April 17, 2014 We had our second session at boot camp (Northwest K9) today. A.J. got a lot of really nasty pops. But let’s go back a bit to the way we started our day. Get up in the morning, time to go for a walk. We head down the street on our usual morning …
Tag: obedience training
Seeing Some Slow Progress
April 15, 2014 It’s been a full week since we started A.J.’s new training. Some of it has gone really well, but we still have a long way to go. So far it hasn’t been the miracle turnaround Jerry had predicted. I’ve taken A.J. out to the trail on a busy road and he’s watched bicycles go …
A.J. Goes to Boot Camp
April 9, 2014 Yesterday we started with a new trainer. I told our current trainer, Mary, that while A.J. had made great improvements in focus and basic obedience, we'd made no progress on being able to walk down the street. It was time to try something different. So Mary referred us to Jerry at Northwest …
A.J. Goes to Overnight Camp
March 22, 2014 A.J. had his first stay at a boarding facility. He went to Doodle Dogs for the first time while Greg and I went to visit family. A.J. was there for a week. It sounded like he did well and had a nice time, but I don’t think he slept much. He was really …
The Roller Coaster Ride Continues
February 5, 2014 We’re backsliding a little. I had an extra session with Mary to figure out how to get A.J. to stop pulling so much on the leash. She didn’t really have any suggestions I hadn’t tried, other than going back to doing circles again. I’ve started doing that, which eases the pulling for …
Great Improvements, But…
January 15, 2014 We had another freestyle class on Monday. Again, A.J. did great. No reaction to the other dogs, he stayed quiet in his crate, and he had great focus. He’s such a show-off. He’s really starting to get the idea on some of these tricks. And last night, for the first time, he did …
New Year’s Eve 2013
December 31, 2013 The last day of the year. It’s been kind of a rough year for A.J. So, he decided to end it on a fitting note. This morning a hawk landed on our back fence with its breakfast, another bird. A.J. saw it and went nuts. I didn’t want him to run out …
A.J. Goes to Bad Dog School
November 4, 2013 I enrolled A.J. in a Reactive Dog class. Yesterday was our first class. There were seven people with their crazy dogs. Mary said by the last class all the dogs would be on their mats while one handler weaved her dog through the mats. We all laughed. A.J. cried through most of …
The Right Reward
November 2, 2013 I realize I haven't really explained in any of these posts what our training method has been for teaching A.J. to walk nicely on a leash. As I mentioned, we've started working with a trainer to get this under control. Using purely positive reinforcement, the idea is to get him to focus …
A.J. Eats Cake
October 24, 2013 Life with A.J. continues to be an adventure. (I’m starting to really dislike that word.) The latest “adventure” is his counter-surfing. He’s gone up with his front feet on the counters a few times. We caught him twice and let him know that’s not acceptable. But he doesn’t seem to care while …
AJ the Springer 