Staley's Graduation
Well, Staley finished puppy school and I'm so proud of him! He got a certificate with both our names on it and a bone. Afterward, we went to the pet store and I bought him his promised squeaky plush duck.
He passed, but it definitely was not his best night.
His problem is that he becomes obsessed with other dogs, and he'll become fixated and pissy unless he's aloud to sniff and attack them. The best way I found to keep this from happening is to engage him and go through the commands. But when you're in a room filled with puppies, it's just not going to work.
The first half hour was fine. He sat with me and he came back when I called him.
Now there's one particular dog in the class with whom Staley is absolutely obsessed. He's a Fox Terrier Wire haired and Staley is in love. Or at least majorly in lust with. I have asked the owner repeatedly to try and keep his dog away from mine because it distracts him, but the man never seems to listen. Even yesterday I asked him specifically to please put his dog on the other side of him so he wouldn't be so close to Staley and he wouldn't!
This became a problem when we had to do the easiest test in the world, walking your dog on a leash. Staley's the best at this. I taught him to do it his first week with us and it's never been a problem, but because the man wouldn't move his dog he got all riled up and ended up doing horribly.
And then he pooped in the middle of the room.
By the end, he was panting and snapping so I had to take him to the opposite end of the room and pace him over and over again just to keep him distracted.
When it came time to do personally trained tricks, everyone was doing paw. One person had their dog jump through a hula hop. Doing his dance would be a bit too much with all the people around, so we went with his jump. Maybe next time his trick will be to hold down a bull.
But he passed, he has his diploma and the American Kennel club is going to send us a certificate in a few weeks. We had to say good-bye to all the other dogs; Fluffy, Molly, Phoenix, Zoe, Zen, Rocky, and Brando. We were also told we were the trainer's first group that had perfect attendance all four weeks of class
I guess in doggy terms this means he's graduated high school, next he'll be onto college. We might get him private training lessons, just because he seems to do better one on one, and a trainer will be able to get a good look at him and see why he's doing this aggressive biting (that goes way beyond normal puppy mouthing) and what's the best course to stop it.
I'm very proud of him. He really was the smartest dog in the class, if not the biggest little jerk, and he learned all the commands better than anyone. I had allot of fun learning how to train a dog and you can bet your boots my dog will be the best trained dog ever.
Here's the proud little pup:
On two totally unrelated topic, I'm feeling the need to re-read Outlander. Can't explain why but I bet it has to do with the fact the next book will be released in September. YAY!
Second, the rough draft of the next chapter in BMS is almost done! I know, you never thought this day would come. I need at least three more days to clean it up, but hopefully I'll be able to post very soon.
It turns out to be a transitional chapter, and I hate those. More of a setting the mood between characters before major stuff happens. Awkward love scenes are a long way off, but their will be allot of hints and clues to some important things in this coming chapter.
He passed, but it definitely was not his best night.
His problem is that he becomes obsessed with other dogs, and he'll become fixated and pissy unless he's aloud to sniff and attack them. The best way I found to keep this from happening is to engage him and go through the commands. But when you're in a room filled with puppies, it's just not going to work.
The first half hour was fine. He sat with me and he came back when I called him.
Now there's one particular dog in the class with whom Staley is absolutely obsessed. He's a Fox Terrier Wire haired and Staley is in love. Or at least majorly in lust with. I have asked the owner repeatedly to try and keep his dog away from mine because it distracts him, but the man never seems to listen. Even yesterday I asked him specifically to please put his dog on the other side of him so he wouldn't be so close to Staley and he wouldn't!
This became a problem when we had to do the easiest test in the world, walking your dog on a leash. Staley's the best at this. I taught him to do it his first week with us and it's never been a problem, but because the man wouldn't move his dog he got all riled up and ended up doing horribly.
And then he pooped in the middle of the room.
By the end, he was panting and snapping so I had to take him to the opposite end of the room and pace him over and over again just to keep him distracted.
When it came time to do personally trained tricks, everyone was doing paw. One person had their dog jump through a hula hop. Doing his dance would be a bit too much with all the people around, so we went with his jump. Maybe next time his trick will be to hold down a bull.
But he passed, he has his diploma and the American Kennel club is going to send us a certificate in a few weeks. We had to say good-bye to all the other dogs; Fluffy, Molly, Phoenix, Zoe, Zen, Rocky, and Brando. We were also told we were the trainer's first group that had perfect attendance all four weeks of class
I guess in doggy terms this means he's graduated high school, next he'll be onto college. We might get him private training lessons, just because he seems to do better one on one, and a trainer will be able to get a good look at him and see why he's doing this aggressive biting (that goes way beyond normal puppy mouthing) and what's the best course to stop it.
I'm very proud of him. He really was the smartest dog in the class, if not the biggest little jerk, and he learned all the commands better than anyone. I had allot of fun learning how to train a dog and you can bet your boots my dog will be the best trained dog ever.
Here's the proud little pup:
On two totally unrelated topic, I'm feeling the need to re-read Outlander. Can't explain why but I bet it has to do with the fact the next book will be released in September. YAY!
Second, the rough draft of the next chapter in BMS is almost done! I know, you never thought this day would come. I need at least three more days to clean it up, but hopefully I'll be able to post very soon.
It turns out to be a transitional chapter, and I hate those. More of a setting the mood between characters before major stuff happens. Awkward love scenes are a long way off, but their will be allot of hints and clues to some important things in this coming chapter.