YAY KIRBY! We finally have him laying down on command and staying down for more than a few seconds. It is his usual habit to do a command for a split second and then hop back up. Yesterday he got no praise at all unless he held it for a certain period of time. During his last workout he stayed Down while I went and played with the kitty (something he loves helping me with) for a few minutes. Today we are going to practice me leaving the room and coming back. I am going to set up some laptops and Skype him to make sure he stays put.
Kirby just LOVES showing off and so he learns quickly and will happily go from bouncing around the house to a Sit without an argument.
He did, however, get a wild idea last night that instead of hopping onto his pillow like he has been doing, he would run away from me when I told him "Place." Luckily, he didn't run very far, just to the couch 3 feet away so I put his leash on and corrected him back to his pillow where he pouted for 4 minutes and fell asleep.
He sometimes needs a correction to sit when I stop during a Heel. If he sees something new or if a loud noise scares him he freezes in a standing position. Usually just a verbal "No" reminds him and he sits. He is what I call a "Nikki dog" because he reminds me of my old Golden, Nikki. He is not interested in being a pack leader. He doesn't want a fight. He HATES being in trouble. He just wants to be told he is good and he wants to play and sit in your lap (Nikki wanted to sit in laps to but she was a lot bigger than Kirby!). Sometimes he gets sullen or mischievous but he usually can be persuaded very easily to be good. Especially if you keep it fun for him. Harsh voices do nothing for his mood. He responds well to easy praise and happy encouragement to learn new things and then fair corrections once he knows something new but makes a mistake. He will get genuinely frightened if you are too rough with him and it also seems to hurt his little Kirby feelings.
He has been doing so well with his house training. He has had no accidents in his crate and other than yesterday he only had one poopy accident in the house. I was very surprised to catch him having an accident in the house yesterday because since he has been on his schedule he had been able to hold it for up to 3 hours out of his crate and over 8 hours in his crate. I do believe I discovered the culprit, however, in the case of Loki's stolen peanut butter Kong toy. I found it in the corner of the living room, half empty after play time. I believe Kirby might have gorged himself on a rich, peanut-buttery snack! I will be more careful to lock all crate doors during play time from now on.
Kirby just LOVES showing off and so he learns quickly and will happily go from bouncing around the house to a Sit without an argument.
He did, however, get a wild idea last night that instead of hopping onto his pillow like he has been doing, he would run away from me when I told him "Place." Luckily, he didn't run very far, just to the couch 3 feet away so I put his leash on and corrected him back to his pillow where he pouted for 4 minutes and fell asleep.
He sometimes needs a correction to sit when I stop during a Heel. If he sees something new or if a loud noise scares him he freezes in a standing position. Usually just a verbal "No" reminds him and he sits. He is what I call a "Nikki dog" because he reminds me of my old Golden, Nikki. He is not interested in being a pack leader. He doesn't want a fight. He HATES being in trouble. He just wants to be told he is good and he wants to play and sit in your lap (Nikki wanted to sit in laps to but she was a lot bigger than Kirby!). Sometimes he gets sullen or mischievous but he usually can be persuaded very easily to be good. Especially if you keep it fun for him. Harsh voices do nothing for his mood. He responds well to easy praise and happy encouragement to learn new things and then fair corrections once he knows something new but makes a mistake. He will get genuinely frightened if you are too rough with him and it also seems to hurt his little Kirby feelings.
He has been doing so well with his house training. He has had no accidents in his crate and other than yesterday he only had one poopy accident in the house. I was very surprised to catch him having an accident in the house yesterday because since he has been on his schedule he had been able to hold it for up to 3 hours out of his crate and over 8 hours in his crate. I do believe I discovered the culprit, however, in the case of Loki's stolen peanut butter Kong toy. I found it in the corner of the living room, half empty after play time. I believe Kirby might have gorged himself on a rich, peanut-buttery snack! I will be more careful to lock all crate doors during play time from now on.
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