Star~59
Chesty~56
General~34
Waldo~During a conversation with Paul I learned that he had been working with Waldo non-stop on a new skill this week and it seemed to make them both a little less than enthusiastic about training on Friday during my visit. I explained that I find that training in short bursts seem to be more effective than long, grueling hours of training~at least for most dogs. Waldo hasn't refused a command but seemed to be getting confused by commands that sound similar, such as tug and nudge. If Paul is standing near the light switch and says "tug" with his back turned to where the tug usually is, Waldo will go to the switch and turn it on rather than go in the opposite direction to open the door. I recommended a few days off from training for them and when they continue, trying for a clearer pronounciation of the commands.
Paul also told me that Waldo is having a difficult time with bowel movements, so I asked Mike to have him vetted~suspected that his anals need to be expressed.
Sandi called me on Saturday morning to tell me that she thought Waldo had expressed his anals partially himself, and that he had an accident in his crate~most unlike him. I will speak with Mike on Monday.
Star~At left, Star on an "up, stay" command at the ping pong table.
Star and Mark are working on single command actions and fading hand cues. They're doing well, but Star tends to lose focus when I or another "outside" person are in the room. Her manners seem to be impeccable when at the training center with Heather, and she is getting extremely good at ignoring the other dogs when she's working.
Chesty~Apparently, Chesty has been obcessed with Waldo this week. It appears that Chesty may be vying for the "top dog" spot in the pack. AJ has been working on walking very slowly and doing the stairs one step at a time~Chesty is perfect, slow and steady.
I got an email from Paula on Saturday about Chesty limping on one of his rear legs. No trauma, no precipitating event. AJ says that he doesn't want to come out of his crate and that he isn't putting much pressure on it. I got a telephone call from Dawn on Monday am, so I will speak with Mike to find out when we can get Chesty in for a vet check.
General~Charmed all of the new WPRs and their families that we had visiting us for Friday's class with his adorable personality. He now knows somewhere around 12 commands well, and is still learning to walk on a loose leash under distraction. He is VERY distracted by the other program dogs, but does well in public and while walking on pavement. Grass is a challenge. ;)
WPRs~During Friday night training we did some agility exercises~table, tunnels, weaving between tennis balls and bowls of food, etc. and some obedience exercises. I asked all of the current WPRs to tell us about the most difficult things that they had to deal with, then explain how the situations were resolved. I hope it was a help to our new WPRs!
