proofing" stage. This means we ask her to work in challenging places. We have worked very hard having her learn that she shouldn't jump up on new people. The biggest help for this habit will be sending her people home with the tools to continue insisting on polite behavior from her because she will likely test them as soon as she gets home. 
Right now she is having some practice being calm in her crate. We have been able to extend her time in there during the day from 15 minutes to a few hours. She usually ends up falling asleep but will bark at first, it is VITAL that she not be let out while she is barking because that will only make the habit worse. 
She is being more polite about food though I did have to get after her today for stealing a wrapper. This will be another thing that she will likely test her people with but I will send them home equipped. So long as the entire family commits to her new house rules things should go fine. It is important that family members who have been letting bad behavior slide in the past understand that it is FOR Boston that these new rules exist and it is not to make her unhappy but to keep her safe and to keep the human members of the family happy. A dog should be a joy for the entire family, after all.
Her obedience is really quite good. She is on a pinch collar and has become a little bit "collar wise" which means she knows when her pinch collar is on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it does mean that if a leash is attached to her flat collar she might try to pull, however, she is easy to correct after a while.
I tested her hand signals today by not using my voice to give her certain commands. After a little bit of confusion she started to understand the game and she watched me closely. She is capable of so much calmness and focus and then she can be such a ditz and a goofball, she really is everything that is good about a Lab wrapped up in a chocolate wrapper. I will be sad to see her go on Wednesday.

Sarge is really getting into the training now. He has an understanding of all of his commands and though he is still, at times, defiant, he does genuinely enjoy the work. He just also has a stubborn streak and is still very easily distracted. 
To combat his distractibility I have been keeping his workouts pretty fast paced. He loves the challenge of being asked to do commands on a dime instead of slowly working up to them. Heel-Down-Come-Heel-Sit-Down-Sit performed in rapid succession, for example, is exciting for him and it keeps him engaged. We will be slowing things down eventually to challenge his focusing skills but for now he is enjoying moving quickly.
Today we also learned Placemat and I was surprised by how well he did. I was expecting it to be a battle of wills to keep him on his mat with a lot of distractions around but he really did quite beautifully. He hung out on his mat even though there were 3 other dogs (one was Ace, his favorite playmate), people milling about, and food being prepared around him. He seemed to appreciate being part of the action even though he had to stay put. He even stayed on his mat when the front door was opened and shut many times to take food out to the grill. I was very impressed with the willpower he showed.
Tomorrow we plan to introduce the Dogtra IQ to him. This will be fun for him because, while his workouts will be on-leash for the time being, he will get some play time off leash as soon as he shows me he understands that the pager (vibration) on his neck means he needs to come back pronto. Typically dogs really enjoy the transition to the shock collar because it means so much more freedom. Sarge is doing very well and at such a young age I could not ask for much more.

Now that Boston has the basics pretty well we are starting to challenge her house manners. This includes Placemat with other dogs, food, and people who are coming and going from the room. She did very well today with all of those challenges. We kept her leash on but simply dropped it on the floor next to her. The room was lively and she did get up twice to try to join the fun but eventually she understood that she had to stay on her mat like the other dogs were doing. 
Tomorrow we are going to challenge her further. Boston will be joining us for a picnic in the living room. She won't get any of the food though we will be eating it right at her level. Then we are going to purposely leave a morsel on the conveniently chin level coffee table which she will be expected to respect.
We may be using a shock collar for this workout so as to enable us to correct her clearly and quickly should she go for the bait. Don't worry, praise will be lavish when she gets it right.
Her obedience is going fine. Down is still a bit slow but she knows what she is supposed to do. She still is quite a puppy and will need to do a bit of growing up and her people will also need to commit to making these new skills part of her lifestyle, and not just party tricks.
Boston reminds me more and more of my first retriever, Nikki. Nikki was a gentle natured Golden Retriever who was not stupid or defiant but in her youth she was convinced that everything was a game and everyone was a friend. She grew into a beautifully balanced and polite adult dog and this is what I predict for Boston. She certainly knows how cute she is and those big brown eyes certainly get utilized, much in the way Nikki would try to affectionately gaze her way out of trouble.    

Sarge is such a willing worker. I hope to be able to introduce the shock collar on Sunday if tomorrow goes well. I just want one more day to make sure he gets what he is supposed to do. He understands Come (though he is sloppy about it right now) and he likes Heel/Autosit. Down when I am right next to him is no problem but when I am away from him he gets confused. His Implied Stay will be the big test as to whether or not he is ready to be truly off leash. 
The shock collar is introduced carefully once the dog shows a good understanding of the english words we have taught him. He will still be on leash when it is first introduced but the leash correction will be replaced with a stimulation from the collar. Care will be taken that collar is at an appropriate level so as not to frighten, startle, or hurt the dog. Every dog is different when it comes to what is the best level for obedience. My Akita is usually around level 35 (out of 100). My Pit Bull sits at 20 in a normal-distraction setting and my Shepherd Mix is barely over 12 and usually just needs the vibration to understand he did something wrong. I can't even feel it at 12 so the Shepherd mix is pretty sensitive. 
I don't know what Sarge's level will be but I have a feeling it will be low at first then when he understands that it is coming from me it might go up a little bit. 
Tomorrow we are going to work more on Down and on his Implied Stay. We are also going to introduce Placemat in the evening. Tomorrow morning is going to be a bit slow for the boarders because Saturday is my busiest day for weekly lessons, but the afternoon should be pretty open to give them some exercise, play and practice. So far I have been impressed with Sarge's work ethic, after all he is only a puppy!