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.
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.
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