Max and I didn't do a whole lot on Sunday other than hang out (it was Sunday, after all) but that seemed to suit him. After all the hard work he has put in a little down time was just what the doctor ordered. Today we went out to the farm and he did very well. First I just let him have some off-leash time. He romped around the house while I called him back now and then (you saw some of this in the video I posted). Later in the day I actually ran him through his paces and he was very responsive. His big problem area was the Implied Stay. He still really wants to be on my feet and so we need to work on parking him and having him stay where we asked him to instead of wiggle-worming around to where he would rather be. But he had a fantastic time today and I think he really enjoyed his first day as a farm dog. Good job, Max!

Max had such a good day today. He had his first off-leash workout in the fenced yard and he did extremely well. He got a little distracted a couple times but it didn't take much to get his focus back. He Heeled well and sat when I stopped. His Come command was humerously enthusiastic (VERY fast) but complete nonetheless. Even his Down command went pretty smoothly and with no arguing. His only mistake with Down was that he wanted to lay down on my shoe instead of in the grass and so he would army crawl over to me instead of parking it where I told him to Down. However with a little encouragement he did better by the end of the work outs.
Max really is a good little worker if you make him rise to your expectations. He is independent enough to give you that spunky corgi attitude but if you are able to embrace that with a sense of humor you will see that he takes correction well and enjoys praise. We had fun today! Tomorrow he is getting a little break in the afternoon while I have a go-home lesson with another boarder but in the morning he is getting another workout in the fenced yard. I am proud of this little wiggle butt.

My little super star rocked today. She had an off-leash walk around the neighborhood and only needed verbal reminders to stay at my left side occasionally. Her automatic sit was almost perfect and her down commands went smoothly. Her Implied Stay was very wiggly but she got it eventually.
She has also been showing self-restraint about jumping up. While all this sounds like fantastic news what I want her owners to take away from this is that they have my permission to have extremely high expectations of her. If she is not behaving perfectly at home they can get after her because she is spending this weekend showing me that she remembers her training and can absolutely rise to meet high expectations. My homework for her people is going to be to act like drill Sargents when they get her home and really drive home what they expect of her. This won't make her unhappy in fact we may see a calmer Mattie if she is getting more direction about what she is supposed to do at home.
Tomorrow we are heading to the farm for a good run around and a work out around some different distractions.

She's baaaack! My sweet friend Mattie is back for a weekend refresher. Today we bit the basics and I ran her through her commands a few times and did some off-leash recall work in the yard. Tomorrow I hope to get her out to the farm to really run around and do some more off-leash work. 
She is getting along famously with Max, my other boarder and they tuckered each other out pretty well today.
I am so happy to have this girl back and I am pleased that she retained her training as well as she has. She may be a bit of a pest sometimes (especially about that jumping up habit) but she seems to have an elephants memory. This will be a fun weekend.

Boy oh boy, Max may be a little guy but he has a big dog's hard head. He is a very self-assured little fellow and he decided to, for whatever reason, really dig his heels in about Down. He did NOT want to do it. He had a break through today though and is not laying down (albeit he's a bit pouty about it) on command fairly well. It took a lot of teaching and correcting and belly rubs to get him to see my side of things. Patience won out on this one for sure. What's funny is that while he was battling me on Down he was being a little prince about just about everything else we're working on. His heel work is getting better every workout and his Implied Stay is improving. I hope to get the leash off by Monday and really let him enjoy his collar. 
He made another friend today. An advanced client named Matilda is here for the weekend and they have been zooming around the house and yard all day. Tomorrow we are going to use Matilda as a distraction for Max while we start working Down/Stay. It should be good fun!

Max did fine today. We pushed his obedience some more and worked on Down and Implied Stay. It was a little damp this morning and he really didn't want to lay down in the wet so I made him do it a couple times then we went inside and worked in there instead. He is retaining his training well but gets argumentative sometimes if he is feeling sassy.
We did not start his remote today because it was delivered so late in the day that I did not get it charged on time but we will definitely start it tomorrow. I think that will be a big game changer for him as it will give him a lot more freedom while at the same time giving his handler a lot more control. For now he is teaching us the song of his people by howling in his crate like a stubby ltittle wolf. He is a funny guy that's for sure.

Max is doing great. My web host was doing maintenance last night so I didn't get this update posted. Max is autositting quite well and keeping his leash loose in low distraction environments. He is very vocal about corrections which is not out of character for this breed but it is important to remember that they may be a bit over dramatic and that unless you are trying to inflict pain you likely aren't. This is one reason I really like electronic collars because you can feel exactly what the correction the dog is receiving feels like.
Yesterday we did a lot. We worked very hard on Heel/Autosit and Down. His Down command is a bit doofy because he ends up on his back waggling his stubby feet in the air expecting belly rubs, but he is getting the idea. Implied Stay is still needing practice because he has zero self restraint if something looks like a potential toy but he is really doing great for day two.
Today we are working on more of the same but hopefully introducing his remote collar later in the day.

Max is a handsome and ornery male Corgi who is staying for two weeks of advanced obedience training and a little boost to his house breaking. Max spent most of today settling in and giving Ace a run for his money at Tag. We worked on his leash manners and started Implied Stay but his obedience training will ramp up tomorrow. He is a bright boy with good focus and, much like a child who grasps academics easily, we are not battling an inability to learn we are battling boredom and an enterprising imagination.
I look forward to working with this goofball. Corgis are usually quite rewarding to train because they enjoy work and like working with people. Stay tuned for more on this fun guy.

My friend Birdie is doing great. She is still shy but she is working well with me. She knows her commands but it is important that you have high expectations of her and that you follow through. If you act like you are confident in the commands you give her she will have confidence in you.
She spent two hours on her Placemat today while I bustled around and while the other dogs milled around her (indeed Ace actually hopped over her once and she stayed on her mat). She needed one reminder at the very beginning of the exercise but that stemmed mostly from her own confusion about the rules.
I was going to take her on a walk on Mass today and we did go for a short one but I ended it early because I did not realize that the Lawrence Zombie Walk was going on and I thought that while she was handling walking around normal people fairly well, expecting her to walk in a Heel while zombie clowns were shuffling around her might be asking a lot. Even though we cut the walk short she did well for the three blocks we did walk. She skirted around a few people who scared her but she Sat whenever I stopped and did not panic or jump up. I was proud of her.
Tomorrow we will take her go-home video and her headshot for the year book. I am proud of this little girl and I know that if her owners are patient with her (and they already have proved that they are) she will continue to blossom after she goes home.

Little Miss Birdie had a decent day today. We started Down, Implied Stay, and Come. She does fine with Come except for sometimes (very gently) jumping up when she gets to me. This is easy to fix as it isn't due to frustration or excitement, she simply wants to be affirmed that she is getting the answer right.
Down is a little tricky still. She gets nervous about it and so instead of laying down she sort of folds up like a frog and then feigns deafness. But we will continue working on this tomorrow and I am sure she will get more confident as we practice.
Birdie is a bright girl who wants to get the answer right, but it is so easy to lose her focus of something startles her. But the more positive experiences we can give her the more confident she will get.