Frank Mason got playful today! He was nervous about playing but he definitely invited me and my gentler dog to play and he had fun zooming around the living room. He had no snippy moments tho there was one when I felt him stiffen and I used a verbal warning for him to stay calm. I think his flushing this week has helped and I look forward to continuing to work with him after he goes home, and not just because I like him so much.
I will miss this goober. He has not been an easy pup to make comfortable here but he has proven to me once again what I often say, dogs that are anxious, nervous, or even aggressive do not want to be that way. Asking them to go back to what is more natural will always fee more comfortable than asking them to remain in an anxious state.
Frankie is not done. He will likely need some accommodations when he goes home and maybe for the foreseeable future but seeing his anxiety reduce definitely makes it worth it.

Otis is now more than halfway through his stay and he is right on target for his training. We are still cleaning up his Down command but he only requires a verbal correction most of the time now, if any. He still is a little bouncy at the beginning of walks (he is a lab after all) but he settles in quickly and is responsive to his pager collar.
He stayed in Place for an hour today only getting up when my dad came into the house from outside and the other dogs barked.
He had a fun and simple day without many corrections and I hope it is an example of how happily he will work at home. He is happy to be a human’s buddy and partner.

Frankie is trying so hard. He is still not fully comfortable with me but he didn’t snip at me at all today and I didn’t need my grumpy gloves to handle him. He mean mugged me every so often just so I would understand we aren’t besties yet but he took most handling with quiet aplomb.
I plan to continue his touch work with his owner and family after he goes home. Even if they need to get their own pair of grumpy gloves to use when he gets snippy so that’s they can show him that a bad attitude won’t get his way anymore.
His training is coming along and is actually very cute to watch. He is such a plucky little dude and he loves walking and being outside (a pup after my own heart). I have decided to hold off on training Down right now. The amount of physical contact that requires would be counter to his touch therapy and that is most important. He is rocking placemat though (this is no surprise. He is king of pillows.)
Even with his little attitude and back talk, or possibly even because of them, I find myself very fond of him. I hope we can continue to bond and work on his issues.

Otis is coming right along! He is no longer needing a leash for work outs. His Down command is improving though he still dislikes it. His Heelwork is either spectacular or if he is really energetic slightly sloppy with him trying to walk a little too far ahead. But he corrects back without needing his leash. His house manners were already pretty good but he has been charming today! Staying in place is hard when other dogs are around who might play but he is doing well.
Overall Otis hasn’t thrown many road blocks to his training. He is very go with the flow and fun to work with.

Frank Mason is a cute little Shih Tzu who wants so badly to do the right thing but he is such an anxious fellow he has developed some very bad habits. He has learned that if he tries to bite people leave him alone. People make him nervous and so this has snowballed into a behavior problem. But I hope that his week here will start him On his way of being more peaceful and comfortable with people.
He and I went for a nice walk today. Worked on Heel and Autosit and Come. He likes training and enjoyed being petted as praise. When we got to his kennel and he was in his bed he stared mean mugging me (curling his lip) and so I decided to put some gloves on. That way if he bit he wouldn’t get reinforced that biting works. I’m glad I did because he did muzzle bop my fingers and he was very confused I kept petting him like nothing happened. I hope that this handling of his anxiety, along with some other therapy, will help him move past his fear based biting.
Shih Tzu are one of my all time favorite breeds so I’m very excited to get to know this Cutie even if he does mean mug me a little. I won’t take it personally. Welcome Frank Mason!

Otis is a simply charming chocolate Lab boy who is here for a week of “finishing school”. His mom has worked very hard on his obedience in weekly lessons and now he is here for me to just fine tune his reliability and staying power as well as getting him fitted for his remote collar. He has worn one already but since he is here we are going to upgrade his hardware.
Today was all about review. It’s been a few weeks since we worked one on one so I spent the day going through all his commands. He is still working on learning Down but his other commands (heel, sit, stay, come, and place) are not new to him and so we breezed right through them.
Otis is a good worker. This should be a fun week with this fellow and we already have a comfortable rapport so we can jump right in without needing to get to know one another.