Doggie school today wasn’t very eventful. But really, that’s a good thing.

When I took her on her morning walk, she was in rare form. Not 100% sure why, but my guess is the colder weather, the fact it rained overnight, the gusty winds… had her all excited. She was very alert, nose to the ground a lot. Someone left an upright vacuum just sitting on the corner, which in the dark freaked her out a bit. Nothing really odd, but she was just very excited and a little less obedient.

But at school? She was on. We went into the event building where all the student trainers were working with their dogs, so there was a great deal of distraction around. She handled it quite well, even kicking her legs out to the side when she was “down”… very relaxed. We worked “sit” and “down” more, putting her on a long line this time so we would back up further than 6′. We also added “down” to her “place” such that now “place” will come to imply “down” as well. Since she’s working officially on “down”, we’ve now added a correction to “down” if we don’t get compliance. We also work to refine compliance: if I say “sit” and she doesn’t immediately sit, correction must be immediate (instead of allowing her a few seconds to leisurely comply).

So there’s our homework: “sit” and “down” on a long line for distance; adding “down” to “place”, then also working some distance into that; adding corrections to “down”; getting compliance to be more immediate.

Really, she’s doing well. Abel continues to note how well she’s progressing, even as we ramp up the distraction and introduction to new things (e.g. she went into the Pro Shop today for the first time; more dogs and other people around her). He also noted how her coat is looking better than when we first brought her in: vet said just good diet and grooming is the best we can do there and in time it will improve.

So far so good. Her manners at home are improving as well, been able to introduce her to some people… still a little unsure of them, but so much better than a few weeks ago. She is getting a little cocky when we’re in the backyard and she’s off leash, but next week’s class will be about “come”. 🙂