Jet's my superhero!

    Jet had a fantastic outing today.  We've been working really hard on doing short successful outings the last couple of weeks along with LOTS of practice with me walking behind him, over him, etc.  He's making lots of improvements!  Today, we had a challenging outing a PetSmart.  Lots of other dogs, including Miss Java, another KSDS PIT!  Some of the dogs needed to work on their manners so we steered clear of them.  We don't need any more anxiety with other dogs.  I'm still pleased to say that no matter what he always works on a loose leash and obeys commands.   Then, we headed over to Beauty Brands.  He was fantastic in there, too.  The very narrow aisles didn't allow for much tail wagging, but he did good staying close to my side.

Here's a few pictures:

My little superhero!

Stopping at Churry's FAVORITE spot!  He enjoyed watching the birds as well.

Practicing some down stays

Just helpin' the mommy!

Jet's a big help in the kitchen!  Just an easy night at home practicing our kitchen manners...  He doesn't usually get to sit on a chair and watch, but I wanted to change things up a bit for him rather than him just snoozing away on the floor tonight.  He got bored pretty quickly!

All ready to help!

Jet's Debut at School

      This morning Jet went to school for the first time.  Not my school, though.  He went to High School with Tayler for her College Speech class!  She gave a speech about something that can change the world.  And she talked about KSDS and Jet.  (And a little about Churry, too!)  He did really, really well.  Especially considering he didn't get breakfast due to his surgery later in the morning.  He seemed like a natural sitting in class.  He stayed right where he was supposed to while waiting her turn to give her speech.  The only problem was about about 3 minutes into her speech started his whiny baby song.  Not too loud, though.  He was probably just asking them if anyone had a snack for him!   And then he got to leave.  Very proud of both of them!

Dogtoberfest

      With the success we had a the parade on Saturday, I decided to press my luck and head out to Lawrence's Dogtoberfest on Sunday.  That outing was definitely more stressful for him.  Some of the positives that came out of that was that he would still do commands when he was stressed.  He also really enjoyed the Humane Society mascot that was there.  He didn't seem to mind the crowds of people as much, it was the other dogs who would get up in his face.  He was pretty jumpy and clingy to me.  Therefore, we just stayed for about 15 minutes and then walked up Mass street, which he enjoyed a lot more.  He seems to share my opinion of little yippy dogs!  Sorry to those yippy dog lovers out there!  Here are some pictures of this little outing.

Parade

      Jet accompanied me to a local fair and parade on Saturday.  We only stayed long enough to watch the parade.  We did not choose to go through the carnival or exhibits.  I made this decision based on how timid he tends to be.  I want to carefully choose his outings and make them positive for him.  He did AMAZING at the parade.  I initially thought about this event because it's a really small town and the parade is pretty low key.  I didn't expect there to be anything super scary for him.  However, it ended up being one of the loudest parades I've ever been to.  The firetrucks started off by running their sirens and honking the entire parade route.  There were also 3 marching bands.  Those noisy little cars that beep and honk.  Motorcycles.  Flag teams (and on a very windy day that creates quite the racket).  Horses.   Horses. More horses.  A cow. And lots of people walking behind him.  In order to keep his anxiety under control, I made a plan before I got there.  I know that he gets anxious if people are crowding behind him.  I thought a parade would be okay because I could sit and he could sit right in front of me, therefore blocking the people behind him and he could watch the parade like that.  Also, I chose a seat that was about 10 feet back from the street and there was a large grassy lot behind us in the event we needed a stress break.  I purposefully did not go right down to the area that is super crowded with nowhere to retreat to if need be.  I really didn't care about seeing the parade, I just wanted him to have a good experience.  He ended up really enjoying the parade.  He ended up lying down and staying that way for the entire parade.  He looked up and watched some things, but didn't show any signs of anxiety at all.  I was so proud of him!

Working through fears

      Ever since Jet first set foot on my porch, he has had a piece of my heart.  He takes a bigger and bigger piece of it every single day.  I love this dog so much!  With that said, I have to try to keep in mind he is not mine and remember why I'm raising him.  And that means I have to stick with working him through his timidness and fears.  I think it's safe to say he HATES things behind him.  I've tried lots of things to work through this and will continue working, but I would love suggestions from other puppy raisers who read my blog, or anyone else for that matter.  Our latest "workout" was with toys.  I rubbed them up and down his back and tried walking behind him with them making noises in my hands.  He didn't like it much.  But, he did pose for a picture for about half a minute!

"I HATE this thing!  I'm uncomfortable!"

Here's his panicked look..."Oh, no, she's going to walk around me again!"

Then, we practiced some "leave it" and self-control with food.  He does really well, but didn't want the food near him.  I think he was afraid he might cheat!

These pictures took many, many tries.  He didn't want the food near him and he finally backed himself into a corner to hold his stay.  This was as close to an outline as I could get...not as good as our friend Kolby!

And finally, some beautiful fall pictures I was able to take.

Rainy Night Fun

    Sometimes rainy nights turn into the most fun evenings with the puppies!  Tonight was one such night.  I didn't get to take the dogs outside because it was downpouring, then I was making dinner, and now it's almost dark.  But, we had a good time playing inside.  We played Hide and Seek.  He was good at finding me, but has some work to do with waiting for me to call for him.  We practiced jumping on an elevated surface and doing a Sit and Down while up there.  Then, he practiced carrying things around for me.  He tends to carry them for a bit, and then just drop them whenever the urge strikes him rather than when I've asked.

"I'm up here.  Now what?"

Just keeping watch over the fall decor!

Just ignore all of the laundry drying!

Who can resist this face!

Enjoying the fall weather on Monday