Well the Shepherd Kids go home tomorrow. They have made amazing strides towards their new obedient life style. They are still very much Kimber and Dexter. They have their quirks and shepherd silyness but they are also responsive and alert to commands. Their foundation is solid and now it is time for them to go home and for her owners to start applying the new commands to their dog's everyday life.
Kimber still tries to wiggle and hide between her handler's feet but if this behavior is ignored she will continue to learn that it gets her nowhere. But she is sharp to commands and wants nothing more than to please her handler. All of her silly quirks come from wanting affection. She is hardly ever just plain defiant.
Dexter is such a silly boy. He is a bit more hard headed than Kimber and sometimes does try to "take a correction" which means he sometimes will see just how much he can get away with before he gets into trouble but he is also a people pleaser and so he never totally blows the handler off. Sometimes he might go down instead of sit, or sometimes he will try to army crawl over to the handler when in a Stay. He is convinced he can tease people into playing with him instead of being so serious and working so hard. But his obedience is strong if the handler is willing to be even a little bit strict with him.
The command that I think will be the most difficult when they get home is Placemat. They have stayed on Place for around 2 hours at a time here but this is something they have never been asked to do at home. The first time it is worked on I will recommend the dogs be wearing a leash so that they are easily guided back onto their rugs if they get up. They have no reason to think that the rules here will transfer to their home where there were not rules before (or at least not the same rules). So it will take a little bit of patience and vigilance on the behalf of their people to make sure that the Place command and all other commands are followed.
I tell all my Board and Train parents that they need to have high expectations of their dogs. This is especially true for a high caliber breed like the German Shepherd. These guys can do it. Even when Kimber is flopped over on her back being oh-so-cute or when Dexter is being just the most cuddly bear ever who couldn't POSSIBLY stay on Place another second, they can do it. Their obedience will become second nature for them (in many ways it is already on the way to becoming so) the more their owners expect of them. I am excited to see how well they do between tomorrow's pick up and their first followup lesson. I will miss these characters!
Kimber still tries to wiggle and hide between her handler's feet but if this behavior is ignored she will continue to learn that it gets her nowhere. But she is sharp to commands and wants nothing more than to please her handler. All of her silly quirks come from wanting affection. She is hardly ever just plain defiant.
Dexter is such a silly boy. He is a bit more hard headed than Kimber and sometimes does try to "take a correction" which means he sometimes will see just how much he can get away with before he gets into trouble but he is also a people pleaser and so he never totally blows the handler off. Sometimes he might go down instead of sit, or sometimes he will try to army crawl over to the handler when in a Stay. He is convinced he can tease people into playing with him instead of being so serious and working so hard. But his obedience is strong if the handler is willing to be even a little bit strict with him.
The command that I think will be the most difficult when they get home is Placemat. They have stayed on Place for around 2 hours at a time here but this is something they have never been asked to do at home. The first time it is worked on I will recommend the dogs be wearing a leash so that they are easily guided back onto their rugs if they get up. They have no reason to think that the rules here will transfer to their home where there were not rules before (or at least not the same rules). So it will take a little bit of patience and vigilance on the behalf of their people to make sure that the Place command and all other commands are followed.
I tell all my Board and Train parents that they need to have high expectations of their dogs. This is especially true for a high caliber breed like the German Shepherd. These guys can do it. Even when Kimber is flopped over on her back being oh-so-cute or when Dexter is being just the most cuddly bear ever who couldn't POSSIBLY stay on Place another second, they can do it. Their obedience will become second nature for them (in many ways it is already on the way to becoming so) the more their owners expect of them. I am excited to see how well they do between tomorrow's pick up and their first followup lesson. I will miss these characters!
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