Puppy Class

It's kind of hard to believe since I've had Jet for 6 months, but he went to his first puppy class yesterday.  I've always had a conflict for the monthly meetings before this.  He did pretty well.  He does not like to sit when he's working, so he was not really minding his sit command very well.  He did everything else okay, just didn't want to sit.  It's always nice to hear what we need to continue working on, and see how they do with lots of other dogs around.

This picture really shows how tall my boy is getting!

Practicing a stay

I'm discussing his refusal to sit with him.

"My mom says I am to ignore you!"

Showing off our nice loose leash SLOW heal.  He is the pokiest lab alive!

Annual Bowling Party

     My school has chosen to forego a Staff Christmas Party the last couple of years and has had a post-Christmas bowling party instead.  Last year this was an outing I didn't hesitate a second about taking Churry on.  She was so calm in crazy situations that I had no concerns.  And, I was right, she curled up and slept the entire night.


    Jet, on the other hand, reacts much differently to things.  I hesitated about taking him, but decided to give it a try.  I decided ahead of time I would not bowl and we would be able to leave if he was showing signs of stress...a.k.a, WHINING.    When we first walked in he was on high alert.  He jumped the first time he heard the pins being knocked down as we were walking to the far end of the bowling alley where our lanes were.  But, after that initial reaction, he did amazing!  He actually loved it!  I think it was his favorite place we have ever been.  There was no sleeping from this guy.  He snoozed for maybe 5 minutes, but the rest of the time he was either in a down position or standing and observing.  Jet has NEVER been a puller and he's also always been really good about leaving crumbs and things alone in public.  This party was no different.  He maintained a loose leash no matter how interesting things were or how badly he wanted to go see.  He had several staredowns with some popcorn, but never ate any.  He tolerated kids walking over the top of him, running by him, loud noises, etc.  And most importantly, he had NO WHINING AT ALL!  I think if there is a professional bowler on KSDS's waiting list, Jet is the guy for them.

I started off sitting here in this corner, but moved after I realized he wasn't planning on napping.  I took him to a place he could see the action better.

We practiced Down/Under while I sat here.  He did okay with that.  Many times he wanted to get out beside me so he could watch the action.  

 

Winter Night Training

      It has been really cold lately!  And, I am not excited about getting out in it.  So I have been dreaming up ways to keep Jet challenged at home and expanding on his skills.  He is getting the hang of carrying items for me if he can get them straight from my hand.  And, he likes to pick things up off of the floor, just not necessarily on command.  So, we have been focusing on "Get it", "Take it" and "Bring it" a lot the last few days.

     Bailey knows and loves these commands and was more than happy to interrupt assist and participate in the practice.  We practiced tonight with leftover paper plates.

Jet was happy to get it, but felt like taking it somewhere else at this moment.

   And since I haven't gone anywhere this week, we brought strange surfaces to our living room.  An old plastic tablecloth worked quite well.  I spread it out and we walked and practiced commands on it.  After that, I worked on some stays with me shaking and rubbing loud plastic bags all over him.

   What other ideas does everyone have?  Please feel free to comment!

Weight Check

This big guy weighed in at 60.4 pounds today.  He has already outgrown Bailey and is showing no signs of stopping!

Learning some new commands as well as tolerance and patience

     Jet went to work with me this morning for a couple of hours to get ready for next week.  While we were there we practiced lots of skills.  He walked back and forth with me down the hall carrying papers and a pencil.  It took a few times for him to keep it in his mouth, but once he figured out what I wanted he carried it all the way to my room on 3 different trips.  He also practiced jumping onto an elevated table, which is something we have not done yet.  It took no convincing at all.  Of course, he used a chair as a stepladder up, but that's okay.  I wouldn't have him jump onto the slick surface right away because it could scare him.  

He also practiced some Down/Under while I was working.  He settled in very nicely underneath my desk with no whining at all.  

    I love getting my daily "here up" hug from him when I get home from work.  For some reason it took him a while to understand this command.  He has always loved to sit and snuggle in my lap, but he didn't get the here up command right away.  He has it mastered now, though, and is getting better about only doing it when asked.

      When Jet was younger (even as recently as October/November) he has been very nervous around little dogs.  He doesn't like them up in his face, he's scared of their yippy barks, etc.  My regular readers know I have no love lost for little yappy dogs.   It seems to me that whenever we are in public and see one their owners think they can do whatever they want to my big dogs just because they are small.  I have no idea why they would ever think it's acceptable for them to lunge and jump on my dog or bite him in the face while he is walking on a leash with me, but it always seems to happen.  This does not result in a positive experience for my dogs.  So, I try to seek out positive experiences with them when I can and avoid the other ones at all costs.  Jet's future owner may have a small dog or know people who have small dogs so he needs to be tolerant of them.  I will do my best not to let my opinion of them affect him.

    This is Bentley, my sister's papillion puppy.  He's really young, but he won't get a whole lot bigger than this.  He's a positive experience for Jet.  Bentley visited us for a couple of days during Christmas.  Jet was absolutely fascinated by him.  He showed no fear of him.  He LOVED chasing him around, but not in a manner that was acceptable inside the house.  This resulted in both of them needing to be on a leash the entire visit.  :(  Neither were very happy about that, but Jet did settle and observe from a distance without too much pouting and whining.  

     Jet also practiced his good manners around my grandmother who was visiting.  We only caught him one time trying to sneak in a "here up" without being asked.  It was really important that he listened to me right away around her because she has really think skin and blood and bruises VERY easily.  One swipe of a puppy paw could have been very bad.  He also walked very politely around her in the house so I didn't have to worry about him knocking her over or tripping her.  (Although, I still watched VERY closely!)  

     Little Jet seems to be coming along!  He still has his moments of whining frequently, but they are getting better.  He is getting more and more confident every day!  And he masters skills very easily!  He is willing to try anything I ask him to, which is very important.  I cannot fathom how I got so attached to this dog, but I have.  He's going to be a big old heartbreaker!

Happy New Year!

      I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and will enjoy the New Year holiday.  I have been missing in action on my blog the past few weeks.  It's not because we haven't been busy learning and training, but because I got a new phone.  I joined the world of smart phones.  I love it, but it has kept me away from my computer and I'm not going to type this blog on my phone!

    Here is what Jet has been up to this month.

     Every year I try to do a volunteer activity with my family.  It's really important to me that my kids know the importance of giving back.  This year we did an activity we have enjoyed in the past.  We rang bells for the Salvation Army.  Jet was NOT IMPRESSED!  At first I thought he didn't like the cold, even though I had taken a blanket for him to sit on.  (It was only 7 degrees the day I happened to sign up for).  But, I really think he didn't like the bells ringing.  I know dogs can be really sensitive to high pitched sounds.  Anyway, he whined almost the whole time and would not settle.  So, after about 45 minutes, my husband took him home.  I want his outings to be successful, not miserable for him.  But, here is a picture when we first got there and we were not frozen yet.

     Jet also enjoyed a trip to his favorite little friend's house.  She has loved Jet almost as much as I have since the day I got him and she frequently asks to come see him.  She's been known to throw fits if she knows that she's going to miss out on seeing him, such as when her older siblings were going to come to our house while she went to the ER because she was so sick.  So as soon as she felt well enough I took him over for a visit.  He does so well with her!

Jet also LOVED his first snow!  

  And he practiced some "office" etiquette in our home office.  He wasn't impressed with that, either, and he let me know by whining most of the time!  Pat runs his work from home now so he gets to hang out in the office with him every day.  I made him stay in a more restricted Down/Under while I was working on the bookkeeping yesterday.  It's safe to say he enjoys the free reign that Pat allows him.  He's not misbehaving by any means, but he gets to walk around where he wants to when Pat is there. I mentioned to Pat that he needs to stop spoiling him and make him practice this behavior as well, because someday he might have to have this restriction in a work environment.  Of course, later on that day, I had let him off his leash to have some free time.  When Pat came down and joined me, Jet went right under the desk where I had been requiring him to stay and laid down and went to sleep with no complaining at all.   Pat says Jet would just prefer working with him over me.  

    I didn't take Jet out too much during the crazy Holiday shopping season.  He still has some anxiety in crowds.  So, we spent a lot of time this month working on commands.  He finally "got" the Go Up command.  I had to use a lower counter to teach him than I used with Churry.  Something finally just clicked with him one day and he will do it for me anywhere now.  

     I took him shopping with me today.  I don't know that I would classify it as "shopping", it was more running lots of short errands.  He did very well.  There was the perfect amount of people for him.   As a reward, I got him a new rope.  He LOVES ropes and LOVES to tug on them, although he has not connected the command to the action quite yet.  Today, he showed some signs of hope!  He was very patient and didn't moan and groan at me for taking too long.   He visited PetCo and PetSmart, Office Depot, Office Max, Sonic and Best Buy.

    Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

A Modeling Job?

    Jet decided yesterday that he should practice on his modeling career just in case being an assistance dog doesn't work out for him.  He knows that living in this house will require lots of posing for pictures, so he better learn to do it well!

I can look serious...

Or like I'm smelling something...

Or at other dogs walking along the street while I'm having to sit here...

or look annoyed at my puppy raiser...

maybe just flat out ignore her noisemaking...

Now on to a new spot while the other dog is having fun...

still ignoring...

she just doesn't get it...

Are you happy with this?