Homeward Bound Puppy

    Last Wednesday was graduation. Which is kind of nice, but I’m a bit upset as I could swear it was for ten weeks, and we never made up the one week we missed and only got socialization time a couple times. Not exactly what I had paid for.  He did get better a bit, but I am looking forward to finding a different teacher.

Tim stopped in at the pet store near us to talk to the ladies about training only to be told they don’t clicker train either. Which is weird because I found them on a clicker trainer listing.  Its all I can do to not cry and track down Brenda using any method possible. I just want a clicker trainer that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Its not impossible is it?

The ladies did say they have a brood bitch that can help Boris with his manners. He has just awful manners with other dogs and because we didn’t get many play sessions he didn’t get far with that. So hopefully we’ll be able to set up a session or two and work through that so we can take him to daycare for more socialization.

We did get a keen goodie bag from the daycare owner for graduating. It had a rawhide chew, a bagel, a can of wet food and a trial size of Inova dry.  We traded our rawhide chew for another bagel with the owner of the German shepherd. And we got a certificate.

So after all the fuss ad hustle and bustle of the holidays its back to work for the puppy. Class is back in session tonight and I can’t wait. He needs some work and I haven’t been able to work with him as much as I’d like. We have worked on manners ALOT. Not jumping on people, using the doorbell to potty, laying down in the crate until told its ok to come out. He’s doing ok on stuff, but not stellar. Two weeks between classes kind of stinks, but these things happen in the winter, eh.

He’s been an angel about walking on the Gentle Leader which is a break through. He’s not as good for Tim, but what else is new? He’s almost got the idea of using the doorbell to go out. Sometimes he goes flying t the door, bashes it with his nose and plops down, other times he runs in circles and tinkles the whole time. but at least we’re getting closer to the right idea.we have also been letting him out on the tie-out to potty.Which normally doesn’t work since he gets distracted by leaves, snow, and noises instead. He can be out for 20mins and come back in and tinkle on the doormat because he forgot to go.

So we went to our second attempt at training class last Wednesday. The business its held at is fabulous. They do doggy daycare, grooming, and have a small store for supplies/food/etc. The owner is amazing. Nice, friendly, and not mean looking. The trainer is cute as a button. She came over to help Tim with getting Boris to sit and he started submissively peeing…her respons: “oh look he’s peeing”. He did ok, although he was very excited and definitely had issues with her approaching him. My guess is he was worried about her taking his leash and yanking him around. Might have to let the girls at Petco help out with convincing him not every stranger is going to want to yank you around and needs to be peed at. Everyone in the class uses Gentle Leaders, which are included in the class price if you don’t have one. Tim is very excited. Its also an actual puppy kindergarten class so we do 30min of training and then 15min of playtime. Boris was rather timid last week, but we’re hoping he feels more safe this week. The neatest thing they have in the store is the Senior Kong. And after I finally gave up and ordered online too.

    Well our first day of school was last night. We were very excited as we searched high and low for a class, let alone one that wasn’t taught using traditional methods. We were a bit concerned that noone called us until Monday and the class started Wednesday, especially when our deposit check was cashed only days after we dropped it off weeks ago. Well it seems we were duped.

Not only is the class not taught using clicker training, the instructor believe in using prong collars. She also failed to note the 86lb Boxer had on a Gentle Leader that was too small for him, and boxers normally aren’t good in Gentle Leaders because of their facial structure. She asked to use Bo to demonstrate how to teach your dog to walk on a loose leash and proceeded to yank, I mean “milk” the leash in the opposite direction causing him to cough up kibble and cower. And thats after she told us he was clearly submissive. I don’t see how scaring the crap out of a submissive dog is going to do us any good. We were only one of two puppies in the class as it was a Basic Manners class not the puppy class since she felt he had too much knowledge for Puppy One but no social interaction for Puppy Two. She was also supposed to “evaluate” him for placement but since the classes run back to back I didn’t get a chance to chat about it, in fact we could barely get out the door to the stairway leading out of the basement room and to freedom. She sent us home with homework and a booklet that was copied from paperwork that was copyrighted in 1977. So clearly its not about the kind of training we are looking for, let alone updated in the past decade.
So we came home and called the other trainer we found literally a couple days after we dropped off our deposit. Their classes started yesterday too so I knew we could catch someone “in” before they went home. Tim had a nice chat with the site owner who explained she has a trainer come in wednesdays for training, as they are primarily a doggy daycare facility. A Gentle Leader is included in your class price (which is how Brenda used to run hers) and lasts 8 weeks not just 4. We will be going out there next week to participate in a class, and if we like it we will go with them for the remaining six weeks.

If not we have one last option the next weekend. The place we originally wanted to use starts its puppy class the 8th and although he’s too old by their parameters they promised they would have one the month before when he would be young enough so I think we can convince them to let us in anyway. It runs Saturday mornings which would be better than weeknights as well, but the important thing is we get out of the first one. I spent the morning making it up to Bo for letting the mean lady yank on him.

We now have “sit” and “down” completely down. They are sometimes subject to stubborn fits and testing how far down we really want to be. Boris has about 5 levels of “down” from a slight crouch to a full down. Further proof he’s gonna be very muscular. I’ve never seen a dog hold themself a fraction of an inch above the floor for as long as he does. We also know “on” very well, as I swear he’s part acrobatic monkey. He has a plain up to get on rubbermaid totes or the step stool and a flying leap to reach laps and on the couch (where he doesn’t belong). The flying leap on is matched by an equally large flying leap off and can reach to almost a yard from the couch to the takeoff/landing point. “Off” is doing marginally well. It works well if just his feet are on the couch or your leg, but less well if he’s already on the couch. He would much rather stand there and stare at you until you get the squirt bottle. He also is doing well with targeting something using “touch” as a command.  We’re working on duration as he slaps his nose on and off so quick I worry he will get whiplash.  I’ve been using a random round object and have tried to think of a good stand in for a target stick. Yesterday we also learned “head down” which he took to pretty quickly. Not too bad of a start before puppy kindergarten which starts in November sometime (we hope).

So today we focused on learning “no” and what the squirt bottle and water means.  I decided since I fell down the stairs this morning today would be a good day to learn what mommy means when she says “no” because we’re eating her shoes and socks for the fifth time in en minutes.  This took about 30 minutes of me watching Borris try to go over the Rubbermaid barrier and giving a squirt while saying “no” firmly.  After Borris was thoroughly wet he decided maybe a nap would be better, not to mention safer.  When he got up a few hours later he decided to only sit next to the barrier if I crossed it, instead of jumping up with his front feet.  I think we might be getting somewhere.  I don’t like using positive punishment often, but its the one thing I taught my first dog that kept me from going nuts.  I’ve never raised a hand to him, but he looks like he’s been kicked in the teeth after a squirt of water.  And I definitely don’t add anything to the water.  To me thats just mean and counter productive.  The beauty of a spray bottle of water is you can spray it practically anywhere on the dog you can reach without worrying.  And if its spraying in his ears you might need to stop and wonder whats going on, lol

.