It's hard to believe it's our last day here with Zoltie. The time went by so fast. He's such a sweet guy and he's really going to be missed here. We're just getting some last minute things done today.
I always stress to new puppy owners how important it is to work on attention with their dogs. It's such an easy thing to do and sometimes doesn't seem that important but no other commands or skills are going to matter if your dog blows you off when there are other things going on around him. Zoltie is doing really well responding to his name and paying attention when there are distractions all around him. With more practice he will be an ace at this!
He's still a little shy which we'll need to work on. Kravitz, who is a tall, gangly and not-so-graceful dog knocked over a chair when they were playing today. This startled Zoltie and he didn't want to go anywhere near it again. It's important to make sure people don't make a big deal out of it when something like this happens so as not to add to his worry. I just said, "Oh that silly Kravitz" in a light hearted tone and then I went and stood by the chair and touched the chair. I didn't push him into coming towards me or the chair. I just let him approach on his own terms.
Sure enough he eventually wanted to check it out. I just gave him a little bit of praise when he did this and pretty soon it was like nothing had happened.
That darn Kravitz...he's always causing trouble.
Zoltie will sometimes bark to get what he wants (demand barking). It's just not a very pleasant way to ask for things. When he does this, I turn my back on him and say "ah." I refrain from giving him what he wants at this point because I don't want him to think he can just bark to get his way.
But a sit, on the other hand, will do all sorts of things. I can reward him for this behavior by opening the gate, giving him his food, giving him a fresh bowl of water, taking him for a walk, giving him attention, etc. Anything he wants he can ask for by sitting and you can reward that sit with things in his environment (the resource that he wants).
Zoltie will definitely be missed when he goes home tomorrow but he'll be happy to see his family! He will be going home with a lot of socialization under his belt. That's hard work for a guy, I'm sure he will sleep well.
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