Deck the Halls! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Jet got to help out with some Christmas decorating this evening.  He was very very interested, but also very good.  I remember Churry had to be put in her kennel during this activity at her first Christmas, so I was very proud of Jet this evening.  Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

We worked on some "closer" this evening.

and some "leave it"

Being silly with Kinsey

He finally came over and just rested his head on me.  He's so sweet and affectionate!

Finally!

These two and their true love for their dogs!

My greatest blessings in life right here!

PUPS Days

        I'm a little late in posting this, but it's better late than never, right?  Last weekend, Kinsey and I went to the KSDS training center for a day of training with all of the puppies.  I was really nervous about how Jet would do because he has shown some anxiety around crowds and other dogs.  Not so much I don't think he will overcome it, but enough that I thought it might be a miserable day for him.  I think it was a breakthrough day for him instead!  He seemed very relaxed!  Minimal whining from him!

So happy to see all of my work with people going behind him is paying off.  Absolutely no popping up and turning around or hugging my leg went on!

     We had many opportunities for hands on training with guidance from the trainers, which was very nice.  He did an excellent job during the sit and down training.  And I learned some tips for how to tweak his "down" position so he will lay with his hips close to me.  It's nice to learn how to improve on what we are doing.  We practiced walking through tight spaces with other dogs to ignore.

I love that he always works on a nice loose leash, even in distracting settings.

    We also practiced some Stays.

     Kinsey had the opportunity to work with one of the retired breeder dogs that was there.  It was a good character building experience for her since this particular dog hasn't had much formal training and doesn't like walking on a leash very well.  Kinsey did well maintaining her patience and determination!

     And we practiced appropriate entering and exiting doors.  I learned that I should have been using the command "follow" rather than "okay" to release him to follow me through the door.  But, that is corrected now.    And we also practiced what it might be like to have to recall our dog and put their leash on while wearing a sleep mask and holding a tennis ball in place between our shoulder blades and the chair.  Jet cooperated and immediately came when called and waited patiently while Kinsey put his leash on.    I love that he didn't make her reach or fuss with him!  She and I both performed this task without losing the tennis ball!

     My favorite part of the day was the obstacle course and the agility course.  Of course, Jet is too young to jump, but he did go up and over the A-Frame with no hesitation.  That's one major difference between him and Churry...Jet is willing to do absolutely whatever I ask him to.  He'd jump off a cliff if I asked him to.  Churry was much more defiant and willful.  She is a great dog, don't get me wrong, but she definitely made her own decisions!  They are both crazy smart, just different traits!

Patiently waiting our turn.

    And we finally got the picture I missed out on since Jet didn't come from KSDS, but rather came to me on a flight from Pennsylvania.  Every puppy needs their picture in front of the KSDS sign before they head out into the big world!  This was actually his first time at the training facility, while the other pups were all born there.  Hopefully, he's not lonely and left out of the dorm social life when he goes back since he's not part of a litter from there!

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!