April Visit -- Day 2

We worked hard to day on distinctions. Zoltie gets so excited to see people that he sometimes jumps up on them. We are still focusing a lot on teaching him the alternate behavior of sitting for greetings so lots and lots of praise and pets when he offers that behavior. If he forgets and jumps, just a quick turn away from him while I'm saying "ah!" I want to make sure he knows I don't care for that behavior but the sitting, I love the sitting.

Continuing with the "say please" exercises help a lot too. Want outside? Sit please. Want your food? Sit please. Want the water bowl filled? Sit please. Want your leash on? Sit please. Want attention from me? Sit please. With lots of reinforcement he'll soon learn that sitting is a great way to get what he wants.

Another distinction we are working on is the distinction of the threshold. I like to have a physical cue for the dog to know which line to stay behind when I am first teaching "wait." In this case, I can use the bottom of the dog gate so he has a clear idea of the boundaries. I teach him by using my body to block him from going through the threshold and rewarding him when he remains on the other side. He can sit, lay down, or walk around, he just can't cross the threshold. It's a little bit different from a "stay" where he should stay in his position (sit or down).

It's a good thing Zoltie doesn't mind sharing. As I'm typing this, I look at the dog bed behind my desk and he's laying on top of Rosario. Silly boy...certainly no distinction of personal space. Rosario seems quite content having a Zoltie blanket on her and Rhett was perfecting comfortable sharing the water bowl with him. Good boys!

We have definitely worn Zoltie out this weekend! So much to do here...

Looks like he's ready to go home and rest up from his mini-vacation.

April Visit -- Day 1

Oh my goodness, he's grown! It's always fun seeing puppies again to see how much they've grown and to see how well they are doing. Zoltie is definitely going to be bigger than expected.

It's clear he's kept up with his socialization because he had no trouble at all adjusting to the environment and new dogs.

Of course there were old friends in addition to the new friends. Rosario and Zoltie were very happy to see one another. But look how much bigger Zoltie is than Rosario!

And the new friends? Just his speed! Really nice, even playing. Lots of give and take. Little bit of humping but, you know, it's exciting to play all your friends. So just a quick redirection is all that is needed.

Certainly a great way to get some energy out so we can be a little more focused for our lessons.

Now that we are right in the middle of adolescence, we need all the help we can get. It's common to to get "the look" at this stage. You know the one, the one that says he's contemplating if he wants to comply with a request or not. So keeping his training fun and following through with him are going help quite a bit right now. The first time we did a session of "stay" today, he walked away from me like he had never heard that word before in his life. Quickly retrieving him and leading him back to the spot of the original request got his brain engaged again. After that he was happy to work on "stay" and we made much better progress with super short, fun sessions.

Enough with that "stay" stuff! We mixed it up throughout the day to help him stay engaged.

Don't tell Zoltie, but, as always, his play sessions are a time to learn too. He's still doing really well with his name recognition and coming when called. Good boy!

Now time to rest. The Three Musketeers have a lot on their agenda for tomorrow.