Ok, it's true, she could get by on her cute looks and funny personality. But it's so much nicer when she's well mannered and responsive to our requests.
We've been working on "Quiet" a lot because she does love to use her voice. The really nice thing about that is, not only is she easily and eagerly responding to the word "quiet," but she is also barking less. Ahhh...that's music to our ears.
We've been practicing "Drop" with harder and harder items. Some stolen items (a slipper here and there), a rock, and the sticks that she loves so much.
Most times she spits it right out when I say "drop." With just a little more practice, she will be very reliable with this command. She's doing great!
The last couple of days she's been doing more jumping than she has since she first got here. We could blame it on the puppy that's jumping on her but, really, dogs will do that every so often. We'll work and work on something to change a behavior and they'll be doing really good. Then, all of a sudden, they test it out again to see if it will still work. Nope, jumping on me is not going to get you what you want. She'll soon be back to her stellar greetings.
We've now graduated to dropping food items on the ground and telling her to "leave it." She's happy to do so because she knows it pays off to do so. I'll keep my foot close by though, just in case I need to quickly cover it.
The really lovely thing about using positive methods to train a dog is that they are so happy to do the work. It may take extra work in the beginning, but the results are well worth the work.
She has yet to enter adolescence so don't be surprised when your perfect puppy starts testing the waters or forgetting all that she knows ("Thunder? I do not know what that word means."). It'll all come back to her if you stay consistent and follow through with her.
After a hard days work it's time to roll around in the dirt with our friends.
And maybe take a nap...
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