For now he is curled up in his bed asleep after picking at his dinner a little. I look forward to working with him tomorrow as we start him on basic obedience.
Oscar is a stoic sheltie gentleman who is here for a week of basic training. He is a cautious fellow who doesn’t fawn over strangers but we have formed a polite friendship throughout the day today. Tomorrow is when we will start our real work and I think our friendship will get stronger as we work together. He has been a very calm and polite guest so far today and getting along fine with the dogs and children here. The cat is indifferent.
For now he is curled up in his bed asleep after picking at his dinner a little. I look forward to working with him tomorrow as we start him on basic obedience.
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Kona is getting ready to wrap things up here with us. He knows his commands well and he is responsive to fair corrections. He still struggles with impulsivity but he craves discipline and responds well to being told no if he is given something else to do (instead of door crashing he needs to sit and wait or hold a Down Stay command, for example).
He is so big it is easy to remember that he is still a puppy who is learning how to live with us but if we keep in mind that everything we do with him, every single interaction, is teaching him how to live with us. We are always training him and so we must try to keep in mind what we are reinforcing and what we are discouraging. He is a bright dog and a good worker. I look forward to our nice long walk tomorrow and to work on Placemat with him tomorrow afternoon while I get some office work done. Overall he is shaping up just fine. Kona is doing SO well. His leash manners have done a complete 180. He still gets distracted when people go by but he isn’t barking or out of control. We have done some work on his door manners too and he is improving. He spent about and hour and a half on his Placemat today and his Down command is coming along. He is slow to lay down but he gets there.
The trick with Kona is keeping his mind on you. He is so impulsive that if he loses all focus it can be very difficult to get him back and then he can get into this frenzy of excitement. His remote has made a huge difference in our ability to keep him from being too impulsive and escalating to the point of being out of control. Tomorrow we are working more on all of his obedience and we are going to the farm for some exercise and fresh air. Kona is a big, beautiful, Buffalo of a lab puppy. He is a fun loving guy but a LOT of dog to handle. He is here for one week of obedience training and conditioning to a remote collar for behavior modification.
Today we jumped right in and I introduced him to a remote and started his obedience work with a pinch collar. He responded really well to the punch collar and was heeling nicely very fast. However, when a jogger or cyclist went by he got very vocal and distracted so we will continue to work around those discretion’s. He also started Down and Come today and.be did well. I expect him to pick all this up quickly then we just have to work on his response time. Even though he is a boisterous guy he has been polite in the house and is getting along fine with the dogs and kids. I look forward to continuing his training. Well, my sweet friend Olivia goes home tomorrow. She has made such good progress and if her people keep up her good work and have high expectations of her she should really blossom into a very steady adult dog. Her follow-up lessons will be important as we add to her skills.
Her off-leash Heel/Autosit, Down, Stay, Come and Placemat all have a solid foundation. She makes mistakes now and then, usually because she is trying to guess what you want instead of listening. She is a puppy still for sure. She tries hard and she knows her words so all her owners need to do is make her obedience her way of life. I have enjoyed training Olivia. She is not a defiant dog by any stretch of the imagination. She has food focus, especially for a young dog and her work ethic is awesome. I think she will please her owners very much and she will be reliable for them if they are clear about what they want from her. She really wants to get the answer right. We are in the final stages of foundation work for Olivia. She goes home in just a few days. She knows her commands and she enjoys praise but she is also still a little puppyish and impulsive. We have really been pushing the Stay command. She really wants to follow everywhere but she has gotten pretty good about parking it while I walk around the house or yard and even out of sight. On leash her obedience is stellar. Off leash she is really close but still needs practice. Tomorrow we are taking some video of her and I hope to take her down town to practice some more in a quite busy setting. She has to be on-leash down town. But it will still be good practice.
She is still accident free and I am very pleased with her. |
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