Hazel is a dog after my own heart. She is a sweet and soft natured, cow spotted, collie mix and she is such a joy to have around. While her behavior is good in general and she has a foundation of training she received through the prison dog program, her owner wants her to be advanced in her obedience because Hazel is going to be a therapy dog. Also Hazel has a bad habit of ignoring the Come command.
Our game plan for Hazel over the next 2 weeks will be to bring her obedience training up to a more advanced level and to get her to respond well to a remote training collar. The remote trainer will allow us to get her attention when she is out and off-leash without yelling and it will give her an incentive to hustle instead of drag her feet. I am also working on correcting the habit she has developed of running (or simply sauntering) past her handler and not stopping.
Today we started reviewing the very basic of basics. Walking on a leash, sitting when we stop, laying down on command with a hand signal, and coming when called. As I said, her foundation was there and it only took about half a block for her to pick up my hand signals and voice commands and figure out what I wanted. She is a very bright girl. One thing that is interesting about her is that, like many collies, she doesn't make a lot of eye contact when she works. She looks around at her surroundings. This may give a handler the idea that she isn't focussed on them when in fact, she is, she just isn't looking at your face. If you watch her ears, she usually has one on her person and is listening for a cue even if she is looking away.
I can tell that we are going to have an enjoyable couple of weeks with Hazel. Ace is in love with her and has been following her around the house. Tomorrow we are going to continue her obedience review and start Placemat as well.
Welcome Hazel!
Our game plan for Hazel over the next 2 weeks will be to bring her obedience training up to a more advanced level and to get her to respond well to a remote training collar. The remote trainer will allow us to get her attention when she is out and off-leash without yelling and it will give her an incentive to hustle instead of drag her feet. I am also working on correcting the habit she has developed of running (or simply sauntering) past her handler and not stopping.
Today we started reviewing the very basic of basics. Walking on a leash, sitting when we stop, laying down on command with a hand signal, and coming when called. As I said, her foundation was there and it only took about half a block for her to pick up my hand signals and voice commands and figure out what I wanted. She is a very bright girl. One thing that is interesting about her is that, like many collies, she doesn't make a lot of eye contact when she works. She looks around at her surroundings. This may give a handler the idea that she isn't focussed on them when in fact, she is, she just isn't looking at your face. If you watch her ears, she usually has one on her person and is listening for a cue even if she is looking away.
I can tell that we are going to have an enjoyable couple of weeks with Hazel. Ace is in love with her and has been following her around the house. Tomorrow we are going to continue her obedience review and start Placemat as well.
Welcome Hazel!
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