August 15, 2013

A.J. barfed up his entire breakfast again this morning.

Today A.J. growled at me. I had been gone for several hours that morning, so he was a little amped up to see me when I got home. Instead of immediately going and playing with A.J. I went into Greg’s office to talk to Greg for a little while. I had been petting A.J., but he started pawing at me and getting really demanding, so I ignored him. I was just sitting there as Greg was telling me about work when A.J. sat down right in front of me and growled right at me.

I know he was just doing a puppy “come play with me NOW!” sort of growl, but I don’t want him growling at me or anyone else for anything. I growled a “NO” back at him. Then we just stared at each other. He got frustrated and barked at me – twice. Finally he looked away and gave up.

I continued to ignore him for a little while. I want him to know he doesn’t get rewarded for that sort of thing. Then I took him outside and we worked on some “sits” and “downs” and “leave its.” Because he’d barfed up his breakfast I fed him some lunch, and made him sit for that. I spent most of the rest of the day doing some basic training off and on, giving him lots of attention when he did things I asked.

We went for a walk this evening. We didn’t see any dogs, so it was uneventful. We walked past a lot of people and he was fine.