Waldo~
Star~
Chesty~
General~
Waldo~was evaluated by Brian, the lead trainer at NEADS on Thursday morning, Dec. 13. Brian came up with a plan and is hopeful that with several weeks of intensive training Waldo's guarding behavior will stop completely. He suggested that Waldo's time with WPR Sandy stop and that Waldo spend the next few weeks in "training mode". I reviewed the plan with his handler, Paul.
I took Waldo out of the facility Friday night for some evaluation. We went to an outdoor mall to mingle with crowds and do some Christmas shopping. Waldo was a little "sniffy" but settled in after a short time. Since he has a rawhide fixation, we went to a leather furniture store and walked around practicing attention exercises, then onto more shopping at a different mall. He protested while in the crate at my house, but settled eventually. He came to work with me the following day and spent most of the day crated at the training center. We worked on the guarding behavior, and practiced with a stranger~another trainer~with great success.
Star~is back to her usual happy self, but still nervous with anything mechanized/motorized. She is doing well with commands and attention.
Chesty~while I was with Brian I learned some dominance techniques that I taught to AJ. They seem to work well with Chesty without overpowering him, so modification to his training plan will take effect immediately. It will be interesting to note how he does during free play with General and if it "spills over" into more a respectful attitude toward his handlers.
General~during class I noticed that General was eating tiny pieces of a plastic toy so it was thrown away. Over the weekend I got a call from WPR Lisa about stomach upset and lack of appetite, very unusual for General. When I checked on him upon his return to Mike, I was told that he was back to normal, no reported problems with stool or appetite.
An evening field trip training lesson is planned for this week at Fatima Shrine. I would like to observe all of the dogs working in an outdoor nighttime setting.
