dog training

[Val]

The dog training went very well last night! We have some really neat
dogs in our community with some really neat families loving their
dogs. Nancy's parking lot and grass area worked out beautifully for
our purposes! What a gift to have such a resource! Thank you Nancy!

We worked on sitting, watching, and down last night. Everyone did very
well. Poppy was so cute with her labrador focus and puppy excuberence!
Lilly is so prim with her perfect little sits! Luk and Lea - they are
so laid back! We have some wonderful personalities in our group!

Our little rescue dogs did a wonderful job. Bob began to work with
Sadie who didn't take long to begin to work with him despite her fear
of men in general. Sadie and Gypsy learned to fear by spending time in
a puppy mill. With Bob's tender patience and Pat's love and kindness,
they will learn to start trusting people and conquering their fears.

Our other little foster/rescue Ross was so scared when he first
arrived and shaking so much. Nancy did a wonderful job of working with
him, calming him, and walking with him. When Ross and I returned home
I noticed yet another little positive change in his home bevavior. He
is really coming along. Please remember to keep your eyes open for a
forever home for Ross. He desperately needs a special person to bond
with for the rest of his life.

Recap....
We worked on sit, watch, and down last night closing with some leash
training.

This week's homework...
Continue to work on sit and watch, down and watch. Our goal is to
reach a point where the dogs will focus on their people and maintain a
sit and/or down for two seconds, five times in a row. Remember to mark
the proper behavior and reward within a maximum of TWO seconds. Watch
is a little tricky. If you do not pay the behavior immediately, you
may miss it all together and wind up paying your dog for looking away.
Do not use the words "SIT" or "DOWN". Remember, we are working on sit
and down without naming the behaviors yet. You may use the word
"watch". Last reminder, if your dog does not maintain a behavior back
up, do your "too bad" or uh, uhhh, and start again. Avoid the word
"no". No has a special use and should be used very rarely.

Walk everyday and greet as many people as you can! Remind your dog to
be in a polite sit to meet new people.

Nancy and I are both available to help anyone who is having
difficulty. Please don't hesitate to call us.
You all did a great job last night! Nancy and I had a lot of fun
working with you!

[Patty Dill]

Val, you and Nancy are just terrific for doing this   Thank you  so much  . We are a lucky community   Patty

[Nancy Simpson]

Thanks, Patty, Val, and the rest of the people and dogs who showed up yesterday evening

for the first dog training class -- helping to make our dogs better canine citizens of Four

Seasons at Westshore, among other things.  I completely enjoyed working with Ross; he is

a sweetie, although Val is completely correct that he has a way to go in becoming completely

socialized.  The rest of the dogs were more than willing to look people (their owners and others)

in the eyes; Ross still doesn't feel comfortable doing that.  

Assuming that it is o.k. with Val, I'll continue working with Ross during our weekly classes while

he remains with her as a foster dog.  

By the way, I took a look around the area which we used last night.  We did not even leave a 

trace of having been there.  Well, perhaps there will be a spurt of growth in the area of the lawn

where I inadvertently left the sprinkler nozzle in the on position.  

And, for those of you who were still here when Jackson suddenly appeared outside:  she is an

escape artist.  Turns out she was able to dig her way out under the portion of the backyard

gate which extends over into the yard, past the concrete.  When I put her in the expen inside

the house, she just made her way out of it, under the gate, and joined us.  But, as I'm sure you

noticed, all she wanted to do was to be where the action was -- so she didn't run off, but came

over directly to me.  We don't want our dogs to get out, but they will from time to time.  Being

pleased to see them when they show up unexpectedly is the positive approach; I'm certain that

Val would agree with me that you never, ever punish a dog for coming to you.

Please give almost all of the credit for these training classes to Val; she had the idea, has worked

on the sequencing of actions to be learned by the dogs, and has supplemented the proposed work

with the dogs with other good ideas for living with dogs.  I'm just acting as her helper.  The

experiences which Val and I have had with dogs and the dog world are quite varied, but we share

a common approach:  positive methods whenever possible.  Dogs know how to read humans;

sometimes humans need to learn how to read their dogs.

Looking forward to next Wednesday.

Nancy S.